The opera so cursed, Verdi banned encores of its witches' chorus. Big mistake.
Verdi’s life-long love affair with Shakespeare’s works began with Macbeth, a play he considered to be ‘one of the greatest creations of man’. With his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, Verdi set out to create ‘something out of the ordinary’. Their success is borne out in every bar of a score that sees Verdi at his most theatrical: it bristles with demonic energy.
Acting
Netrebko's Lady M: operatic villainy at its most unhinged
Direction
Phyllida Lloyd's staging makes witches truly otherworldly
Score
Verdi's demonic energy—literally wrote 'something out of the ordinary'
Director
Phyllida Lloyd
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Verdi was so obsessed with Shakespeare he kept a bust of the Bard on his piano; this was his first operatic adaptation.
The 1847 premiere flopped in Florence—too dark, too weird—then became Verdi's most revised work across his lifetime.
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