Giuseppi Verdi was perhaps the period's greatest exponent of this devotion to melody. From the most intimate and delicate aria to the grandest of triumphant choruses, his lyrical abilities as a composer continue to see audiences revisit his music, in a way that even the many other aspects of grand opera often fail to ensnare us.

It is for this very reason that, despite the obviously stark contrasts of context, transcriptions of these eternal melodies hold a most treasured place in our musical appreciation. Furthermore, this has been recognized since the time of Verdi himself, and arrangements of his music were being created whilst the composer was still alive. These re-imaginings would serve the most practical of purposes: most obviously by transporting the greatest melodies from the opera house to virtually any small recital hall or even household, thereby not only making the music truly accessible to all, but also giving instrumentalists the opportunities to perform some of this glorious repertoire. Perhaps more importantly though, such arrangements would act as the very celebration of this treasure trove of creativity: the same 'music' that one would hear at the opera, but stripped of its extravagant outer garments, and brought to us in its purest and most beautiful form of offering.