Macbeth
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi Librettists: Francesco Maria Piave & Andrea Maffei
Giuseppe Verdi revised all but nine of his 27 operas after their premieres, and watching him in his repair shop is a masterclass in musical drama.
Teatro Nuovo is reviving the original 1847 Macbeth so that we can hear in its full rude boldness “this opera, that I love above all my others,” as the composer wrote in dedicating it to his benefactor and father-in-law Antonio Barezzi. The Verdi of Nabucco, I Lombardi, Ernani and I due Foscari, confronting his beloved Shakespeare for the first time, carved Macbeth from a single block of marble. The subtleties of the 1864 rewrite are compelling and will never be forgotten, but the unified vision of the young composer striking out on new paths has an impact and a fierce drive all its own. The Macbeths themselves seem younger: more bloodthirsty, more violent and energetic, less pensive. The chorus of Scots suffering under their misrule is that of the Risorgimento Verdi, straight from the hand that had so recently given the world “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate.”
The first Macbeth is a must-see for the true Verdian, and the perfect opera for extending Teatro Nuovo’s dynamic original-instrument restorations to the next frontier.
Saturday, July 19, 2025 at Alexander Kasser Theater (Montclair State University)