Macbeth (Verdi)

• 1. Verdi's Galley Years And Commission

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  Giuseppe Verdi described the period from 1842 to 1858 as his galley years. He wrote to Clara Maffei on the 12th of May 1858 that he had never had one hour of peace since Nabucco. Sixteen years in the galleys was how he characterized this era of relentless productivity. During these sixteen years he produced twenty-two operas for Italian stages. The year 1846 brought success with Attila and established him as a composer of note. Yet Macbeth arrived before his great successes between 1851 and 1853. Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata would later propel him into universal fame. Shakespeare provided lifelong inspiration for Verdi throughout his career. Some adaptations like King Lear remained unrealized while others became Otello and Falstaff. The Teatro della Pergola in Florence commissioned an opera but specified no particular subject. Andrea Maffei suggested both Schiller's The Robbers and Shakespeare's play Macbeth as suitable subjects. Verdi only began working on Macbeth in September 1846 due to singer availability. Baritone Felice Varesi held a contract to sing the title role. Without Varesi under contract the work might have been delayed or substituted entirely.

• 2. Collaborative Libretto Development

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  Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto based on Carlo Rusconi's prose translation published in Turin in 1838. Verdi did not encounter Shakespeare's original text until after the first performance. He had read Shakespeare in translation since his earliest youth according to an 1865 letter. Writing to Piave on the 4th of September 1846 he declared this tragedy one of the greatest creations of man. He urged that if they could not make something great out of it they should at least try to do something ordinary. Disagreements arose frequently between composer and librettist during the writing process. Verdi bullied Piave into correcting drafts repeatedly throughout the collaboration. Andrea Maffei intervened to rewrite scenes including the witches chorus in Act 3 and the sleepwalking scene. Maffei contributed with Piave's consent to these specific revisions. Their version follows Shakespeare closely but introduces structural changes. Instead of three individual witches there is a large female chorus singing in three-part harmony. Each group sings as a single witch using I rather than we. The last act begins with refugees assembling on the English border. In the revised version it ends with bards celebrating victory over the tyrant.

• 3. The Original Florence Premiere Of 1847

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  Macbeth premiered on the 14th of March 1847 at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence. Conductor Giuseppe Verdi led the orchestra for this first performance. Marianna Barbieri-Nini sang Lady Macbeth while Felice Varesi portrayed the title character. Nicola Benedetti performed Banquo and Angelo Brunacci played Macduff. The opera was successful and presented widely across Italy. Performances occurred in approximately twenty-one locations some repeated multiple times. The United States premiere followed in April 1850 at Niblo's Garden in New York. Angiolina Bosio appeared as Lady Macbeth and Cesare Badiali played Banco. The United Kingdom premiere took place in Manchester in October 1860. After the 1865 revision the original version faded from public view. It received only occasional performances in Turin 1867 Vicenza 1869 Firenze 1870 and Milan 1874. Critics praised the dramatic intensity of the score during these early years. The work stood out among Italian operas produced during the first fifty years of the nineteenth century. Its unusual subject matter set it apart from conventional productions of the era.

• 4. Paris Revision And French Translation

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  Verdi began revising the opera over the winter of 1864 to 1865 for Paris. He added a ballet and final chorus for production at the Théâtre Lyrique. Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter and Alexandre Beaumont translated the libretto into French. Gilbert Duprez served as translator despite Verdi's preference for him based on earlier collaborations. The revised version premiered on the 21st of April 1865 with Adolphe Deloffre conducting. Jean-Vital Jammes sang Macbet while Amélie Rey-Balla portrayed Lady Macbeth. Jules-Émile Petit performed Banquo and Jules-Sébastien Monjauze played Macduff. Verdi refused to attend the Paris performance but provided directions through his publisher. Initial reports from Escudier were favorable yet critics received the premiere poorly. Later performances in Paris fared no better than the opening night. Verdi wrote to Escudier on the 3rd of June 1865 stating he thought he had done quite well. He admitted being mistaken about the reception when he realized the truth. The new version included Lady Macbeth's aria La luce langue written during this revision period. Act 3 received complete reworking including a newly composed chorus beginning Act 4. The ending changed to drop Macbeth's final aria Mal per me che m'affidai. Instead the scene ends with an off-stage death followed by a triumphal chorus. In Italian the opera appeared at La Scala in autumn 1865 but few other Italian presentations occurred.

• 5. Modern Revivals And Performance History

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  The United States premiere of the revised version did not occur until the 24th of October 1941. New Opera Company staged it at Broadway's 44th Street Theatre with Fritz Busch conducting. Jess Walters sang the title role while Florence Kirk portrayed Lady Macbeth. Robert Silva performed Banquo and Robert Marshall played Macduff. European productions in Berlin during the 1930s helped spark twentieth-century revival efforts. Glyndebourne presented the work in 1938 and 1939 combining elements from both versions. This UK premiere of the revised version mixed the 1847 death scene with the 1865 triumphal ending. Teatro alla Scala revived it in 1952 featuring Maria Callas as Lady Macbeth. The Metropolitan Opera added it to its roster for the first time in 1959. The Opera Guild of Montreal presented the Canadian premiere on January 1959 beating the Met by two weeks. Royal Opera House Covent Garden introduced Tito Gobbi in the title role on the 30th of March 1960. Subsequent productions appeared in 1981 and 2002. The Kirov Opera performed it in London at Covent Garden in 2001. Recent performances include Washington National Opera in 2007 and San Francisco Opera that same year. Almost all modern productions stage the revised version in Italian though some interpolate the original death scene.

• 6. Musical Analysis And Vocal Demands

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  Musicologist Roger Parker described the opera as revealing Verdi's attention to detail unprecedented in earlier works. Formal experiments like the Macbeth-Banquo duettino in Act 1 demonstrate this precision. Deryck Cooke argued in his 1964 essay that Macbeth remains inferior to later Shakespeare-inspired operas. Julian Budden noted the disparity between versions cannot be reconciled after eighteen years passed. Even traditional elements are better handled than in Attila or Alzira according to Budden. Arias grow organically from implications rather than deliberate elaboration of formula. The role of Lady Macbeth written for Marianna Barbieri-Nini stands among most demanding in repertory. Singers require immense dramatic intensity stamina range and vocal agility. Massive shifts in tessitura occur ranging from low mezzo to high soprano sections. Maria Callas and Shirley Verrett both took on the role at La Scala decades apart. Their breakthroughs demonstrated the character's extreme vocal requirements. The witches chorus divides into three groups each singing as a single witch using I pronouns. This structural choice creates unique harmonic textures throughout the score. The sleepwalking scene features Una macchia è qui tuttora with haunting orchestral accompaniment.