Intersemiotic transcreation: the life and afterlife of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth.

Macbeth was a nobleman, a king, a supporter of Christianity in Scotland, but most of all he was, and still is, the protagonist of countless adventures, told through music, singing, verse, prose, fiction, film. And translated into an infinite array of languages. The stories of Macbeth, all together and seen one at a time, embody the very essence of translation, in creative ways. This essay sets forth the notion of intersemiotic transcreation precisely with reference to the story of Macbeth, by reconstructing its evolution and by focusing especially on Giuseppe Verdi’s worldwide famous opera named after the Scottish king. A detailed analysis is also offered of two contemporary English versions of Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth, in an attempt to understand where translation finishes, if it does, and where intersemiotic transcreation starts. Both types of translation examined (interlingual surtitles and singing translation) recall processes of transmutation, change, (re)creation and transcreation, and bear witness to the creativity which goes hand in hand with writing and translating, over the centuries and across codes of communication.