Skip to main content

What operas have been based on Shakespeare's plays? Are there any that are particularly good or famous?

According to an article from the San Francisco Classical Voice, there are over 200 operatic adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. Some of the best were written by the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. He used Shakespeare plots in Falstaff, Otello and Macbeth. Otello, based on the tragedy Othello, is widely considered one of Verdi's finest achievements. Falstaff is also considered a masterpiece and is one of only two comedic operas written by Verdi. The Classical Voice lists Falstaff and Otello as the best of the many operas adapted from Shakespeare.


Other famous composers who have tackled Shakespeare include Benjamin Britten, Hector Berlioz, Leonard Bernstein (he composed West Side Story which is not actually an opera, but is a popular musical version of Romeo and Juliet) and Gioachino Rossini. Operas such as Falstaff and Beatrice et Benedict are based on Shakespeare but are often changed or an amalgam of the Bard's works. In the case of Falstaff, the libretto draws from three of Shakespeare's plays which included the comedic character, The Merry Wives of Windsor and both of the plays about Henry IV. Beatrice et Benedict is loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing. As suggested, several of these versions have different names than the original Shakespeare titles. The Fairy Queen, by Henry Purcell, is based on the comedy Midsummer Night's Dream.    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more