Between words and notes

Performing Verdi’s Macbeth is a double-edged sword for an opera house. The opera, originally composed in 1847, stands as a pivotal moment in the composer’s career, since it represents his first attempt to transform a Shakespeare tragedy into an opera. A particularly challenging task was to integrate the dramatic pace of the theatrical text with the conventions of Italian melodramma -a task that grew even more challenging in 1865, when Verdi was invited to revise his opera for the Théatre Lyrique in Paris. In this version, which has become the standard for contemporary performances (albeit with the omission of the third-act ballet), old and new intermingle, creating overall an unexpected, yet very effective, dramatic effect. Nowhere is such coexistence more evident than in the role of Lady Macbeth, which, at least ideally, Verdi conceived…