Francesco Maria Piave Libri

The book explores themes of ambition, power, and guilt through the tragic story of Macbeth. It begins with three witches who prophesy that Macbeth will become king, igniting his dark desires. Struggling with his murderous thoughts, he is ultimately spurred on by his wife, Lady Macbeth, leading him to kill King Duncan in his sleep. As Macbeth ascends to the throne, he becomes increasingly paranoid about losing his power, prompting him to murder Banquo, whose ghost haunts him during a banquet. In a desperate search for reassurance, Macbeth consults the witches again, who mislead him into a false sense of security with their cryptic prophecies. However, his downfall is sealed when Macduff, who was born by caesarean section, confronts him. The weight of his actions drives both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to madness and death, leaving a powerful commentary on the consequences of unchecked ambition and moral decay.

The premiere of Rigoletto (1851) marks a significant milestone in Verdi's oeuvre. The opera, based on a play by Victor Hugo (Le Roi s'amuse, 1832), is a work of bizarre logic, featuring a grotesque blend of wild passion and dark humor, tragic seriousness and desperate mockery. Verdi himself referred to it as a revolutionary opera.

La Traviata is a three-act opera by Giuseppe Verdi, based on a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, inspired by Alexandre Dumas (the younger)'s play, La Dame aux Camélias. It is part of the "popular trilogy" alongside Il Trovatore and Rigoletto. Composed partly at the Ricordi publishers' villa in Cadenabbia, on Lake Como, it premiered at La Fenice Theatre in Venice on March 6, 1853, but initially failed due to inadequate performers and the delicate nature of its themes. Revived the following year with a better cast, it finally achieved the success it deserved. Due to criticisms of bourgeois society, the opera underwent censorship changes in various Italian theatres, with some passages altered and the setting shifted from the 19th to the 18th century. The story explores themes of love, sacrifice, and societal norms, centering on the tragic romance between Violetta, a courtesan, and Alfredo, a young nobleman.

Einem lukrativen Auftrag der St. Petersburger Oper folgend, schuf Verdi das vieraktige Werk um romantisch-dramatische Beziehungsverwicklungen. Für die Erstaufführung an der Mailänder Scala änderte der Komponist die Fassung u. a. durch eine erweiterte Ouvertüre und einen versöhnlicheren Schluss. Die Ausgabe folgt dem Mailänder Libretto, der Anhang gibt zudem das Finale der ersten Fassung wieder.