First anecdote
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A friend who went to see Verdi when he was staying in a villa at the Moncalieri found him in a room which, Verdi said, was his drawing-room, Dining room, and bedroom combined, adding:'I have two other large rooms - but they are full of things that I have hired for the season'. Verdi threw open the doors and showed him a collection of several dozen piano-organs.
'When I arrived here' he said, 'all these organs were playing airs from Rigoletto, Trovatore, and my other operas from morning till night.
'I was so annoyed that I hired the whole lot for the season. It has cost me about a thousand francs, but at all events I am left in peace.'

Verdi greatly gratified me [the writer is Sir George Henschel, baritone and founder conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra] by asking me to send him the songs and perhaps some other of my compositions. His answer to my question to what address I should send them was most characteristic. Without the slightest suspicion of conceit or affection he said, 'oh - adressez simplement "Maestro Verdi, Italia."'

In 1899, Verdi noticed that his friend Loepoldo Mugnone was making frequent trips to the town of Pistoria, 'to supervise the casting of the bells of tosca.
'How many bells' and what are they used for?' demanded Verdi.
'Eleven,' replied the conductor. 'In the third act they represent dawn breaking over Rome with the chimes of the different churches.'
'Eleven bells!' exclaimed Verdi, 'per bacco! And to think that when I composed Il Trovatore I hardly dared introduce one bell in the 'Miserere' for fear of the impresarios' curses... There's nothing more to say except that the world has progressed - the operatic world, at least.'

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