Macbeth
Giuseppe Verdi author Jeremy Sams translator Nicholas John editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Alma Books Ltd
Published:7th Feb '11
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Verdi came to Shakespeare through Italian translation and had never seen Macbeth on stage when he wrote his first version of the opera in 1847. Giorgio Melchiori draws a parallel between the conditions in which the playwright and the composer were working and compares their achievements. The supernatural was a vital element in both conceptions: the opera is “in the fantastic style”, with bizarre music for the witches’ dances and choruses. Theatre historian Michael Booth vividly introduces the staging of Shakespeare in the nineteenth century. Harold Powers discusses how the dramatic situations lent themselves to the forms and purposes of Italian opera. Contents: ‘Macbeth’: Shakespeare to Verdi, Giorgio Melchiori; Making ‘Macbeth’ ‘Musicabile’, Harold Powers; ‘Macbeth’ and the Nineteenth-Century Theatre, Michael R. Booth; A Note on Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, August Wilhelm Schlegel; The Preface in the Ricordi Libretto; Piave’s Intended Preface for the 1847 Libretto; Macbeth: Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave (1865); Macbeth: English translation by Jeremy Sams
Brilliantly produced and superb value.' * Sunday Times *
All these will provide the new opera-goer with food for thought.' * Daily Telegraph *
Wholehearted recommendation of this valuable new series.' * TLS *
ISBN: 9780714544427
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 147g
96 pages