Verdi’s Dangerous Voices

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Prof. Steven Huebner (Music)
Verdi's Dangerous Voices

This talk will invite reflections on various ways opera can communicate a sense of danger. Shakespeare¹s Macbeth presented particular challenges as a literary antecedent in the context of nineteenth-century Italian operatic culture, which privileged beauty of vocal production and a set of dramaturgical conventions designed to highlight the artistry of performers. We will explore how Verdi courted

risks with consumers of his own version of Macbeth in responding to the unsettling and disturbing aspects of his model. And we will evaluate whether the result is merely a debasement of Shakespeare or equal in its capacity to evoke hazard.