Lavigna was a former pupil of the Conservatoire of Naples and an able composer.  Verdi showed him some of the same compositions he had shown Basili.  After examining them he willingly accepted the young aspirant as a pupil.

Verdi spent most of his evenings at the home of the master, when Lavigna was not at La Scala and there met many artists.  One night it chanced that Lavigna, Basili and Verdi were alone, and the two masters were speaking of the deplorable result of a competition for the position of Maitre di Capelle and organist of the Church of San Giovanni di Monza.  Out of twenty-eight young men who had taken part in the competition, not one had known how to develop correctly the subject given by Basili for the construction of a fugue.  Lavigna, with a bit of mischief in his eyes, began to say to his friend:—­“It is really a remarkable fact.  Well, look at Verdi, who has studied fugue for two short years.  I lay a wager he would have done better than your eight and twenty candidates.”

“Really?” replied Basili, in a somewhat vexed tone.

“Certainly.  Do you remember your subject?  Yes, you do?  Well, write it down.”

Basili wrote and Lavigne, giving the theme to Verdi, said: 

“Sit down there at the table and just begin to work out this subject.”

Then the two friends resumed their conversation, until Verdi, coming to them said simply:  “There, it is done.”

Basili took the paper and examined it, showing signs of astonishment as he continued to read.  When he came to the conclusion he complimented the lad and said:  “But how is it that you have written a double canon on my subject?”

“It is because I found it rather poor and wished to embellish it,” Verdi replied, remembering the reception he had had at the Conservatoire.

In 1833 his old master Provesi died.  Verdi felt the loss keenly, for Provesi was the one who first taught him music and who showed him how to work to become an artist.  Though he wished to do greater things, he returned to Busseto to fulfill his promise to take Provesi’s place as organist of the Cathedral and conductor of the Philharmonic, rather big positions to fill for a young man of twenty.

And now Verdi fell in love with the beautiful Margherita, the oldest daughter of Barezzi, who did not mind giving his daughter to a poor young man, for Verdi possessed something worth far more than money, and that was great musical talent.  The young people were married in 1836, and the whole Philharmonic Society attended.

About the year 1833-34 there flourished in Milan a vocal society called the Philharmonic, composed of excellent singers under the leadership of Masini.  Soon after Verdi came to the city, the Society was preparing for a performance of Haydn’s “Creation.”  Lavigna, with whom the young composer was studying composition, suggested his pupil should attend the rehearsals, to which he gladly agreed.  It seems