Ballabili

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi (trans. Wil van der Beek)

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Subtitle: Ballet of the Witches from the Opera Macbeth

General Info

Year: 1847 / 1865 / 1997
Duration: c. 2:15
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Symphony
Publisher: De Haske
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €112.00 | Score Only (print) - €22.00

Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Giuseppe Verdi's opera Macbeth was written in 1846/47 and premiered in Florence. It is based on Shakespeare's Macbeth and, unlike Verdi's other operas, had relatively little broad impact. This may be due to the difficulty of the singing voices, the lack of a love story or the dark mood, without humorous scenes.

Musically, however, this opera is not uninteresting. Among other things, all the dramatic highlights culminate in artistically built ensembles. It also contains interesting instrumental effects, such as a wind orchestra under the stage in the witch scenes. This makes the witches and air spirits seem like from another world. In the 19th century opera, such a wind band, a so-called "banda" was not uncommon but an integral part of the scene.

- Program Note from publisher

Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Written for the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, it was Verdi's tenth opera and premiered on 14 March 1847. Macbeth was the first Shakespeare play that Verdi adapted for the operatic stage. Almost twenty years later, Macbeth was revised and expanded in a French version and given in Paris on 19 April 1865.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

The Ballabili comes from Act III of Verdi's opera MacBeth. Ballabili is the plural of the Italian ballabile, meaning "danceable." It can also mean a dance performed by the corps de ballet, or by the chorus in an opera; or the music to accompany this dance.

- Program Note by Dave Strickler