Episode 008: Otello with Jerrell Jackson

Is Iago one of opera’s greatest villains? Or just someone who listened to Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” one too many times and decided to make it everyone’s problem. Bassist, lecturer, and writer Jerrell Jackson joins us to discuss Verdi’s penultimate opera, in which a storm wrecks Cyprus for five minutes and male insecurity wrecks everything else for the next three hours.

Additional topics include: Classical Music Twitter, the visual spectrum of Plácido Domingo’s blackface Otellos, the New York Times comments section, and the ’90s teen Shakespeare renaissance.

Follow Jerrell on Instagram at @datbassjawn.

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Simon says:

“In most operatic adaptations of Shakespeare very little is left of the great poetry and drama, but Boito managed to maintain most of the dramatic qualities of the original, and Verdi’s music is completely worthy of one of the finest tragedies in any language.”

(100 Great Operas. and Their Stories)

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Otello: The story

• Act I

• Act II

• Act III

• Act IV

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Recordings cited

• Jonas Kaufmann, Federica Lombardi, Carlos Álvarez, Antonio Pappano: Otello (Sony, 2020)

• Aleksandrs Antonenko, Krassimira Stoyanova, Carlo Guelfi, Riccardo Muti: Otello (CSO Resound, 2013)

• James McCracken, Gwyneth Jones, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, John Barbirolli: Otello (Warner Classics, 1969)

• Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Mario Bernardi: Verdi Arias (Delos, 2003)

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Further reading

• Naomi André: Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement (2018)

• Nicholas John (ed.): Otello (ENO Opera Guide, 1982)

• James A. Hepokoski: Giuseppe Verdi: Otello (Cambridge Opera Handbook, 1987)

• Julian Budden: Verdi (1985)

• Matthew Aucoin: The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera (2021)

• Catherine Clément (Betsy Wing, trans.): Opera, or the Undoing of Women (1988)

• Marcello Conati (ed.): The Verdi-Boito Correspondence (2015)

• William Shakespeare: Othello (Oxford Shakespeare edition, 2008)

• William Berger: Verdi with a Vengeance (2000)

• Gary Wills: Verdi’s Shakespeare: Men of the Theater (2012)

• Susan Rutherford: Verdi, Opera, Women (2017)

• Roberta Montemorra Marvin (ed.): The Cambridge Verdi Encyclopedia (2020)

• Scott Balthazar (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Verdi (2004)

• Blanche Roosevelt: Verdi, Milan, and Othello (1887, 2013 ed.)

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Playlist

“Una vela… Esultate!”

Russell Thomas, Canadian Opera Company / 2019

“Esultate!”

Limmie Pulliam / 2017

“Inaffia l’ugola!”

Leo Nucci, Cesare Catani; Teatro alla Scala / 2001

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“Già nella notte densa”

Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros / 2018

“Credo in un Dio crudel”

Seng-Hyoun Ko / 2014

“Sì, pel ciel marmoreo giuro” (piano version)

Russell Thomas, Reginald Smith Jr., Kevin Miller / 2020

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“Sì, pel ciel marmoreo giuro” (full orchestra)

Jonas Kaufmann, Marco Vratogna, Royal Opera / 2017

“Esterrefatta fisso lo sguardo tuo tremendo” (Otello & Desdemona’s confrontation)

Limmie Pulliam, Tamara Wilson / 2022

“Dio, mi potevi scagliar tutti i mali”

Yonghoon Lee / 2024

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Act III Finale

Aleksandrs Antonenko, Zeljko Lucic, Sonya Yoncheva / 2015

The Willow Song/Ave Maria

Asmik Grigorian / 2025

“Niun mi tema”

Jonas Kaufmann / 2023

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