The opera 'Macbeth' was first performed in Florence in 1847. A second revised version was premiered in the Paris Theatre Lyrique in 1865. The aria 'Comme dal ciel precipita' is sung by Banco in the fourth act: A gang of murderers lie in wait. Banco is apprehensive ('Come dal ciel precipita' 'O, how the darkness falls from heaven'). He is caught, but enables his son Fleanzio to escape.