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Welcome to a great operatic discovery tonight!
Shakespeare’s plays have been one of the great
inspirations for operas. That is clear from the 200-
odd operas based on Shakespeare’s plays, about
a half-dozen of which are among the monuments
of operatic achievement. There is an even more
extended series of furtive offspring that show signs
of unmistakable Shakespearean family resemblance.
“Macbeth” and “opera” immediately bring Verdi to
mind. When the twenty-four year old Bloch started
composing his Macbeth in 1904, Verdi’s Macbeth was still an obscure work, and was
rarely performed until after World War II and only reached the MET in 1959.
Bloch had an inspired librettist for Macbeth in his friend Edmond Fleg, a French poet,
playwright, and essayist. Fleg wrote one other opera libretto for Georges Enesco’s
Oedipus (1936). When the opera was almost finished Bloch and Fleg were given an
opportunity to present the work to Albert Carre, the director of the Paris Opera
Comique, who agreed to premiere it in 1910. There were thirteen performances
in all – the same number, as it happens, which Verdi’s revised Macbeth received in
1865 - before both works fell from popularity. Bloch cherished a letter from Nadia
Boulanger, telling of her appreciation. At the same time, Gabriel Faure, Boulanger’s
teacher, wrote that he was impressed by the opera but disturbed by the violence, the
“laideurs” in the work. He felt that even though there was ugliness in the drama the
music shouldn’t necessarily express it.
The rediscovery of the ‘other’ Macbeth brings you a thrilling retelling of the bloody
story with a powerful impressionistic score. The orchestra plays the leading part,
providing counterpoint, depth, and tragic irony that voice alone cannot convey. The
work is closely based on the original Shakespeare text and the composer himself
prepared an English translation of the original French text. One might consider
Verdi’s approach as being more “realistic,” and Bloch’s as being more in keeping with
the symbolist art of his time.
Bloch is today probably best known for those compositions which drew on Jewish
culture, such as the ‘Sacred Service’, ‘Baal Shem’, and his Cello Concerto ‘Schelomo’.
Yet, as his opera demonstrates, Bloch’s Jewish-themed creations do not define the
composer.
Tonight’s production is an adaptation of Bloch’s original opera—combining
characters, telescoping events, shifting roles—condensing the original three act
version into a 110 minute storm of ambition, fate, and evil.
Andreas Mitisek
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