Topics in the History of Opera: Shakespeare and Verdi

Over the course of his lengthy career, Giuseppe Verdi composed three operas based on plays by William Shakespeare. His operatic treatment of Macbeth (1847) was composed when Verdi was only 33-years old; he would wait another forty years before returning to Shakespeare for his two final (and arguably greatest) operas: Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1891). This seminar focuses on a close reading and analysis of the relevant plays, their operatic antecedents, ottocento operatic conventions, performance traditions, singers, and representations of race, gender, class, and age.