Otello

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Image courtesy of Liceu.

When Verdi shut himself in to write an opera based on Shakespeare's Othello, he originally intended to call it Iago because Otello was the title of another opera by Rossini which was still hugely popular. Verdi was so fascinated by the compulsively manipulating Iago—whose diabolical boldness destroys the jealous Moor and his wife—that he gave him some of the finest dramatic and musical passages in the opera.

The famous words that mark the victorious Otello's first appearance—one of the greatest entrances in the history of opera—lead directly into Iago's perfectly laid plan, into the lies and ploys that will cause the downfall of the insanely jealous Otello and the death of Desdèmona.

Iago, having identified Otello's weak spot, builds his scheme around it and the splendid, upstanding warrior of Act I slowly degenerates into the man who commits suicide when he becomes aware of his own his moral decadence. Otello is no longer Otello. The poignancy of his tragedy lies hidden in the innermost depths of self-doubt.

Amélie Niermeyer's production shows the inner and outer struggle that inhabits in Shakespeare's play, but also puts the figure of Desdemona in the center. In some way, she underlines feminicide and misogyny with the glasses of realism, expressionism and the crudeness of modern theater.

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