Stain Removal

The operatic repertoire is replete with “mad scenes,” vehicles for vocal pyrotechnics that showcase how characters—nearly always women—experience emotional and psychological breakdown. In the tradition of bel canto opera, these women are driven to madness by betrayal or grief, especially at the hands of a (former) lover. Look no further than Bellini’s I Puritani (1835) or Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) for prime examples of this approach.

In Act IV of Macbeth, Verdi does something altogether different. “Una macchia è qui tuttora” (Track 1), Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking sequence, could in fact be considered an anti-mad scene. Lady Macbeth is not lamenting what has been done to her but is instead consumed by the guilt over what she has wrought: namely, the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family, all at her behest. What results is not a typical virtuosic display of rapid-fire arpeggios, scales, and ornaments. Instead, Verdi gives us halting, short phrases in the vocal line; a steady, repetitive orchestral accompaniment; and a fragmented style of expression, as if her capacity to sing is going out like the flickering candle she carries.

The composer himself intended for Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene not to follow the bel canto mold. “Study it well, and you will see that you can make an effect with it,” Verdi counseled Marianna Barbieri-Nini, the soprano who premiered the role, “even if it lacks one of those flowing, conventional melodies, which can be found everywhere and which are all alike.” More than that, Verdi insisted that the role—and this scene especially—be “acted and declaimed” (but not sung!) with a “harsh, stifled, and hollow” voice.

The score bears out this vision. In the introduction (Track 2), we hear a soaring, legato melody in the strings over arpeggios shared by the bassoon and harp. (As we will see, this is precisely the kind of melody that Lady Macbeth does not, and cannot, sing.) The aria proper begins with soft, staccato strings; a sneaky chromatic climb is echoed by a half-step descent in the English horn, evoking a sense of unease (Track 3). Lady Macbeth enters in brief, punctuated phrases separated by long rests (Track 4). At the conclusion of the first stanza, as she sings “Chi poteva in quel vegliardo / Tanto sangue immaginar?” (“Who could have imagined so much blood in that old man?”), the first violins introduce a longer chromatic descending line, intensifying the eeriness (Track 5).

Lady Macbeth’s phrases slowly elongate and reach higher peaks—but they always come back down, extending deep into the lowest zone of the soprano voice, closer to the range of a mezzo-soprano. These wide leaps recur throughout the scene: On the phrase, “Co’ suoi balsami non può,” (“No balm or fragrance”) she descends nearly two octaves from a high A♭ to a low C♭; on the phrase, “Banco è spento, e dalla fossa,” (“Banquo’s gone. He’s dead and buried.”) from a high F♭ to a low D♭; on the phrase, “Non t’accusi il tuo pallor,” (“lest they see you pale with guilt”) from a high G♭ to a low F; and on the final phrase, “Andiam, Macbetto,” (“Macbeth, away now”) from a high B♭ to a low C. When she reaches her highest pitch in the aria—a slow, pianissimo high D on the penultimate note—the melody dramatically falls back down an octave (Track 6).

Verdi thus elegantly reveals that, despite her will to power, Lady Macbeth’s triumphs are temporary. She will meet the same fate as her victims.