Adaptation and Intermediality: Reflections on Macbeth, Verdi’s Choral Opera

Abstract

Opera, a form of musical theatre, is the art of adaptation par excellence, consisting of the integration and fusion of multiple artistic languages. This research paper aims at reflecting on the opera Macbeth (1947/ 1865), by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), based on the homonymous text (1605) by Shakespeare (1564-1616), in the light of theoretical perspectives by Linda and Michael Hutcheon (2011; 2017), Lars Elleström (2017); Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht (2011) and others. Like Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Verdi was one of the first composers concerned with the dramatic and scenic aspects of his operas. Several innovations are attributed to him, including the formulation of  mise-en-scène manual and the creation of ambience or Stimmung. As concerns the opera Macbeth, Verdi highlighted the role of the witches through a female chorus of thirty voices for believing they are the driving force of the drama. At the beginning of act four, he introduced a chorus of Scottish exiles to express his own longings for freedom regarding the movement for the unification of Italy. The various specificities of the Verdian opera will be discussed as textual model (libretto), musical composition (score) and dramatic performance (scenic concretization).