Verdi’s Shakespeare

A speech about Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff

Throughout his life, Verdi had a passion for Shakespeare. Inspired by the great English poet, he bequeathed three masterpieces to the operatic repertoire: Macbeth, Otello, and Falstaff. Successfully assimilating the original text into his music to a great extent, Verdi managed to transform the Shakespearean dramas into new compositions. The tension, the vigour, the unadorned, “masculine” compositional music style of Verdi endows Shakespearean characters with an added vitality that makes them seem more real than in prose theatre. The music and the way he handles it create a setting for psychological expression that provides audiences the chance to live out a sublime experience.

The speech – accompanied by video projections– will follow the fascinating story of the composition of these great Verdian works through the composer’s lively and creative correspondence with librettist Francesco Maria Piave (about Macbeth) and poet and composer Enrico Boito (about Otello and Falstaff). We will become witnesses of a give and take process that is much similar to the immediacy of social media in modern age.

Date & time: 4 February 2023, 17.00

Place: VIP Lounge

Free Admission – Advance booking is required from 25 January 2023 via ticketservices.gr.