Poor Macbeth. Henpecked, manipulated and always upstaged by his wife.
Who would have thought Shakespeare’s most murderous villain would continue to take a back seat to one of literature’s fabulous female schemers?
Lady Macbeth has been portrayed in a multitude of film adaptations and at least two operas, by Giuseppe Verdi and Ernest Bloch. The latter, a Swiss-American composer, concocted his 1910 version early in his career, but it’s much less blood soaked than the famous Italian version.
In 1846, Verdi, age 33, set about his 10th opera, venturing into his first Shakespearean interpretation. He saw “Macbeth” essentially as a three-character drama, the malevolent thane, his evil wife and the witches. He transformed three witches into a tri-part female chorus and stipulated that Lady Macbeth had to be “ugly and evil.” Her singing had to sound “rough, harsh and gloomy.”
None of those adjectives apply to the Russian diva Anna Netrebko, who is appearing as the Lady in the Metropolitan Opera revival of Verdi’s work. The MET: Live in HD transmission will be the kick-off of the 2014-15 season for the live Met transmissions.
If anything, the glamorous Netrebko has a reputation for portraying beautiful, sexy, high-spirited women. In the Met’s revival, a stark, modern-dress interpretation by the British director Adrian Noble, Netrebko turns the lady in question into a sultry blonde. She variously wears a glitzy red-sequined ball gown and a slippery gray satin negligee: Veronica Lake against baritone Zeljko Lucic’s Rod Steigeresque Macbeth.
Sexual imagery aside, the Met’s presentation of this dark opera is all about sexual politics. If Verdi wanted his Lady Macbeth to be a shrewish tramp, he has never gotten his wish at the Met from 1959 on. In 2012, the svelte soprano Nadja Michael slinked on stage in a sparse silk nightgown. Now it’s Netrebko’s turn.
But enough about sexy bed attire, star power and the diva-obsessed opera world. There are some odd conventions worth noting in “Macbeth.”
The opera opens on a battlefield then moves to Macbeth’s castle. Skullduggery ensues as Macbeth’s ambition to become king overcomes various obstacles, for example, murdering the current monarch. At the banquet where her husband is proclaimed the new ruler, Lady Macbeth jollies up the court with a Brindisi, a conventional oompah-pah drinking song. Her goal is to force celebratory toasts and merriment. Banquo’s ghost appears, Macbeth behaves oddly and Macduff leaves early. But Verdi got his drinking song. It’s not “La Traviata,” but it will do.
Verdi’s first version of “Macbeth” was a huge success. He collaborated with librettist Francesco Piave, who drew on a prose translation of Shakespeare’s play.
In 1865, Théatre Lyrique in Paris commissioned a French version. Verdi and his co-conspirators revised the Italian work and made various changes with one important add-on – a happy ending. After the death of the tyrant, a triumphant chorus sings.
After 1865, Verdi’s “Macbeth” slipped out of popular favor. A revival after World War II brought it back into the repertoire of many opera companies. The current Met version time travels to noirish modernity with a stylized black forest, black pillars in Macbeth’s castle and frumpy witches who carry purses. No frou-frou.
Sung in Italian with English subtitles, Verdi’s “Macbeth” runs three hours and 13 minutes. Bring a thermos and a snack for intermission.
jreynolds@durangoherald.com. Judith Reynolds is a Durango writer, art historian and arts journalist.
If you go
The MET: Live in HD screening of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Macbeth” will take place at 10:55 a.m. Saturday in the Vallecito Room of the Fort Lewis College Student Union, 1000 Rim Drive. Tickets are $23 general admission and $21 seniors, students and MET members, and are available at www.durangoconcerts.com, 247-7657, at the Welcome Center at Eighth Street and Main Avenue, or at the door.
