Walter Meyer:

>Prokofiev's ballet setting of *Romeo and Juliet* and Verdi's operatic
>setting of *Ot(h)ello* are the only instances I can think of where the
>new setting lives up artistically to the grand work on which it's based.

I can think of a couple more: Vaughan Williams's Sir John in Love (MUCH finer
than Verdi's Falstaff) and Bloch's Macbeth, according to Andrew Porter, THE
greatest opera based on a Shakespearean play.  I finally heard it on CD (and
will review it).  While I have problems assigning "the greatest" to anything,
I wouldn't be outraged at Porter's opinion either.

Steve Schwartz