Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, by John Singer Sargent; those are seriously scary eyes....
At English Opera Singers, we’ve been doing a little research into the ‘real’ Macbeth, and it’s no surprise to discover that Shakespeare almost completed created the story from mere fragments of fact. Mind you, since every biopic film these days seems to do the same, i.e. ‘based on a story’, we guess the Bard was just part of a trend! Verdi, of course, continued the tradition, adding scenes and increasing the witches from a budget-friendly trio to a cackle of 18…
Let’s start with:
• The killing of King Duncan by the murderous Macbeths at their castle. Wrong. Duncan died in battle in 1040, possibly killed by Macbeth, who at the time was commander of the King’s army. He succeeded to the throne because Duncan’s son, Malcolm, was just a child at the time.
• Macbeth the repentant sinner. Probably more accurate, as the original Macbeth, or “mac-Bethad” was a devout Christian who made a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050, the first Scottish king ever to do so. (The Dead Macbeths in Italy, now there’s a sequel…)
• Malcolm defeats Macbeth in battle. Not at at their first clash anyway, as Macbeth managed to hang on to power for three years after the battle at Dunsinane. It was second time lucky for Malcolm, who killed Macbeth outside Aberdeen in 1057. Macbeth was buried on the island of Iona.
• Lady Macbeth planned the lot. Of course, if Duncan was killed in battle and not at the castle, it is highly unlikely that Lady Macbeth had any hand in his death whatsoever. Shakespeare based his scheming leading lady’s actions on the murder of King Duff by Donwald whilst the king was his guest, which happened seventy years before the real Duncan’s death. The Lady Macbeth we see in the opera is the creation of Shakespeare, writ large by Verdi.
At least Shakespeare changed her name. Would you fear her so much if you knew her real name was Gruoch? Thought not…
Buy tickets for our concert version of Verdi’s Macbeth on Saturday 24 October online, and save 25% on ticket prices at the door. Now that’s a bargain even a Scotsman couldn’t resist!
Tags: Ellen Terry, John Singer Sargent, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Opera in concert London
