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- Title
Adaptations of Othello Shakespeare - Verdi - Zeffirelli.
- Authors
Lagerroth, Ulla-Britta
- Abstract
This essay deals with multiple adaptations of a specific source text, Shakespeare's Othello. In an introductory discussion of the concept of 'adaptation' it is argued that adaptation belongs to intermedia studies and, consequently, that adaptation criticism is an intermediality discourse. A brief orientation follows of the ways by which composer Giuseppe Verdi, in close co-operation with librettist Arrigo Boito, transformed Shakespeare's play into an opera, Otello, first performed in Milan at La Scala on 5 February 1887. The essay's main focus, however, is on the nature and function of director Franco Zeffirelli's cinematic adaptation, his screen opera Otello (1986). Examined are the ways by which Zeffirelli achieved a synthesis of cinematic realism and operatic theatricality, the means by which he balanced musical excess and visual excess, and the importance of his choice of singers. Finally, the question is posed: why has Shakespeare's play Othello become such a strong incitement to adaptation over the centuries?
- Subjects
ESSAYS; OTHELLO (Play : Shakespeare); SHAKESPEARE, William, 1564-1616; VERDI, Giuseppe, 1813-1901; ZEFFIRELLI, Franco, 1923-2019
- Publication
Word & Music Studies, 2007, Vol 9, p59
- ISSN
1566-0958
- Publication type
Essay