Shakespeare in 19th-Century Opera

The author of the book analyses selected 19th-century operas based on Shakespeares plays from the perspective of their relations to the literature, aesthetics and philosophy of the Romantic period. The texts discussed here include Verdis Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff, Rossinis Otello, Halvys The Tempest, Gounods Romeo and Juliet and Thomass Hamlet. The study aims to indicate diverse traces of the Romantic interpretation of Shakespeares works in the history of the 19th-century opera. Individual chapters present the librettos of the selected operas, analysed in the context of Shakespeares plays and their 19th-century reception, reconstructed on the basis of 19th-century historic-literary texts (of, among others, A. W. Schlegel, L. Tieck and V. Hugo), critical studies and press articles. The analyses conducted in the book succeed in presenting the evolution of the phenomenon of Romantic Shakespeareanism in the 19th-century opera theatre.