BaL 25.04.15 - Verdi: Macbeth

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Then again I have always thought Othello a much better play than Macbeth too .

- but then, at least some of Macbeth is weakened by not being by Shakespeare.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

- but then, at least some of Macbeth is weakened by not being by Shakespeare.

Why do the words "can" and "worms" suddenly spring to mind.

UnHIPP Shakespeare.

Nowak or Haas?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Nowak or Haas?

I think in this instance, more Middleton, whose play The Witch included two songs which were included in the first published edition of Macbeth in 1623. The two scenes with Hecate (III, v and V, i, 1 - 60 & 141 - 150) with their different metre and vocabulary are generally thought to be a later addition, possibly by Middleton himself. Or Anna Magdalena Bach.

[Flosshilde]

I think (or so I was told at school) that it's mostly the later witches scenes, & the procession of Banquo's descendants, that are the non-Shakespeare bits. The rest of it is sheer ambition at all costs, which perhaps Verdi didn't feel comfortable with - no tragic figures, or sympathetic ones.

[verismissimo]

... Lady Macbeth a mezzo? I know several mezzos have taken on the role, but Verdi wrote it for a soprano...

Wish we'd had some Margherita Grandi... Ideal for this role.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'm afraid that it just doesn't do justice to the play (unlike Otello, I think).

I agree. Verdi's Macbeth isn't a patch on Shakespeare's. However, Otello is the equal to Othello and Falstaff surpasses The Merry Wives of Windsor!

[verismissimo]

I agree. Verdi's Macbeth isn't a patch on Shakespeare's. However, Otello is the equal to Othello and Falstaff surpasses The Merry Wives of Windsor!

Curiously much of the Macbeth libretto is Shakespeare, whereas Boito's fine Otello contains scarcely a word!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

However, Otello is the equal to Othello and Falstaff surpasses The Merry Wives of Windsor!

I agree with you about Falstaff - but Otello? The Music is wonderful, but Boito reduces the enigmatic "motiveless malignity" of the character of (Shakespeare's) Iago to something much less interesting. And omitting the opening scene in Venice also weakens the subsequent events - Shakespeare's subtle psychological insights replaced by a more basic "love thwarted by a baddie" story. Verdi gets close to matching Shakespeare, but Boito falls very far short - not a savage condemnation; a bit unfair to expect anything else!

[Nick Armstrong]

Memorable quote: "'Carry-on Up the Cauldron' spectacular". cf "manic Hungarian elephant dance" (Richard Morrison on Solti's Elgar 2 Scherzo, a few weeks ago). Also: "brave attempt" re one of the Verdi singers: AB examiners and local arts festival adjudicators take note.

Yes there were some choice phrases in this BAL - as you say, "what might charitably be called a brave attempt" was one (and it sums up a lot of what one heard)... I liked the word "charitably"

I also enjoyed his offer of "The Order of the Golden Anorak" for anyone who identified the Schippers/Taddei/Nilsson

I have Schippers with Nilsson

So did you recognise it when listening to BaL? And if so congratulations on your OGA!

This BaL did nothing to endear me to this composer's operas. In fact it was a quick listen on my return from holiday as I had to fast forward through most of the sopranos, I just can't bear it.

The only version to get my ears pricking up was the Leinsdorf in fact - pilloried by the reviewer for being dull, but his way with the opening right at the start of the programme seemed to me much more involving than the praised Muti comparison which struck me as more 'rumty-tum' and conventional.

Incidentally, if in one of the arias, we hear about "Macduffo" ( ), why is the bloody piece not called "Macbetho"?

Anyway, not one for me (Macduffo? Seriously???)

Next !!!!

[vinteuil]

... why is the bloody piece not called "Macbetho"?

!

... a good question. In the dramatis personae he is referred to as Macbeth - but when his name occurs in the sung parts it is Macbetto, starting with the witches at the beginning - "Vien Macbetto. Eccolo qua!" "Salve o Macbetto, di Glamis sire!" ....

[verismissimo]

... too many rumty-tumty choruses...

When did Verdi finish with rumty-tumty, if ever? Falstaff?

[Flosshilde]

At the end of Macbeth, obviously.

[Beef Oven!]

Sherrill Milnes (Macbeth), Fiorenza Cossotto (Lady Macbeth), Jose Carreras (Macduff), Ruggero Raimondi (Banco), Giuliano Bernardi (Malcolm), Maria Borgato (Dama), Carlo Del Bosco (Medico), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti (conductor)

Thanks. Luckily, I bought that yonks ago because it was reasonably priced, without knowing its merit as a recording.