«Othello» G. Verdi – A. Boito as a game of chess
Authors: Roschenko Olena , Chen Ke 
Published: September 2023

In the opera Otello by G. Verdi – A. Boito, which contains many actual and virtual readings, the original musicological interpretation reveals the signs of a chess game. The metaphor of the chess game is based on a two-level analysis: the study of opera characters on the basis of establishing their functional correspondence to the chess game pieces and the identification of metaphorically represented chess situations in opera drama. The proposed analysis of Othello has made it possible to carry out an original musicological interpretation of the opera as a game of chess, which allows us to understand it not only in terms of spontaneous feeling, but also artistic intellectualism as a principle of musical drama. As a result, the penultimate opera by G. Verdi is interpreted as a phantasmagoric game of chess, appearing as one of the possible ways of forming/disclosing the artistic meaning of the work. Statement of the problem. G. Verdi’s opera Otello by A. Boito is one of those masterpieces in the history of world art, the number of artistic readings of which tends to infinity, due to the infinity of the artistic and philosophical meanings always inherent in the work. After all, each generation, each opera theatre that has the characteristics of a director’s theatre, during the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, has offered an original interpretation of the work, in which it interacts in a unique way with the «canon of interpretation» that ensures the continuity of meaningful connections with the original. Each reading of the original text does not exclude the emergence of an interpretive set in its understanding. In addition to the realised creative interpretations, i. e. the interpretations that have taken place, numerous potential interpretations of Verdi’s Otello surround this work as a kind of «cloud» full of virtual interpretations of the immortal masterpiece. Recent research and publications Among such virtual readings of Virdia’s Otello, scientific (musicological) versions can also claim a prominent place, which, under certain conditions, can become the basis for an original director’s reading of the opera. In the history of opera, there are many masterpieces based on the principles of playful thinking and the properties of the tragic carnival. This phenomenon should be explained by the fact that the game concept is conditioned by the genre nature of the opera, where the game appears as an expression of its general operatic atmosphere, extending to its characters as the embodiment of the meaningful features of the homo ludus hypostasis. Meaningful multilayeredness as a genre feature of romantic opera fully allows us to liken the musical drama by G. Verdi – A. Boito to a virtuoso game of chess, in which the «moves» are predefined, and the «stake» is the life and death of the opera characters. Objectives, methods and novetly of the research. The methodology of the study involves the following types of analysis: – typological, used to divide the characters according to their functions observed in Shakespeare’s tragedy and opera by G. Verdi; – structural-functional, the essence of which is, firstly, the reasoned comparison of opera characters to chess pieces in terms of the commonality of their inherent functions; secondly, the identification of signs of chess situations in the scenes of musical drama; – terminological, the specificity of which is based in this study on the need to use a chess glossary to define game combinations in opera and the functions of opera characters; – comparative, carried out with the aim of motivating changes in the systems of characters in Shakespeare’s tragedy and opera by G. Verdi – A. Boito. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time in musicology, the opera Othello by J. Verdi and A. Boito was metaphorically interpreted as a chess game, which is noted in the establishment of a system of correspondences between opera characters and chess pieces, opera scenes and chess combinations. Resalts and Conclusions. In the opera Otello by G. Verdi and A. Boito, which contains many actual and virtual readings, the original musicological interpretation reveals signs of a game organised like chess. The chess game metaphor is based on a two-level analysis. Firstly, the study of nine opera characters of Othello, organised into a hierarchical system based on their functional correspondence to the role of Shakespeare’s theatre and chess game figures («pawn» – Rodrigo; «Rook» is presented by the «royal trinity» of Montano, Lodovico, and Herald; «Knight» (Emilia); «Bishop» (Cassio); «King» (Othello); «Queen» (Desdemona). Secondly, in the drama of the opera Othello, such metaphorically represented chess situations as «eternal chess», double attack, garde, blockade, etiquette, zugwang, checkmate, and endgame are identified. The analysis of «Othello» by G. Verdi – A. Boito allowed for an original musicological interpretation of the opera as a game of chess. The game concept of the opera allows us to understand it not only in terms of spontaneous feeling, but also artistic intellectualism as a principle of late romantic musical drama. Thus, Verdi’s penultimate opera is interpreted as a phantasmagoric game of chess, appearing as one of the possible ways of forming/disclosing the artistic meaning of the work.