preface
Italian opera reached its heyday in the 19th century. This period formed a romantic opera, with "Bel canto" singing as its core, emphasizing imagination and emotion, with its compositions and arias carrying the composer's own creative style and highlighting the strong emotions of the era.
The successive appearances of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and others have pushed it to a new height. The fusion of music and literature was a creative trend of this period, when Italian opera was mostly extracted from famous works, novels, plays and plays of the same or previous period.
Verdi, in particular, had many of his opera repertoire adapted from literary works. For example, "Louisa Miller", adapted from the famous work "Intrigue and Love" by the German writer Schiller; Rigoletto is based on French writer Hugo's famous work The King's Quest and other works. Both literary and artistically speaking, these two works can be considered representative works of the heyday of Italian opera.
Both Macbeth and Verdi feature Macbeth and Otello, who play a pivotal role in Shakespeare's tragedy. The two are not only the perpetrators of tragedy, but also the victims of tragedy, they are both a pair of tragic characters who have been destroyed by themselves.
Similarity
Darkness is the cause of tragedy. Macbeth was a cousin of King Duncan, who fought in the war many times, so he was popular with both the royal family and the people. However, Macbeth's heart was filled with personal desires and greed for the throne, and he was not satisfied with his position, so he came up with the idea of "killing the king". The endless possession turned him into a cruel man, causing him to kill Banquo, McDev's wife and children.
Otello is both a brave general and a man who has a deep affection for his sweetheart Daisy Demona. But Otello was born a "Moor", which made him full of jealousy and suspicion of others. He was envious of Cassio, the assistant of the "locals", and his eloquence was also very good, which made him often shine in public. Yago took advantage of this and killed Daisy. Daimona.
Tragedy caused by external stimuli. The external stimuli to which Macbeth is subjected are caused by the three witches and Lady Macbeth. In Act 1 of Macbeth, on his way home in triumph, Macbeth meets three witches and learns from them that he will ascend the throne as King of Scotland. The prophecy of the three witches evoked an underlying desire for the throne in Macbeth's heart. Later, Lady Macbeth's provocations and provocations made Macbeth more determined to kill Duncan and speed up his plan.
Otello's external motivation was caused by Yago's "provocation". In the play, Yago uses the "handkerchief" that Otello gave to Daisy Demona, and uses Otello's jealousy of Cassio to create the "adultery" between Daisy Demona and Cassio, and uses this as a substitute. After that, Yago has been passing the news of the "adultery" to Otello, and he and Otero swore to God to make Otello fully believe his words, and finally killed Daisy Demona.
The dual identity of perpetrator and victim. Encouraged by wizarding prophecies and his wife, Macbeth set out his ambitions to murder King Duncan, killing his assistant Banquo and then the wife and children of Macduff's nobles.
And this series of events also made him more and more crazy and isolated. In the fourth act of the play, Macbeth is deeply ashamed of what he has done, full of resentment about his death, and in the end, he also falls victim to the play because he clashes with the rebels led by McDuff.
And Yago's lies and lies made Otello even more suspicious, loyal to his lover Daisy Demona, and killed his lover in a fit of anger. This makes Otello the perpetrator. However, when he learned the truth of the matter, he was remorseful.
In the final scene of the play, Otello expresses his love for her to Daisy Demona, and at the same time expresses his love for her. However, he was of no use, because he lost his beloved, he committed suicide by drawing a knife in front of the corpse of his beloved, and he himself undoubtedly became a victim of this tragedy.
distinguish
Identity and social status. From a theatrical and opera point of view, Macbeth became Duncan's cousin. In this story, Macbeth, as a prestigious nobleman, has a brilliant record and a good reputation.
As for Otello, he was a Moorish from the bottom, and although he was brave and respected by his subordinates, he was not popular with the upper class in Venice, a predominantly white place, and it can be said that in this world, Otello was not a popular "foreigner". Macbeth and Otello also have great differences in personality due to differences in family background and social status.
Character and mental condition. Macbeth was heroic by nature and led his men to victories repeatedly, but Macbeth was hesitant by nature. He showed hesitation and hesitation about killing King Duncan, and his mentality changed a lot in this play. In the first act, he communicates with Lady Macbeth many times, and he fights a fierce battle between Lady Macbeth's encouragement and his own kindness. In the later period, the murderous Macbeth has a violent temperament, and his psychology and reason are close to madness.
Otello is a very simple man, but easily irritated. Yago and Otello made an oath together, and the hot-headed Otello decided to kill Daisy Demona without asking or asking. Because of his humble origin and years of fighting in the battlefield, his personality is a little withdrawn and he is not good at getting along with people, so he will kill his beloved in a fit of anger. However, Otello has also undergone a transformation from naïve and arrogant to manic and skeptical.
Select Death. Macbeth and Otello both died tragically, but they died differently. When Macbeth heard that the rebels were coming, he said to his men: "Why should I hack myself to death with a knife, like the Romans?" My sword was meant to kill. It can be seen that he also hesitated whether he was dead or alive. Instead, he chose to bravely rush to the rebels, only to be killed by McDev. At the same time, it also reflects the noble spirit of Macbeth who was ashamed of suicide and preferred to die in battle.
"Otello" is different, Otello is faced with the fear of death, he knows the truth, but he feels great pain. He said a few words of affection to the corpse of Daisy Demona, then drew his long sword and wiped his neck. It shows that he would rather die than die with his lover.
epilogue
Taking Verdi's Macbeth and Otero as the "center", this paper explores the performance characteristics of Shakespeare's tragic characters in music from the overall characteristics of Verdi's opera creation and the music analysis and contrast of the arias of the "protagonist" in the two works. What Macbeth and Otero have in common is mainly reflected in their inner emotions, external stimuli, and the dual identities of perpetrator and victim.
The difference between them is their identity, their social status, their character, their psychology, their choice of death. In addition, Verdi's plays largely restore the main characters in Shakespeare's works and reproduce the tragic plots in Shakespeare's works to a certain extent. It can be said that Verdi had a deep understanding of the characters in Shakespeare's plays, and incorporated his own ideas on this basis, so that the plot could be smoothly expressed through music.