Macbeth, Opera by G. Verdi
The Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence stages a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth, an opera he wrote based on the famous Shakespearian stage play of the same name. Scored by the great Italian composer to a libretto written by his fellow countryman Francesco Maria Piave, the work debuted nearby at Florence's Teatro della Pergola on 14 March 1847. The opera had been commissioned the year before by Alessandro Lanari, the Teatro della Pergola's impresario, for the city's carnival season. Verdi would go on to write two other operas based on Shakespeare's writing, Othello and Falstaff but Macbeth was his first, a work that follows the original in much of its thematic approach.
Determined to make a grand production, Verdi focused his efforts on ensuring his version of Macbeth would draw out the roles of women in the play, notably Lady Macbeth and the three witches. Along with Macbeth himself, as Verdi's later correspondence about the opera has shown, the composer thought these characters were most central to the plot. Piave's libretto, assisted by contributions from another writer, Andrea Maffei, allowed Verdi to create the music for what he envisioned would be an expansive and dramatic opera. Nevertheless, the plot of Verdi's Macbeth is similar to Shakespeare's one. It concerns the fate of an 11th-century Scottish nobleman who is tempted to murder his way to the crown. After an encounter with some witches and encouragement from his wife, will Macbeth succeed in making himself king?
Verdi scored Macbeth for a baritone singer, a role that enables the performer to take on bel canto melody lines that are both memorable and powerful. The three witches, on the other hand, are arranged in dramatic three-part harmonies and this means they are able to express themselves in evocative ways that perhaps even Shakespeare himself had not imagined. Sometimes haunting, sometimes comical the witches take centre stage more than once during the opera.
Nevertheless, it is perhaps Lady Macbeth who shines brightest in Verdi's operatic vision. Her aria's high notes and moments of recitative vocalisation bring her character to the fore with some demanding sections of music for any trained vocal performer to master. Indeed, when Verdi reworked and extended the opera for a new, French-language premiere at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris on 19 April 1865, he scored an entirely new aria for her. Since then, productions of Macbeth have included La luce langue which reflects the literal fading light of the day and Lady Macbeth's diminishing chances of enjoying the power she has craved through her husband.
Verdi's Macbeth at Florence's Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino offers intrigue, power lust, murder and other dramatic themes that also touch on the supernatural.