The Context of "Una macchia è qui tuttora"

This poignant aria is sung in the final act of Giuseppe Verdi's tenth opera, Macbeth. (See the complete list of Verdi's operas.) The opera begins with the army general Macbeth learning about his future when he visits a group of evil witches who prophesy he will become the next King of Scotland. Enamored with the power that comes with the crown, Macbeth envisions his reign.


When he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, they are determined to do whatever it takes to acquire the throne and keep it. By the end of the first act, Lady Macbeth has murdered the king since Macbeth was too coward to do it, and Macbeth takes his place. In the second and third acts, when they fear they'll lose the crown, they murder anyone who threatens their position (a friend, and a nobleman's entire family). Finally, when their castle and homeland is invaded by Scottish refugees and English refugees in the final act, Lady Macbeth is driven into madness. Attended by her servant and doctor, she sleepwalks through the castle furiously wiping her hands clean while singing this aria, a confession to all the horrible crimes and atrocities she and her husband have committed.  Read the full synopsis of Macbeth.

"Una macchia è qui tuttora" Italian Lyrics

Una macchia è qui tuttora!
Via, ti dico, o maledetta!
Una due gli è questa l'ora!
Tremi tu?  Non osi entrar?
Un guerrier così codardo?
Oh, vergogna!  Orsù, t'affretta!

Chi poteva in quel vegliardo
Tanto sangue immaginar?
Di Fiffe il sire sposo e padre or non era?
Che ne avvenne?
E mai pulire queste mani
Io non saprò?
Di sangue umano sa qui sempre.
Arabia intera rimondar sì piccol  mano
Co' suoi balsami non può.
Ohimè!  I panni indossa della notte!
Or via, ti sbratta!
Banco è spento,
E dalla fossa chi mori non surse ancor.
A letto, a letto...Sfar non puoi la cosa fatta.
Batte alcuno! 
Andiam, Macbetto, non t'accusi il tuo pallor.

"Una macchia è qui tuttora" English Translation

A stain is still here!
Go away, I tell you, or be cursed!
One, two, it is time!
You are trembling? You dare not enter?
A warrior so cowardly?
Oh, shame! Come, let us make haste!
Who could have known that old man
Would have so much blood?
King of Fiffe, was he not a husband and father?
What happened?
And will these hands of mine
Never be clean?
Human blood stains them forever.
All of Arabia's perfumes
will never clean them.
Alas! Put on your nightgown!
Now then, we must wash ourselves!
Banquo is dead,
And from the grave nobody has ever rose again.
To bed, to bed ... What's done is done.
Someone knocks!
Let us go, Macbeth, do not let your pallor betray you.

"Una macchia è qui tuttora" Recordings

As you read and learn the meaning of "Una macchia è qui tuttora," listen to a these recordings to better understand the gravity of the situation:

• Shirley Verrett (watch on YouTube)
• Sylvia Sass (watch on YouTube)
• Maria Guleghina (watch on YouTube)

The Origin of Verdi's Macbeth

Verdi began writing the music for Macbeth after receiving the suggestion by his friend, poet Andrea Maffei, who also suggested making Friedrich Schiller's play, Die Räuber (The Robbers) into an opera. When he received the commission from the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, he chose Macbeth (largely in part because the baritone he had in mind to star in the opera was available for a short time). Verdi began writing the music in 1846, and finished and premiered it in March, 1847. Verdi was intent on keeping the opera's libretto as close to Shakespeare's original work as possible, but some slight changes were made to fit within Verdi's musical ideas. The opera was well received and frequently performed. Given its success, Verdi was asked by the city of Paris to revise the opera for French audiences in 1852. Verdi didn't take the offer, but changed his mind nearly ten years later. As part of his revisions, he included a ballet, added a few choruses, lengthened a few arias, and shortened others. Verdi did not attend its Parisian premiere (he was upset that his opera was not translated by Gilbert Duprez, a tenor and teacher whom Verdi worked with in the Paris performance of his opera, Jerusalem), and was surprised to learn that critics and audiences looked upon the opera poorly. The newly revised opera was performed at La Scala in its original Italian language in 1865, but it quickly fell out of favor and wasn't performed again until its 20th century revival. The majority of Macbeth performances you see and hear today are the revised version.