"Macbeth" is Giuseppe Verdi’s (1813-1901) second of seven literary operas and is based on the drama of the same name by William Shakespeare. The premiere took place in 1847 at the Teatro alla Pergola in Florence, and revised versions were staged for the first time several years later in St. Petersburg and Paris.The creation of "Macbeth" falls into the late period of bel canto; Verdi dissolves the firmly established schemes in the singing and in this opera puts all his wealth of ideas into the focus of the orchestration, which was to become a signpost for his further compositions. The work was very well received on the whole, even if the lack of a love scene was criticized - in fact, "Macbeth" is one of the few operas whose plot is determined by greed for power and its resulting consequences.In 11th century Scotland, witches prophesy a future as king for the general Macbeth, which he acquires in a bloody manner. He is fired by his power-hungry wife, Lady Macbeth, whose character Verdi allows much greater room for maneuver than is the case in Shakespeare’s original. Macbeth’s tragic end concludes this opera rich in dramatic scenes.After several decades of oblivion, "Macbeth" is now part of the traditional Verdi repertoire and is performed on all the major stages.

The melodrama subtitled Amelia by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) is emblematic of Italy’s liberation struggles and became a triumph for both the composer and the political movement of the time. Verdi wrote the opera in 1859, shortly before the unification of Italy, a time when assassinations, political unrest and protests shook the country. As a result, Verdi had to rewrite the opera several times: Characters, content and location of the plot were renamed and changed, and the censors kept a strict watch on any possible spark. After Naples and the Bourbons ruling there had banned the premiere, The Masked Ball finally celebrated its premiere in Rome, again curtailed by papal censorship.The title (the opera was originally to be called Gustav III) was the Swedish king of the same name, who was shot by a nobleman at a Stockholm masked ball in 1792 and succumbed to his injuries a short time later. The ambivalent ruler, who loved disguises, music and especially opera and was known for his numerous amours, seemed ideally suited to Verdi as the inspiration for an opera rich in original ideas. The composer’s penchant for the comedic, which is only fully expressed in his later work Falstaff, flashes up noticeably for the first time in this opera.