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Macbeth
by Giuseppe Verdi

Opera in three acts and ten scenes

Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave (with additional material by Andrea Maffei), after William Shakespeare's play

First performance: Florence; Teatro della Pergola, March 14, 1847
Sung in Italian with English supertitles above the stage

 

A chilling tale of witches, prophecies, murder and madness is retold by one of Italian opera’s greatest composers. Lady Macbeth wants the throne of Scotland for her husband, so she persuades Macbeth to murder the true king thus making the witches’ prophecy come true. Once the deed is done, one of the greatest and most studied tragedies of the stage is set in motion. Verdi creates an opera that is deeply inspired by the Shakespeare he loved, setting the tale to music that matches its chilling power, but surging with a life all its own. The mists and brooding landscape of Scotland are seared with the passion and fire characteristic of Verdi’s earliest operas.

 

CAST (in order of vocal appearance):

Soldiers, attendants, messengers, Scottish nobles and refugees, witches, bards and apparitions

Cast and opera are subject to change without notice.

 

PRODUCTION:

 

SETTING: 11th Century Scotland

 

Synopsis:

Act I, Scene 1

Macbeth and Banquo, generals in the army of King Duncan of Scotland, are returning from battle when they encounter witches.  These creatures hail Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, as Thane of Cawdor and future King and Banquo as the father of Kings.  When they vanish messengers appear stating that the present Thane of Cawdor has been banished for treachery and Macbeth now has the title.  Amazed, Macbeth is lured to thoughts of the crown and Banquo to concern for Macbeth’s rising ambition.

Scene 2

In the great hall of the castle Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband telling of his advancement and of the witches’ predictions.  She exults in the power that will be hers and pledges to devote her strength and cunning to her husband’s destiny.  A servant announces that King Duncan and his retinue will arrive to stay for the night.  She invokes the powers of darkness to aid her in her monstrous plan.

When Macbeth arrives she greets him as Thane of Cawdor and wastes no time in insisting that they act to kill the King while he sleeps.

King Duncan and his train arrive and as the castle settles for the night, Macbeth is haunted by the vision of a knife that hangs in the air before him, leading him on a path of crime.  The tocsin sounds, which is the signal, and he rushes to the gory deed.

Lady Macbeth waits for him and tries to calm him when he enters with bloodstained hands, having accomplished the deed.  She tells him to return to smear blood on the sleeping guards so that the blame will fall on them, but he refuses.  She seizes the dagger and goes to do it herself.

A knock at the door is heard as she returns and they both slink away to their chambers.  The noblemen, Macduff and Banquo, enter to awaken the King at dawn and discover the murder.  The Court is summoned and expresses horror, begging God for retribution on the perpetrator of this hideous deed.

Act II, Scene 1

Now King, Macbeth broods on the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s progeny will wear the crown.  He vows to his Lady that Banquo and his son will die.  She watches him go and muses on the necessity of the knife and the joy of power.

Scene 2

Assassins await Banquo and his son Fleance as they return from the hunt.  Banquo is killed but Fleance escapes.

Scene 3

In the banqueting hall of the castle Macbeth and his Queen welcome their guests with a drinking song.  One of the assassins arrives and tells Macbeth that Banquo is dead.  The King is distressed to learn of Fleance’s escape.  He turns to his guests to complain of Banquo’s absence from their feasting when suddenly he sees the ghost of his general.  He is deeply shaken.  When Lady Macbeth berates him for his guilty behavior, he calms himself.  The “brindisi” begins again, and once more Banquo appears.  Macbeth’s cries cause his guests to think him mad. He vows amidst the tumult to visit the witches again and gain from them the truth of his destiny.

Act III, Scene 1

In a rocky cavern the witches stir their cauldron.  Macbeth approaches and questions them and they conjure up a series of apparitions to reveal his future.  The first is a warrior that tells him to beware of Macduff.  The second is a bloody child that tells him that no man born of woman can harm him.  The third is a child bearing a crown that states he will remain invincible until Birnam Woods marches on his castle at Dunsinane.  Reassured he asks if indeed Banquo’s issue will wear the crown, whereupon eight kings march by him, the last of the line being Banquo himself with a mirror which reflects the other figures.  The prediction is clear and Macbeth faints in despair.  When he arrives Lady Macbeth joins him and they vow to destroy Macduff and all who stand in their path to glory.

Scene 2

Near Birnam Woods, Scottish refugees lament for their beleaguered homeland caught in the bloody grip of a ruthless king.  They trail hopelessly onward on their path to England.  Macduff joins them for a moment and then sings of his despair in finding his wife and children slaughtered upon his return from English exile.  He vows vengeance on the villainous Macbeth.  When Malcolm, Duncan’s son, and English troops enter, the crowd of Scottish people return.  Soldiers are instructed to cut branches from Birnam Woods as camouflage and all unite in a call to arms.

Scene 3

The Court Physician and the Lady-in-Waiting await the arrival of the Queen who has been walking in her sleep for several nights.  She appears with a candle then puts it aside to try ceaselessly to wipe bloodstains from her hands.  She relives the murders and disappears in the dark corridor of the castle.

Scene 4

In a hall of Dunsinane Castle, Macbeth defies the powers that mount against him, but his soul grows weary and he feels desperately alone.  He is told of Lady Macbeth’s death and is given only a moment of bitter grief before he learns that indeed Birnam Woods advances on the castle.  He calls for his armor and his generals surround him in a call to arms.

Scene 5

Skirmishes in the castle and on the battlefield climax with the meeting of Macduff and Macbeth.  The King challenges his assailant with the words of the witches that no man born of a woman can harm him, but Macduff counters that he was torn prematurely from his mother’s womb and plunges his sword into the stunned ruler.  Macbeth is left alone to curse the day he heeded the witches’ prophecy and to die a broken man.  Malcolm is hailed the new king of Scotland.