Years in the galleys
I'm reading a biography of Giuseppe Verdi, and there's a decade and a half long part of his life that is referred to as his "years in the galleys".
I've tried to find the exact meaning and history of this idiom, but keep drawing blanks. It's possible this is a direct translation of an Italian idiom that is not commonly used in English, as Verdi himself said it ("anni di galera") regarding this part of his life. Could anyone shed some light on this?
Solution 1:
He referred to those years in that way himself:
Quote from Yahoo answers - mainly because it was the first hit on google for verdi galley years.
Because he wrote 17 operas over 11 years. He hadn't finished one, and another one was underway.
• Nabucco (1842)
• I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843)
• Ernani (1844)
• I due Foscari (1844)
• Giovanna d'Arco (1845)
• Alzira (1845)
• Attila (1846)
• Macbeth (1847)
• I masnadieri (1847)
• Jérusalem (1847) remake of I Lombardi alla prima crociata
• Il corsaro (1848)
• La battaglia di Legnano (1849)
• Luisa Miller (1849)
• Stiffelio (1850)
• Rigoletto (1851)
• Il trovatore (1853)
• La traviata (1853)
Verdi had a bizarre way of calling things. For instance, he called the first issue of a libretto ‘the forrest’ because he expected to cut and trim it furiously. So, he referred to those busy years as the galley years (anni da galera, in italian).
A galley is a ship on which prisoners or slaves are made to row. This was at several places and times in history a common punishment. For the victim it meant working very hard almost without rest.
Verdi referred to these 11 years as years during which he felt he was working as hard as a galley slave.
Solution 2:
Think of the miserable convict Jean Valjean, condemned to row ceaselessly in the galleys for year after year and you will understand the demanding punishment that Verdi was trying to evoke. A bit over the top, perhaps, but Verdi composed one opera after another in his early career (1842-1859) and sometimes worked on two or three at a time, composing, revising and producing to satisfy the public's unquenchable appetite.