seto? Stuff and nonsense! That can
never be."

A short time after this, there was a mass at a chapel in Busseto,
where the Canon had the service. The organist was unable to attend,
and Verdi was called at the last moment to take his place. Very much
impressed with the unusually beautiful organ music, the priest, at the
close of the service desired to see the organist. His astonishment was
great when he saw his scholar whom he had been seeking to turn from
the study of music. "Whose music did you play?" he asked. "It was most
beautiful."

"Why," timidly answered the boy, "I had no music, I was playing
extempore--just as I felt."

"Ah, indeed," replied the Canon; "well I am a fool and you cannot do
better than to study music, take my word for it."

Under the good Provesi, Verdi studied until he was sixteen and made
such rapid progress that both Provesi and Barezzi felt he must be sent
to Milan to study further. The lad had often come to the help of his
master, both at the organ and as conductor of the Philharmonic. The
records of the society still have several works written by Verdi at
that time--when he was sixteen--composed, copied, taught, rehearsed
and conducted by him.

There was an institution in Busseto called the Monte di Pieta, which
gave four scholarships of three hundred francs a year, each given for
four years to promising young men needing money to study science or
art. Through Barezzi one of these scholarships was given to Verdi, it
being arranged that he should have six hundred francs a year for two
years, instead of three hundred francs for four years. Barezzi himself
advanced the money for the music lessons, board and lodging in Milan
and the priest gave him a letter of introduction to his nephew, a
professor there, who received him with a hearty welcome, and insisted
upon his living with him.

Like all large music schools, there were a great many who presented
themselves for admittance by scholarship and only one to be chosen.
And Verdi did not happen to be that one, Basili not considering his
compositions of sufficient worth. This was not because Verdi was
really lacking in his music, but because Basili had other plans. This
did not in the least discourage Giuseppe, and at the suggestion of
Alessando Rolla, who was then conductor of La Scala, he asked Lavigna
to give him lessons in composition and orchestration.

Lavigna was a former pupil of the Conservatoire of Naples and an able
composer. V