Opera Giuseppe Verdi "Macbeth" opera in four acts (сoncert performance) World famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera - Mariinsky II (New Theatre)
Schedule for Giuseppe Verdi "Macbeth" opera in four acts (сoncert performance) 2022
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko Musical Preparation: Irina Soboleva
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra
opera in concert in 4 acts
World premiere: 14 March 1847, Teatro della Pergola, Florence, Italy
Classics of the Italian Opera.
Macbeth was Verdi's first Shakespeare opera, and he
began it late in 1846 for a production in Florence. The composer chose his
stories carefully, and he had always admired Shakespeare. But this time the
choice was purely practical: the only other story Verdi had in his creative
pipeline needed a tenor for the lead role, and no reliable tenors were
available. The title role of Macbeth called for a baritone, and one of the best
baritones in Italy was at hand.
From the start, Verdi decided this score
would be one of his best, if only in homage to its subject. He called
Shakespeare's play "one of mankind's greatest creations." He worked closely with
the librettist, Franceso Piave, and had a strong hand — some said a heavy hand —
in casting and production decisions. For example, Verdi vetoed the theater's
first choice of sopranos to play Lady Macbeth. He said the singer they chose was
too good-looking, and had too pleasing a voice to portray such a sinister
character.
Libretto - Francesco Maria Piave, after the tragedy by William Shakespeare
Original Design - Tanya McCallin Original Lighting Design - Davy
Cunningham
•World premiere: 14 March 1847, Teatro della Pergola, Florence; •Premiere
of this production: 18 April 2001, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
Performed in Italian
The Performance has one intermission
VIVA VERDI!
Like any great talent, Verdi is an embodiment of his
nationality and his age. He is a flower of his native land. He is
the voice of modern Italy <…> an Italy that has awoken to
consciousness. An Italy troubled by political storms, an Italy that is bold
and passionate to the point of frenzy. Alexander Serov
The words in the epigraph above are all the more poignant
for having been spoken by an outstanding Russian musician who had previously
often appeared in print criticising Verdi’s operas. In their battle
for Russian music, many cultural figures in Russia protested against
the preponderance of Italian music at Russian opera houses. Once
the “teething troubles” of its infancy had been overcome and when
the operas of Glinka, Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky stood
shoulder to shoulder with the very best classical works, the music of
the great Italian was discovered in all its artistic beauty and
meaningfulness for all humanity. Verdi’s compatriots understood this before
anyone else. The twenty-six-year-old composer’s very first opera
Oberto (1839) proved a success and was staged in Milan,
Turin, Genoa and Naples... And, just three years later, the premiere of
Nabucco at the Teatro alla Scala resulted in endless ovations
from the ecstatic audience; by the end of 1842 the opera had been
performed sixty-five times! The famous chorus of Hebrew slaves from
Act III Và, pensiero, sull’ali dorate (“Fly, thought, on
wings of gold”) was taken by the Italians as a symbol of
the struggle to free themselves from an oppressive foreign power. It should
come as no surprise that, sixty years later, this chorus was performed impromptu
by the several-thousand-strong crowd that accompanied Verdi on his final
journey! In February 1859 the Teatro Apollo in Rome hosted
the premiere of Un ballo in maschera; the audience
gave the composer a standing ovation with cries of “Viva Verdi!” This
was to become the slogan of the Italian revolution – for
contemporaries, the naively concealed meaning was obvious: VERDI –
Vittorio Emmanuele, Re D’Italia (Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy). It doesn’t
come as a surprise that when declaring victory, Cavour (a minister of
the king who unified Italy) was unable to find the right words and
in some surge of inspiration started to sing Manrico’s heroic cabaletta
from Il trovatore! Verdi’s music is inseparable from the age
of “Risorgimento” – the name given to a time of intense upheaval
in spiritual life in Italy, a time of national and political
renaissance. The two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of
Giuseppe Verdi, a composer admired across the globe, provides us with
a wonderful opportunity to remember the love that is felt for
the composer’s music in Russia. And also that, with a few rare
exceptions, more than twenty of his operas have been staged at Russian theatres
over the years, both in St Petersburg and Moscow and
in the provinces. The Mariinsky Theatre is continuing
the tradition of the St Petersburg Board of Imperial Theatres,
which commissioned Verdi to compose one of his most famous operas –
La forza del destino – one hundred and fifty years ago.
Alongside incredibly popular masterpieces (such as Aida, Don Carlo,
Macbeth, La traviata, Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera, Otello and
Falstaff...), the theatre’s playbill also lists the comparatively
rarely staged Nabucco and Attila. Gala concerts of Verdi’s
music introduce audiences to choruses and arias from the composer’s operas.
There have been concert and stage versions of the epic Requiem
in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian author whom Verdi considered to
be a fine example of patriotic valour. The music of Verdi, one of
Italy’s most outstanding composers, makes up some of classical music’s most
timeless treasures. Iosif Raiskin
Synopsis
Act 1
Scotland in the 11th century. Groups of witches gather in a wood beside a
battlefield. The victorious generals Macbeth and Banquo enter. The witches hail
Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king "hereafter." Banquo is
greeted as the founder of a great line of future kings. The witches vanish, and
messengers from the king appear naming Macbeth Thane of Cawdor.
At their castle, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband telling of the
encounter with the witches. She is determined to propel Macbeth to the throne
(’Vieni! t’affretta!’). It is announced that King Duncan will stay in the castle
that night and when Macbeth enters she urges him to take the opportunity to kill
him. The King and the nobles arrive. Macbeth is emboldened to carry out the
murder (’Mi si affaccia un pugnal?’), but afterwards is filled with horror. Lady
Macbeth, disgusted at his cowardice, completes the crime, incriminating the
sleeping guards by smearing them with Duncan’s blood and planting on them
Macbeth’s dagger. The murder is discovered by Macduff. A chorus calls on God to
avenge the killing (’Schiudi, inferno, . .’).
Act 2
Macbeth is now king, but disturbed by the prophecy that Banquo, not him, will
found a great royal line. To prevent this he tells his wife that he will have
both Banquo and his son murdered as they come to a banquet. Lady Macbeth exults
in the powers of darkness (’La luce langue’). Outside the castle a gang of
murderers lie in wait. Banquo is apprehensive (’Come dal ciel precipita’). He is
caught but enables his son Fleanzio to escape. In a hall in the castle, Macbeth
receives the guests and Lady Macbeth sings a brindisi (’Si colmi il calice’).
The assassination is reported to Macbeth, but when he returns to the table the
ghost of Banco is sitting in his place. Macbeth raves at the ghost and the
horrified guests believe he has gone mad. The banquet ends abruptly with their
hurried, frightened departure.
Act 3
The witches gather around a cauldron in a dark cave. Macbeth enters and they
conjure up three apparitions for him. The first advises him to beware of
Macduff. The second tells him that he cannot be harmed by a man ’born of woman’.
The third that he cannot be conquered till Birnam Wood marches against him.
Macbeth is then shown the ghost of Banquo and his descendants, eight future
Kings of Scotland, verifying the original prophecy. He collapses and regains
consciousness in the castle. Macbeth and his wife resolve to extirpate the
families of Macduff and Banquo (’Ora di morte e di vendetta’).
Act 4
A chorus of Scottish refugees (’Patria oppressa’) stand near the English
border. In the distance lies Birnam Wood. Macduff is determined to avenge the
deaths of his wife and children at the hands of the tyrant (’Ah la paterna
mano’). He is joined by Malcolm, the son of King Duncan, and the English army.
Malcolm orders each soldier to cut a branch from a tree in Birnam Wood and carry
it as they attack Macbeth’s army. They are determined to liberate Scotland from
tyranny (’La patria tradita’).
In Macbeth’s castle a doctor and a servant observe the Queen as she walks in
her sleep, wringing her hands and attempting to clean them of blood (’Una
macchia’). Macbeth has learned that an army is advancing against him but is
reassured by remembering the words of the apparitions. (’Pietа, rispetto amore’)
He receives the news of the Queen’s death with indifference. Rallying his troops
he learns that Birnam Wood has indeed come to his castle. Battle is joined.
Macduff pursues and kills Macbeth, telling him that he was not ’born’ of woman
but ’cut’ from his mother’s womb. The opera ends with a hymn to victory sung by
bards, soldiers, and Scottish women.
Provided by Wikipedia -
Macbeth
(opera)
Additional information
Characters
Schedule for Giuseppe Verdi "Macbeth" opera in four acts (сoncert performance) 2022
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