Verdi wrote several works based on Shakespeare plays. "Macbeth" was the first of these. It was composed in 1847, at a time when he was composing a lot of operas. In those days Italian operas were always about a love story, but "Macbeth" was unusual because there was no love story. Instead, it is a story about wanting power, even if means murder. The opera helped to make him very famous, and it has remained one of his most popular operas. 