Proudly
Presents
Table of Contents
Characters
Synopsis
Shakespeare
Verdi
From the page to the stage
Thoughts form the Maestro & Director
Characters
Synopsis
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretti by Fracesco Maria Piave
Adapted after the stage play by William Shakespeare
Macbeth: General in King Duncan’s Army
Banquo: General in King Duncan’s Army
Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s Wife
Lady in Waiting: To Lady Macbeth
Macduff: Thane of Fife
Malcom: King Duncan’s Son
King Duncan: King of Scotland
Fleance: Son of Banquo
A Doctor
Scottish Nobles and Refugees
Cutthroats and Assassins
English Soldiers
Apparitions
Witches: Occupy the woods and prophecy of the future
Act I
In a Forest in Scotland, returning from a victorious battle, war heroes Macbeth and
Banquo meet a group of witches who address Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor, a
position in royal hierarchy next in line to be King. The witches muse on their perverse
intentions of setting torment in motion. They tell Banquo that he will be “the father of
kings” but that he will not be king himself. Despite their weariness, the men plead for
more information, but the witches vanish.
A messenger informs the men that the previous Thane of Cawdor has been accused
of treason and that the title will now officially be bestowed upon Macbeth. Banquo
observes how quickly the witches’ words are coming to fruition. Much like Banquo,
Macbeth is also alarmed by the prophecy, as disturbing and conflicting thoughts of
power and glory begin to haunt and excite him.
Act I, Scene II
Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter about the recent events. She accepts that
crime may lie on the road to power as she calls on the witches for help to take away
her feelings of compassion and fear, which she associates with her womanhood, in
order to make her a warrior.
2
MACBETH
SYNOPSIS
When Lady Macbeth reunites with Macbeth, she proposes a plan to murder King
Duncan, the current King who is visiting the castle that evening. Lady Macbeth
schemes to frame someone else for the crime, securing Macbeth’s place on the
throne. Knowing that Macbeth may have reservations about the severity of the plan,
she challenges his manhood. Through her coercion, Macbeth agrees to go along with
the plan. Despite being haunted by visions of daggers and ridden with guilt, Macbeth
murders the king. The guilt consumes Macbeth as Lady Macbeth antagonizes his
mental demise.
Act I, Finale
Macduff, a Scottish Nobleman, enters the chambers and finds King Duncan murdered.
The castle goes into shock.
Act II, Scene I & II
Malcolm, the son of the murdered king, has fled to England after being suspected of
killing his father. Lady Macbeth explains how fortune demands another murder.
Macbeth agrees that Banquo’s family is a threat to the throne and must be killed. They
enlist a group of assassins to fulfill the murders.
Act II, Finale
The royal banquet hall welcomes members of the court. While Lady Macbeth
entertains, Macbeth receives the news that Banquo is dead, but that his son has
escaped. Macbeth is overcome with a vision of a dead man threatening him. Lady
Macbeth unsuccessfully attempts to calm him, but the guests begin to question the
king’s behavior. Macduff, enraged by the criminal rule over the county, vows to flee.
Act III
Macbeth visits the witches in an obscure cave, demanding more prophecies. Hecate,
the goddess of the night and witchcraft, orders the witches to answer King Macbeth’s
questions. Apparitions warn Macbeth to be cautious of Macduff. Visions of previous
kings haunt Macbeth. Horrified by the apparitions, Macbeth collapses. They all
disappear and his wife finds him. They resolve to kill Macduff and his family.
Act IV
Lamenting the loss of his family, and raging against Macbeth, Macduff joins refugees
along the border between Scotland and England. Malcolm enters leading a host of
English soldiers to invade Scotland as they enter the Wood of Birnam.
Act IV, Scene II
In a hall in the castle, the Doctor and Lady in Waiting struggle to aid Lady Macbeth as
she has taken to sleepwalking; haunted by the horrors of her actions. Lady Macbeth
persists on rubbing the stain of murder off her hands; “Can I not clean them…cannot
wipe off this evil stain…the smell of blood still is on them.”
Act IV, Scene III
Macbeth learns of the queen’s death as he awaits the arrival of his enemies. Macduff
enters and takes his revenge has he kills Macbeth.
3
MACBETH
SYNOPSIS
Act IV, Finale
The English soldiers take Macbeth’s men as prisoners. Macduff proclaims Malcolm King
of Scotland as the chorus rejoices that “Macbeth is dead; the tyrant is no more,
destroyed by wrath and fury of our Lord, our God almighty and victorious!”
William Shakespeare
The Story
Shakespeare wrote for the theatre during the reign of two monarchs, Queen Elizabeth
I and King James I. During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Shakespeare catered to the
poised and optimistic temperament of the Elizabethans, with works such as A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. During King James’ reign, Shakespeare transitioned into
writing more cynical works, like Macbeth and Hamlet. Loosely inspired by eleventh
century Scottish history, Macbeth is recorded has having its first performance in 1606
as Shakespeare’s 29th performed play.
Within the story of Macbeth, the characters question authority, ultimately exploiting
ambition while on a quest for increasing power. King James would have been
especially interested in the moral dilemma which plagued the character of Macbeth,
as King James took great lengths to teach his son of the importance of morality and
kingly responsibility. Still in practice during Shakespeare’s time, was the Church’s belief
that God had preordained the royal bloodline, meaning that those who questioned
the court also questioned God. Through Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the ideal
promoted by the church and court that excessive ambition would lead to terrible
consequences.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
BIOGRAPHY
1564: Born in Stratford upon Avon to local tanner John and Mary Shakespeare. His
actual birthday is unknown but assumed and celebrated today on April the 23rd.
1571: As is tradition at the time, it is probable that Shakespeare begins formal studies in
Latin, grammar and literature around age 7.
1582-1585: At age 18 Shakespeare marries the older Anne Hathaway (26 years old).
Their first child, Susanna, is born shortly after the wedding, followed by twins, Judith
and
Hamnet, in 1585.
1585-1592: Shakespeare leaves his family in Stratford to pursue his career in theatre;
he joins a company of actors as both playwright and performer.
1589-1591: Shakespeare is believed to have written his first few plays, Henry VI, Part I;
Henry VI, Part II and Henry VI, Part III (although not necessarily in that order).
4
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
BIOGRAPHY
1585-1592: Shakespeare gains success in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of
the playing company the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men.
Theatres subsequently close in London because of the plague.
1593: Shakespeare begins the first of the eventual 154 sonnet collection. He celebrates
his first published work, the narrative poem Venus and Adonis.
1598: Shakespeare’s reputation as an actor is confirmed as the London performance of
Ben Jonson’s Every Man in his Humor lists him as a principal actor.
1599: The Globe theatre opens.
1603: Queen Elizabeth attends a performance of A Midsummer’s Night Dream at
Hampton Court; she dies later that year. An enthusiastic patron of the arts, King James I
grants The Chamberlain’s Men a patent to perform. The Company then renames
itself The King’s Men to honor James I and they quickly become a favorite with the new
king.
1608. The King’s Men take on a twenty-one year lease of London’s first permanently
enclosed theatre, the Blackfriars Theatre in this year. Notes on stage directions,
suggest The Tempest was penned with a performance at this theatre in mind. The return
of the plague forces a closure of all playhouses and theatres from the spring of 1608
through to early 1610.
1613-1614. The Globe Theatre burns to the ground, is rebuilt and reopens.
1616. Shakespeare dies on April 23rd.
1619. Hamlet is performed as part of Christmas celebrations at court.
1623. A collection of 36 of Shakespeare’s 37 plays was published and known as The First
Folio. Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway dies, the same year.
GIUSEPPE VERDI
BIOGRAPHY
1813: Giuseppe Verdi is born in Roncole in the province of Parma, Italy, to middle-class
parents Carolo and Luigia Uttini.
1822-1825: Verdi starts his educational studies with local priests at a young age,
followed by formal lessons in Italian, Latin and humanities. By age nine he takes over as
the permanent organist at the local church. By age 12, he studies with the maestro di
cappella at St. Bartolomeo, who is also the director of the municipal music school and
local Philharmonic Society.
1832: At the age of 18, Verdi becomes the pupil of Vincenzo Lavigna, who had for many
years been maestro concertatore at *La Scala.
5
GIUSEPPE VERDI
BIOGRAPHY
Verdi later recalls of these music lessons, “in the three years spent with him I did
nothing but canons and fugues, fugues and canons of all sorts. No one taught me
orchestration or how to treat dramatic music.” However, contemporary evidence
suggests that Lavigna encouraged Verdi to attend the theatre regularly, and his letters of recommendation specify study in free composition as well as in counterpoint.
Lavigna also helped his pupil into Milanese musical society; in 1834 Verdi assisted at
the keyboard in performances of Haydn’s Creation given by the Milan Philharmonic
Society directed by Pietro Massini, and a year later co-directed with Massini
performances of Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
*La Scala or the Teatro alla Scala was founded, under the auspices of the Empress
Maria Theresa of Austria, to replace the Royal Ducal Theatre, which was destroyed
by fire on 26 February 1776 and had until then been the home of opera in Milan.
1836: Verdi marries Margherita Barezzi on May 4 and settles in Busseto, directing and
composing for the local Philharmonic Society and giving private lessons. He holds
the post for nearly three years, during which time he and Margherita have two
children, Virginia and Icilio Romano.
1840: His first opera, Oberto, receives its premiere in the Lombard capital’s most
famous theatre. The success of Oberto apparently encourages the impresario at La
Scala to offer Verdi a contract for three more operas.
1838-1842: Verdi experiences the tragic loss of his two children followed by the
death of his wife. Verdi is devastated and renounces composition. However, he
finds renewed inspiration to compose again within the story of Nabucco, which
becomes his next opera. After the premiere, Verdi experiences unprecedented
public success in Milan.
1842-1853: In the 11 years from March 1842 (the premiere of Nabucco) to March
1853 (the premiere of La Traviata), Verdi writes 16 operas, an average of one every
nine months. He suffers from poor health frequently and vows to renounce operatic
composition once he achieves financial security and fulfills outstanding contracts.
During this time he befriends the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, who becomes his
lifelong companion.
1847: Verdi’s first Shakespearean opera, MACBETH, premieres at the Teatro della
Pergola in Florence on March 14, 1847.
1853-1871: Verdi’s opera La traviata premieres in1853, after which the pace of
Verdi’s operatic production slows considerably. The following 18 years sees only six
new works: Les vêpres siciliennes, Simon Boccanegra, Un ballo in maschera, La forza
del destino, Don Carlos and Aida. (As Vêpres and Don Carlos are written for the
Paris Opéra, they are considerably longer than any of his others scores, and require
Verdi’s presence in Paris during extended rehearsal periods).
6
GIUSEPPE VERDI
BIOGRAPHY
1871-1887: After Aida in 1871, it will be another 16 years until the next Verdi opera
premiere in 1887 with his second Shakespearen opera, Otello, which is followed with
Falstaff in 1893 – his last dramatic work. However, outside of opera, he composes:
the Messa da Requiem, various sacred vocal pieces, and extensive revisions on
operas, which include negotiations with theatres and librettists, and preparations for
revivals, often including writing new music to accommodate star performers.
1900: Verdi dies in Milan and is buried next to his wife in the Casa di Riposo. In his last
years he devotes a considerable amount of money and energy to the building of a
hospital at Villanova sull’Arda Piacenza and the founding of a home for retired
musicians, the Casa di Riposo, in Milan.
MACBETH
FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE
MACBETH
Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretti by Fracesco Maria Piave
Adapted after the stage play by William Shakespeare
“Verdi’s and Shakespeare’s MACBETHS are not identical twins.
But there could hardly be a case of closer artistic siblings.”
Stated Giorgio Melchiori, an Italian literary critic
who focused on the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras,
which encompass the span of Shakespeare’s writings.
Composed in 1847, MACBETH is one of Verdi’s early successes while his following
Shakespearean operas, Otello and Falstaff, are his final two operas, composed at
the end of Verdi’s career in 1887 and 1893 respectively. Though more than forty
years separate these works, they are considered among the best in 19 th century
opera.
Verdi knew Shakespeare through Italian and French translations, but he made sure
that the language difference would not be a barrier. As a longtime admirer of
Shakespeare, Verdi was eager for an opportunity to adapt one of his plays to
opera. He studied over the translations, diving into the dramatic intensity, atmospheric energy and essentiality of the text. Verdi recognized Shakespeare’s creative
vehicle of prose, and he aimed to understand it to the fullest as he encompassed
those words in his own medium of opera.
7
MACBETH
FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE
In approaching how to represent each of the characters in MACBETH, Verdi greatly
considered how to best portray the various personalities through voice types. Before he
began composing, he wrote of his Lady Macbeth,
“I want Lady Macbeth to be ugly and evil. Tadolini (a singer in consideration) sings to perfection, while I don’t want the lady to sing at all (although,
note that he goes on to compose powerful music for her to sing). Tadolini
has a stupendous voice…I want for Lady a harsh, strangled, grim voice.
Tadolini’s voice partakes of an angelic quality, while I want the Lady’s voice
to partake of the diabolic.”
(Letter to Salvatore Cammarano, Nov. 1848)
Verdi did not want a beautiful voice to distract from the ruthless “diabolical” quality
exhibited in Lady Macbeth. He wanted to approach the work with the concept that
beautiful voices mattered less than dramatic power, as the music was a means of
enhancing the story telling.
As with Shakespeare, Verdi centered the witches within the story, asserting, “The witches
dominate the drama; everything derives from them… They are truly a character, and a
character of the highest importance.” As was popular within 19 th century, Verdi was well
versed in the major theatrical traditions and artistic ideals, which embraced and glorified
the supernatural, the fantastic and the spectacular. Within this realm, Verdi is at home
and Shakespeare finds place within romanticism.
In regards to the story telling, some of the original text would need to be cut to accommodate the timing and other conventions necessary in opera. In a letter to the MACBETH
librettist Francesco Maria Paive, Verdi wrote, “Always bear in mind to use few words, few
words, few, few but significant.” Through several revisions, Verdi and Paive paid tribute to
the original work, despite the respective cuts and changes. At the same time, Verdi
produced a beloved work of opera.
The opera received huge success all through Italy following the premiere at the Teatro
della Pergola, in Florence Italy on March 14, 1847. The United States premiere came a
few years later at Niblo’s Garden in New York in April 1850. Verdi produced a revised
version in 1865, which received initial success, but eventually fell out of popularity until
after WWII. It was not until 1959 that MACBETH appeared on the Metropolitan Opera's
stage for the first time, receiving ninety-one performances between1959-2008.
“Verdi, having known the verbal richness of the original,
conceived a score that would compensate: it would recreate
the visionary dimension through sounds.” Giorgio Melchiori
8
Macbeth
Thoughts form the Maestro & Director
Kentucky Opera sat down with MACBETH Maestro, Joseph Mechavich and Director,
Keturah Stickann for a discussion on Verdi, Shakespeare and this production.
Kentucky Opera: Can you speak to how Verdi treated the characters in regards to matching
the characters with voice types, how the respective arias reflect the different character
personalities, and how his characters are true to their Shakespearean origin?
Maestro, JM: Verdi was a part of every aspect of putting the premiere together. He relentlessly
coached the singer-actors to make sure their diction was clear as well as making sure the
vocal coloring was what he wanted. There is a lot of whispers and mumbling in the score. With
MACBETH, Verdi wanted to move away from what he perceived as the limitations of bel canto
tradition, often thought of "park and bark" singing and enlist artists who can both sing and act.
MACBETH is dark, the language is ugly and Verdi wanted these attributes to be in the piece.
Vocal coloring is very important in realizing the three main characters: Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth and the Witches. (Bel Canto is defined as “beautiful singing” in Italian. A very fluid
singing style that was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti
are the best known composers in this style.)
Just like Shakespeare wrote for a specific company of actors, Verdi composed for specific
singers available to him. One will quickly notice that there is not a big tenor part in MACBETH.
That is because there were not any impressive tenors available at the Teatro della Pergola in
Florence where MACBETH premiered. This piece also showcases the emergence of the true Verdi
baritone (like Rigoletto, Di Luna etc.) as well as the basso cantante (as opposed to the comic
basso buffo). (Different types of Bass, or low male voice, types: Basso Cantante is a bass voice
which is light and lyrical; basso buffo is known as a comic bass, used in primarily comedic
operas or opera buffa).
Kentucky Opera: With so many interpretations and productions of both play and opera, how
do you approach the work? What visual elements can the audience anticipate during
Kentucky Opera’s production?
Director, KS: For this production, the set and costumes came to us from Pacific Opera Victoria.
It was an already conceived construct for them – I had to discover a way to interpret the set
and costuming in a way that would work for Kentucky Opera. I am not approaching this work
as a remount of the Pacific Opera Production or previous productions, but as a new
production with an existing set. It is interesting to enter into already constructed story and make
it original. I am taking a very abstract approach to this work. We are looking at how much we
can strip down the story and see what is really being shown. The time period is nonspecific
modern. This show sits out of time. It is not a period work, but that is the great thing about
Shakespeare – if one understands kings and monarchy, one will understand the story, despite
the setting.
We are including projections of original Shakespeare text into the show. This brings out the darkness of the work through his original language. I worked with the production team on choosing
which excerpts from the play would make it into these projections. This production is
aesthetically very abstract and also clean and white washed – until, the show cannot sustain it
anymore with the mayhem of the characters. This affect is a slap in the face. We play off these
opposing effects as much as possible – the contract between the white washed set and
appearance and the corruption in the story. Ultimately, the set succumbs to the story and
pretense is lost.
9