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 March 14, 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 in April of 1865.
After the success of Attila in 1846, by which time the composer had become well established, Macbeth came before the great successes of 1851 to 1853 (Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata) which propelled him into universal fame. As sources, Shakespeare's plays provided Verdi with lifelong inspiration: some, such as an adaption of King Lear were never realized, but he wrote his two final operas using Othello as the basis for Otello (1887) and The Merry Wives of Windsor as the basis for Falstaff (1893).
Cast:
Macbeth - Leonard Warren
Lady Macbeth - Leonie Rysanek
Banquo - Jerome Hines
Macduff - Carlo Bergonzi
Malcom - William Olvis
Erich Leinsdorf - conductor
MET Opera Orchestra and Chorus