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Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’(1847)
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Classical music's most 'Maleficent' women
2. Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’(1847)
There are plenty of real witches in ‘Macbeth’ but none are quite as disturbed as the protagonist's irritable missus. She belittles Macbeth's manliness when he hesitates to kill King Duncan and then there's the scene where she thinks her hands are covered with blood. Her descent into madness is complete. But this is a tragedy, so we have to be mildly sympathetic. Maleficent rating: four. Tatjana Seran played Lady Macbeth at a Salzburg Festival production in July 2011.
