A Study On Verdi’s Shakespeare-based Operas

Verdi adored Shakespeare during his lifetime. He was strongly influenced by Shakespeare in the aspect of drama. Verdi is the most successful composer who had written Shakespeare-based operas, and he composed three great Shakespeare-based operas at all. They are Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff. This dissertation made a close comparison of Shakespeare’s plays and Verdi’s operas by deep analysis of the libretto and music from the three aspects, which are libretto construction, characterization and scene description. And some characteristics about the nature of opera were revealed by comparison and analysis.The relationship of Verdi and Shakespeare were discussed in the Chapter I. Shakespeare’s influences on Verdi can be summed up in two aspects:a profound and distinct characterization, a natural and brief dramatic purpose. And then, it is described that Verdi is not only the most successful but also most faithful operatic interpreter of Shakespeare’s plays. The three operas were analyzed and discussed in Chapter Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ from the former three aspects of view. The characteristics of Verdi’s Shakespeare-based operas were summed up in Chapter V and this made us a clearer understanding of the nature of opera.Truthfully, opera, as a genre, possess a unique artistic value and charm. These unique values are standards what we valued operas according to. Verdi’s Shakespeare-based operas showed us the librettist’s and the composer’s skilled processing of the problems on the nature of opera. Consequently, This study would not only rich the study of research on the nature of opera and be a reference to the operatic critics and audiences, but also possess a meaning of guiding of the opera writing in China.