# MacBeth & Hamlet



## OldMetKid (Jan 12, 2019)

Is anyone familiar with Macbeth by Bloch or Hamlet by A. Thomas? Interesting arias, choruses, or orchestral pieces? I was thinking about reading them, but then decided maybe I'd listen..


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Reading Shakespeare? Listening to operas is hardly a substitute for that.


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## OldMetKid (Jan 12, 2019)

I know I wasn't lkg for a substitution. I was donating some old books and it crossed my mind that there were several MacBeths, and ar least a Hamlet. And I like scouring obscure operas...


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## REP (Dec 8, 2011)

Thomas's Hamlet was streamed from the Met 10 or 12 years ago. As a Shakespearian opera aficionado, I thought it was interesting but musically unremarkable. The thing I remember most is that the opera ends very differently from the play (the Ghost of Hamlet's father returns during the graveyard scene to wreak vengeance on his brother Claudius). As a whole the opera is not dramatically convincing, but it does capture the mood of the play at times. 

Speaking of Hamlet opera adaptations, I have enjoyed listening to Faccio's Amleto from time to time. I've never actually seen it, so I can't speak to its dramatic potency, but the music is nice. And Faccio had an interesting relationship with Verdi, his older compatriot, whom Faccio publicly slagged as a young man, only to ask for Verdi's help later on when beginning his conducting career. Verdi, ever magnanimous (though terminally grouchy), agreed to help the young conductor, though he never forgot the young upstart's youthful impertinence.

As for Macbeth, I'm only really familiar with Verdi's Macbeth, which I consider a great opera (one of the earliest masterpieces in Verdi's oeuvre), but even that is no substitute for the play.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

OldMetKid said:


> Is anyone familiar with Macbeth by Bloch or Hamlet by A. Thomas? Interesting arias, choruses, or orchestral pieces? I was thinking about reading them, but then decided maybe I'd listen..


Is watching an option, If yes:

Very moderns setting but breath taking beautiful #

Keenlyside and Dessay are very good 

For cd I highly recommend this one :


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Some people at the MET webpage liked the contemporary Hamlet by Brett Dean as dramatically convincing. But from what they wrote, I would watch it, if anything. I assume, the music would not be a plesant accompanying to pairing up socks from the laundry or pickling cucumbers.

From the opera by Ambroise Thomas, there is an aria of Ofelia, which is a popular recital piece. I would take a risk and listen to that opera while folding those socks.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

The Thomas Hamlet Mad Scene is for this listener one of the most fabulous coloratura show pieces in the hands of the likes of Sutherland and Callas. I like that the music sort of moves all over the place the way a disturbed mind would. They both highlight the out of the blue manic flights up to the stratosphere to show her unhindged mind. Here is a video with Dame Joan really into the part of the mad scene:



. Dame Joan kept this piece in her repertoire up till her early 60's and was still magnificent in the aria as recordings attest.


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