“Macbeth is like a prism: it contains many different facets. That’s what makes it interesting. It’s a very dark subject, full of violence. And it’s a tragedy. It’s very complex. Verdi’s opera is very precise. There is not a single superfluous word or note in it. It is highly concentrated. To allow its strength to come forward, you must be very careful not to tell a million things at a time. It has to be simple. You have to focus. Then, the complexity can unfold. It’s not that there is no meaning; it’s all full of meaning. There is a quote from Shakespeare’s play that strikes me; Verdi has incorporated it in his opera. It’s the moment when Macbeth is told that his wife has died. Here is his reaction:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage / And then is heard no more: it is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.”