Seats exclusively reserved for SNFCC Members | GNO Educational and Social Activities: Verdi’s Shakespeare, speech

A speech on Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff

Throughout his life, Verdi was passionate about Shakespeare. Inspired by the great English bard, he bequeathed three masterpieces to the operatic repertoire — Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff — assimilating the original text into his music to such an extent that he managed to transcreate the Shakespearean dramas into brand-new artworks. The intensity, the vigor, the spartan, “virile” style of Verdi’s music endows the sung Shakesperean characters with an additional vivacity that makes them appear “truer” than in their spoken version. The musical composition creates a context of psychological expression that enables audiences to immerse themselves in a supreme experience. 

Aided by video screenings, the speech will trace the exciting process of composing these major works through Verdi’s lively creative correspondence with his librettists, Francesco Maria Piave for Macbeth, and poet and composer Arrigo Boito for the other two. We all will witness a give-and-take that may be likened to the immediacy of the modern era and social media! 

Speaker: Helena Matheopoulos

Area: GNO
Meeting Point: GNO
Start Time: 17:00
Duration:  90'