If Shakespeare's Macbeth is already bloodthirsty, dark, barbaric, ferocious, atavistic and telluric, Verdi's operatic reworking of this work not only keeps intact the strength of the original but, by concentrating and essentialising it, he even increases it. Verdi's Macbeth is the ultimate party of wickedness and an orgy of moral perversion. Stylistically, it is a rare opera that does not fit anywhere – chronologically it should be inscribed in late bel canto, but...

Don Giovanni of 1787 is one of three operas that Mozart wrote with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte (the others being Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte). It tells of the eponymous hero, or rather antihero, who effortlessly conquers thousands of women. Although in the process he makes many enemies, the ladies he has cheated have a habit of coming back for more or trying to save him, and in the end he is responsible for his own downfall. When the ghost of the Commendatore who he...

The musical power and dramatic efficacy of Tosca are such that it survives almost all the productions that have been made of it – not always with the same success. The restaging of the Tosca co-production by Liceu and Teatro de la Maestranza from Sevilla, which was already seen in 2014, wasn’t a good idea. The production – dramatically conventional and visually extravagant – was ugly and sad back then and continues to be so despite the changes that have been...

Charles-François Gounod’s Faust premiered at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris on 19 March 1859. It underwent several revisions over the following decade, including the insertion of a ballet into Act V to meet the expectations of grand opera, and was extremely popular in the nineteenth century. It was the work with which New York’s Metropolitan Opera opened for the first time on 22 October 1883, while Covent Garden included it in its...

Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's legendary Milan production of La Cenerentola would be hard to replace. Since being unveiled at La Scala in 1973 it has enchanted local audiences time and again, and attempts to decommission such a joyous take on Rossini's work would, you feel, prompt strong resistance from the La Scala faithful. Especially as long as such interesting casts continue to be sourced. Marianne Crebassa, La Cenerentola (c) La Scala 2019 Ph. Marco Brescia & Rudy...

Giuseppe Verdi’s Les Vêpres siciliennes of 1855 tells of the French occupation of Sicily in the thirteenth century. Prior to the opera’s opening the Sicilian patriot Jean Procida was exiled and the French conqueror Guy de Montfort, who became the island’s governor, violated a Sicilian woman who subsequently had a son called Henri. At times the Sicilians are a little too ready to accept their subservient position, but three individuals are determined to set the...