''Falstaff'' () is a comic
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
in three acts by the Italian composer
Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language
libretto was adapted by
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...
from the play ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and scenes from ''
Henry IV, Part 1'' and ''
Part 2'', by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at
La Scala, Milan.
Verdi wrote ''Falstaff'', the last of his 28 operas, as he approached the age of 80. It was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following ''
Macbeth'' and ''
Otello''. The plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight
Sir John Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', wh ...
to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth.
Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boito's draft libretto. It took the collaborators three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new opera from Verdi aroused immense interest in Italy and around the world, ''Falstaff'' did not prove to be as popular as earlier works in the composer's canon. After the initial performances in Italy, other European countries and the US, the work was neglected until the conductor
Arturo Toscanini insisted on its revival at La Scala and the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
in New York from the late 1890s into the next century. Some felt that the piece suffered from a lack of the full-blooded melodies of the best of Verdi's previous operas, a view strongly contradicted by Toscanini. Conductors of the generation after Toscanini to champion the work included
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
,
Georg Solti and
Leonard Bernstein. The work is now part of the regular operatic repertory.
Verdi made numerous changes to the music after the first performance, and editors have found difficulty in agreeing on a definitive score. The work was first recorded in 1932 and has subsequently received many studio and live recordings. Singers closely associated with the title role have included
Victor Maurel
Victor Maurel (17 June 184822 October 1923) was a French operatic baritone who enjoyed an international reputation as a great singing actor.
Biography
Maurel was born in Marseille. Educated in music and stagecraft at the Paris Conservatory, ...
(the first Falstaff),
Mariano Stabile
Mariano Stabile (12 May 1888 in Palermo, Italy – 11 January 1968 in Milan, Italy) was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially the role of Falstaff.
Career
Stabile's vocal studies took place at ...
,
Giuseppe Valdengo
Giuseppe Valdengo (May 24, 1914, Turin – October 3, 2007, Aosta) was an Italian operatic baritone. ''Opera News'' said that, "Although his timbre lacked the innate beauty of some of his baritone contemporaries, Valdengo's performances were i ...
,
Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi (24 October 19135 March 1984) was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.
He made his operatic debut in Gubbio in 1935 as Count Rodolfo in Bellini's '' La sonnambula'' and quickly appeared in Italy's major oper ...
,
Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992) was a Welsh bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Papageno in ''Die Zauberflöte'', and the title role in ''Wozzeck''. Evans was esp ...
,
Bryn Terfel
Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and '' ...
and
Ambrogio Maestri
Ambrogio Maestri (born 1970) is an Italian operatic baritone. He is especially known for his portrayal of the title character in Giuseppe Verdi's '' Falstaff''. He studied piano and singing in his home town, Pavia. In Italy he has performed at th ...
.
Composition history
Conception
By 1889 Verdi had been an opera composer for more than fifty years. He had written 27 operas, of which only one was a comedy, his second work, ''
Un giorno di regno
''Un giorno di regno, ossia Il finto Stanislao'' (''A One-Day Reign, or The Pretend Stanislaus'', but often translated into English as ''King for a Day'') is an operatic '' melodramma giocoso'' in two acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto ...
'', staged unsuccessfully in 1840. His fellow composer
Rossini commented that he admired Verdi greatly, but thought him incapable of writing a comedy. Verdi disagreed and said that he longed to write another light-hearted opera, but nobody would give him the chance.
[Klein, John W]
"Verdi and ''Falstaff''"
''The Musical Times
''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country.
It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...
'', 1 July 1926, pp. 605–607 He had included moments of comedy even in his tragic operas, for example in ''
Un ballo in maschera
''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''.
Th ...
'' and ''
La forza del destino''.
![Verdi Man and Musician (1897) 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Verdi_Man_and_Musician_%281897%29_1.jpg)
For a comic subject Verdi considered
Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...
' ''
Don Quixote
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...
'' and plays by
Goldoni,
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
and
Labiche, but found none of them wholly suitable.
The singer
Victor Maurel
Victor Maurel (17 June 184822 October 1923) was a French operatic baritone who enjoyed an international reputation as a great singing actor.
Biography
Maurel was born in Marseille. Educated in music and stagecraft at the Paris Conservatory, ...
sent him a French libretto based on Shakespeare's ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
''. Verdi liked it, but replied that "to deal with it properly you need a Rossini or a
Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera style duri ...
". Following the success of ''
Otello'' in 1887 he commented, "After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little." He confided his ambition to the librettist of ''Otello'',
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, best ...
.
Boito said nothing at the time, but he secretly began work on a libretto based on ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor'' with additional material taken from ''Henry IV'', parts
1 and
2.
Many composers had set the play to music, with little success, among them
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (2 November 1739 – 24 October 1799) was an Austrian composer, violinist, and silvologist. He was a friend of both Haydn and Mozart.
(webpage has a translation button)
Life
1739–1764
Dittersdorf was born in ...
(1796),
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
(
1799
Events
January–June
* January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars.
* Janu ...
),
Michael William Balfe
Michael William Balfe (15 May 1808 – 20 October 1870) was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas, especially ''The Bohemian Girl''.
After a short career as a violinist, Balfe pursued an operatic singing career, while he began to co ...
(1835) and
Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and '' Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas '' Le po ...
(1856). The first version to secure a place in the operatic repertoire was
Otto Nicolai's ''
The Merry Wives of Windsor'' in 1849, but its success was largely confined to German opera houses.
Boito was doubly pleased with ''The Merry Wives'' as a plot. Not only was it Shakespearian, it was based in part on
Trecento
The Trecento (, also , ; short for , "1300") refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history.
Period Art
Commonly, the Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Renaissance in art history. Painters of the Trecento included Giotto ...
Italian works – ''
Il Pecorone
''Il Pecorone'', often referred to in English as ''The Golden Eagle'', is an Italian novela written between 1378 and 1385 by Giovanni Fiorentino.
It was written in a style influenced by the ''Decameron'' of Giovanni Boccaccio, the Golden Legend ...
'' by Ser
Giovanni Fiorentino
Giovanni Fiorentino was a 14th-century Florentine writer, to whom is attributed the work '' Il Pecorone'' (''"The Simpleton"''). This was a collection of short stories, purportedly published in 1378. However, this date is disputed. The attributi ...
, and
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...
's ''
Decameron
''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...
''. Boito adopted a deliberately archaic form of Italian to "lead Shakespeare's farce back to its clear Tuscan source", as he put it.
[Porter, Andrew. "Roll Up! Here We Come Again!", programme booklet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 6 December 1999, pp. 10–14] He trimmed the plot, halved the number of characters in the play, and gave the character of
Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
more depth by incorporating dozens of passages from ''Henry IV''.
Verdi received the draft libretto a few weeks later, by early July 1889, at a time when his interest had been piqued by reading Shakespeare's play: "Benissimo! Benissimo! ... No one could have done better than you", he wrote back.
[Verdi to Boito, 6 and 7 July 1889, in Phillips-Matz 1993, p. 700. (punctuation used here are as in the book)] Like Boito, Verdi loved and revered Shakespeare. The composer did not speak English, but he owned and frequently re-read Shakespeare's plays in Italian translations by
Carlo Rusconi Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to:
*Carlo (name)
*Monte Carlo
*Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
and , which he kept by his bedside.
He had earlier set operatic adaptations of Shakespeare's ''
Macbeth'' (in 1847) and ''
Othello'' (in 1887) and had considered ''
King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...
'' as a subject; Boito had suggested ''
Antony and Cleopatra''.
Verdi still had doubts, and on the next day sent another letter to Boito expressing his concerns. He wrote of "the large number of years" in his age, his health (which he admitted was still good) and his ability to complete the project: "if I were not to finish the music?" He said that the project could all be a waste of the younger man's time and distract Boito from completing his own new opera (which became ''
Nerone'').
Yet, as his biographer
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz (January 30, 1926 – January 19, 2013) was an American biographer and writer on opera. She is mainly known for her biography of Giuseppe Verdi, a result of 30 years' research and published in 1992 by Oxford University Press ...
notes, "Verdi could not hide his delight at the idea of writing another opera". On 10 July 1889 he wrote again:
Composition
Boito's original sketch is lost, but surviving correspondence shows that the finished opera is not greatly different from his first thoughts. The major differences were that an act 2 monologue for Ford was moved from scene 2 to scene 1, and that the last act originally ended with the marriage of the lovers rather than with the lively vocal and orchestral
fugue, which was Verdi's idea. He wrote to Boito in August 1889 telling him that he was writing a fugue: "Yes, Sir! A fugue... and a ''buffa'' fugue", which "could probably be fitted in".
Verdi accepted the need to trim Shakespeare's plot to keep the opera within an acceptable length. He was sorry, nonetheless, to see the loss of Falstaff's second humiliation, dressed up as the Wise Woman of
Brentford to escape from Ford. He wrote of his desire to do justice to Shakespeare: "To sketch the characters in a few strokes, to weave the plot, to extract all the juice from that enormous Shakespearian orange". Shortly after the premiere an English critic,
R A Streatfeild
Richard Alexander Streatfeild (22 June 1866 – 6 February 1919) was an English musicologist and critic. His career was spent at the British Museum, although not in its music department. His publications included books on opera, Handel and modern m ...
, remarked on how Verdi succeeded:
In November Boito took the completed first act to Verdi at
Sant'Agata, along with the second act, which was still under construction: "That act has the devil on its back; and when you touch it, it burns", Boito complained. They worked on the opera for a week, then Verdi and his wife
Giuseppina Strepponi
Clelia Maria Josepha (Giuseppina) Strepponi ( Lodi, 8 September 1815 – Villanova sull'Arda, 14 November 1897) was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi.
She is ofte ...
went to Genoa. No more work was done for some time.
The writer Russ McDonald observes that a letter from Boito to Verdi touches on the musical techniques used in the opera – he wrote of how to portray the characters Nannetta and Fenton: "I can't quite explain it: I would like as one sprinkles sugar on a tart to sprinkle the whole comedy with that happy love without concentrating it at any one point."
The first act was completed by March 1890; the rest of the opera was not composed in chronological order, as had been Verdi's usual practice. The musicologist
Roger Parker
Roger Parker (born London United Kingdom, 2 August 1951) is an English musicologist and, since January 2007, has been Thurston Dart Professor of Music at King's College London.
His work has centred on opera. Between 2006 and 2010, while Profess ...
comments that this piecemeal approach may have been "an indication of the relative independence of individual scenes".
[ Progress was slow, with composition "carried out in short bursts of activity interspersed with long fallow periods" partly caused by the composer's depression. Verdi was weighed down by the fear of being unable to complete the score, and also by the deaths and impending deaths of close friends, including the conductors ]Franco Faccio
Francesco (Franco) Antonio Faccio (8 March 1840 – 21 July 1891) was an Italian composer and conductor. Born in Verona, he studied music at the Milan Conservatory from 1855 where he was a pupil of Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti and, as scholar Wil ...
and Emanuele Muzio
Donnino Emanuele Muzio (or ''Mussio'') (24 August 1821 in Zibello – 27 November 1890 in Paris) was an Italian composer, conductor and vocal teacher. He was a lifelong friend and the only student of Giuseppe Verdi.
Biography
In April 1844, V ...
.[ There was no pressure on the composer to hurry. As he observed at the time, he was not working on a commission from a particular opera house, as he had in the past, but was composing for his own pleasure: "in writing ''Falstaff'', I haven't thought about either theatres or singers".][ He reiterated this idea in December 1890, a time when his spirits were very low after Muzio's death that November: "Will I finish it alstaff Or will I not finish it? Who knows! I am writing without any aim, without a goal, just to pass a few hours of the day". By early 1891 he was declaring that he could not finish the work that year, but in May he expressed some small optimism, which by mid-June, had turned into:
Boito was overjoyed, and Verdi reported that he was still working on the opera. The two men met in October or November 1891, after which the Verdis were in Genoa for the winter. They were both taken ill there, and two months of work were lost. By mid-April 1892 the scoring of the first act was complete and by June–July Verdi was considering potential singers for roles in ''Falstaff''. For the title role he wanted Victor Maurel, the baritone who had sung Iago in ''Otello'', but at first the singer sought contractual terms that Verdi found unacceptable: "His demands were so outrageous, exorbitant, ndincredible that there was nothing else to do but stop the entire project". Eventually they reached agreement and Maurel was cast.
By September Verdi had agreed in a letter to his publisher ]Casa Ricordi
Casa Ricordi is a publisher of primarily classical music and opera. Its classical repertoire represents one of the important sources in the world through its publishing of the work of the major 19th-century Italian composers such as Gioachino Ro ...
that La Scala could present the premiere during the 1892–93 season, but that he would retain control over every aspect of the production. An early February date was mentioned along with the demand that the house would be available exclusively after 2 January 1893 and that, even after the dress rehearsal, he could withdraw the opera: "I will leave the theatre, and icordiwill have to take the score away". The public learned of the new opera towards the end of 1892, and intense interest was aroused, increased rather than diminished by the secrecy with which Verdi surrounded the preparations; rehearsals were in private, and the press was kept at arm's length. Apart from Verdi's outrage at the way that La Scala announced the season's programme on 7 December – "either a revival of ''Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...
'' or ''Falstaff''" – things went smoothly in January 1893 up to the premiere performance on 9 February.
Performance history
Premieres
The first performance of ''Falstaff'' was at La Scala in Milan on 9 February 1893, nearly six years after Verdi's previous premiere. For the first night, official ticket prices were thirty times greater than usual. Royalty, aristocracy, critics and leading figures from the arts all over Europe were present.[Hepokoski, pp. 55–56] The performance was a huge success under the baton of Edoardo Mascheroni
Edoardo Mascheroni (born Milan, 4 September 1852 – died Valganna, 4 March 1941) was an Italian composer and conductor. He is remembered for conducting the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's ''Falstaff''; he also composed two operas of his ow ...
; numbers were encored, and at the end the applause for Verdi and the cast lasted an hour. That was followed by a tumultuous welcome when the composer, his wife and Boito arrived at the Grand Hotel de Milan.
Over the next two months the work was given twenty-two performances in Milan and then taken by the original company, led by Maurel, to Genoa, Rome, Venice, Trieste, Vienna and, without Maurel, to Berlin. Verdi and his wife left Milan on 2 March; Ricordi encouraged the composer to go to the planned Rome performance of 14 April, to maintain the momentum and excitement that the opera had generated. The Verdis, along with Boito and Giulio Ricordi, attended together with King Umberto I and other major royal and political figures of the day. The king introduced Verdi to the audience from the Royal Box to great acclaim, "a national recognition and apotheosis of Verdi that had never been tendered him before", notes Phillips-Matz.
During these early performances Verdi made substantial changes to the score. For some of these he altered his manuscript, but for others musicologists have had to rely on the numerous full and piano scores put out by Ricordi. Further changes were made for the Paris premiere in 1894, which are also inadequately documented. Ricordi attempted to keep up with the changes, issuing new edition after new edition, but the orchestral and piano scores were often mutually contradictory. The Verdi scholar James Hepokoski considers that a definitive score of the opera is impossible, leaving companies and conductors to choose between a variety of options.[Hepokoski, p. 83] In a 2013 study Philip Gossett disagrees, believing that the autograph is essentially a reliable source, augmented by contemporary Ricordi editions for the few passages that Verdi omitted to amend in his own score.
The first performances outside the Kingdom of Italy were in Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...
and Vienna, in May 1893. The work was given in the Americas and across Europe. The Berlin premiere of 1893 so excited Ferruccio Busoni that he drafted a letter to Verdi, in which he addressed him as "Italy's leading composer" and "one of the noblest persons of our time", and in which he explained that "''Falstaff'' provoked in me such a revolution of spirit that I can ... date o the experiencethe beginning of a new epoch in my artistic life." Antonio Scotti played the title role in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in July 1893; Gustav Mahler conducted the opera in Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in January 1894; a Russian translation was presented in St Petersburg in the same month. Paris was regarded by many as the operatic capital of Europe, and for the production there in April 1894 Boito, who was fluent in French, made his own translation with the help of the Parisian poet Paul Solanges.[Hepokoski, pp. 76–77] This translation, approved by Verdi, is quite free in its rendering of Boito's original Italian text. Boito was content to delegate the English and German translations to William Beatty-Kingston and Max Kalbeck respectively. The London premiere, sung in Italian, was at Covent Garden on 19 May 1894. The conductor was Mancinelli, and Zilli and Pini Corsi repeated their original roles. Falstaff was sung by Arturo Pessina; Maurel played the role at Covent Garden the following season. On 4 February 1895 the work was first presented at the Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
, New York;[Kimbell, p. 461] Mancinelli conducted and the cast included Maurel as Falstaff, Emma Eames
Emma Eames (August 13, 1865 – June 13, 1952) was an American first dramatic soprano, later lyric soprano renowned for the beauty of her voice. She sang major lyric and lyric-dramatic roles in opera and had an important career in New York ...
as Alice, Zélie de Lussan
Zélie de Lussan (21 December 1861 – 18 December 1949) was an American opera singer of French descent who was successful in her native country but made most of her career in England. The wide range of her voice allowed her to sing both mezzo-s ...
as Nannetta and Sofia Scalchi as Mistress Quickly.
Neglect
After the initial excitement, audiences quickly diminished. Operagoers were nonplussed by the absence of big traditional arias and choruses. A contemporary critic summed it up: "'Is this our Verdi?' they asked themselves. 'But where is the ''motive''; where are the broad melodies ... where are the usual ''ensembles''; the ''finales''?'"[Hepokoski, p. 129] By the time of Verdi's death in 1901 the work had fallen out of the international repertoire, though Gustav Mahler, an admirer of Verdi, led a production of "exceptional quality" in 1904 at the Vienna Court Opera. The rising young conductor Arturo Toscanini was a strong advocate of the work, and did much to save it from neglect. As musical director of La Scala (from 1898) and the Metropolitan Opera (from 1908), he programmed ''Falstaff'' from the start of his tenure. Richard Aldrich, music critic of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', wrote that Toscanini's revival "ought to be marked in red letters in the record of the season. ''Falstaff'', which was first produced here on February 4, 1895, has not been given since the following season, and was heard in these two seasons only half a dozen times in all."[ Aldrich, Richard]
"To be Given at a Special Saturday Night Performance at the Metropolitan"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', 7 March 1909 Aldrich added that though the general public might have had difficulty with the work, "to connoisseurs it was an unending delight".
In Britain, as in continental Europe and the US, the work fell out of the repertoire. Sir Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with th ...
revived it in 1919, and recalling in his memoirs that the public had stayed away he commented:
Toscanini recognised that this was the view of many, but he believed the work to be Verdi's greatest opera; he said, "I believe it will take years and years before the general public understand this masterpiece, but when they really know it they will run to hear it like they do now for ''Rigoletto'' and ''La traviata''."[Civetta, Chapter 3: "Falstaff" section.]
Re-emergence
Toscanini returned to La Scala in 1921 and remained in charge there until 1929, presenting ''Falstaff'' in every season. He took the work to Germany and Austria in the late 1920s and the 1930s, conducting it in Vienna, Berlin and at three successive Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...
s. Among those inspired by Toscanini's performances were Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
and Georg Solti, who were among his ''répétiteur
A (from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. A feminine form, , also appears but is comparatively rare.
Opera
In opera, a is the perso ...
s'' at Salzburg. Toscanini's younger colleague Tullio Serafin
Tullio Serafin (1 September 18782 February 1968) was an Italian conductor and former Musical Director at La Scala.
Biography
Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19t ...
continued to present the work in Germany and Austria after Toscanini refused to perform there because of his loathing of the Nazi regime.[Osborne, pp. 150–151]
When Karajan was in a position to do so he added ''Falstaff'' to the repertoire of his opera company at Aachen in 1941, and he remained a proponent of the work for the rest of his career, presenting it frequently in Vienna, Salzburg and elsewhere, and making audio and video recordings of it. Solti also became closely associated with ''Falstaff'', as did Carlo Maria Giulini; they both conducted many performances of the work in mainland Europe, Britain and the US and made several recordings. Leonard Bernstein conducted the work at the Met and the Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...
, and on record. The advocacy of these and later conductors has given the work an assured place in the modern repertoire.
Among revivals in the 1950s and later, Hepokoski singles out as particularly notable the Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hun ...
productions with Fernando Corena
Fernando Corena (22 December 1916 – 26 November 1984) was a Swiss bass who had a major international opera career from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. He enjoyed a long and successful career at the Metropolitan Opera between 1954 and 19 ...
and later Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992) was a Welsh bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Papageno in ''Die Zauberflöte'', and the title role in ''Wozzeck''. Evans was esp ...
in the title role; three different stagings by Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...
, for the Holland Festival
The Holland Festival () is the oldest and largest performing arts festival in the Netherlands. It takes place every June in Amsterdam. It comprises theatre, music, opera and modern dance. In recent years, multimedia, visual arts, film and archit ...
(1956), Covent Garden (1961) and the Metropolitan Opera (1964); and Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the ...
's 1966 version in Vienna. A 1982 production by Ronald Eyre
Ronald Eyre (13 April 1929 – 8 April 1992) was an English theatre director, actor and writer.
Biography
Eyre was born at Mapplewell, near Barnsley, Yorkshire and he taught at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and Giggleswick ...
, more reflective and melancholy than usual, was staged in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, London and Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
; Renato Bruson
Renato Bruson (born 13 January 1936) is an Italian operatic baritone. Bruson is widely considered one of the most important Verdi baritones of the late 20th and early 21st century. He was born in Granze near Padua, Italy.
Biography and caree ...
was Falstaff and Giulini conducted. Among more recent players of the title role Bryn Terfel
Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and '' ...
has taken the part at Covent Garden in 1999, in a production by Graham Vick
Sir Graham Vick (30 December 1953 – 17 July 2021) was an English opera director known for his experimental and revisionist stagings of traditional and modern operas. He worked in many of the world's leading opera houses and was artistic d ...
, conducted by Bernard Haitink
Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lon ...
. and at the Metropolitan Opera in a revival of the Zeffirelli production, conducted by James Levine
James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...
in 2006.
Although ''Falstaff'' has become a regular repertoire work there nonetheless remains a view expressed by John von Rhein in the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' in 1985: "''Falstaff'' probably always will fall into the category of 'connoisseur's opera' rather than taking its place as a popular favorite on the order of ''La traviata'' or ''Aida.''"
Roles
Synopsis
:Time: The reign of Henry IV, 1399 to 1413
:Place: Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, England
Act 1
''A room at the Garter Inn''
Falstaff and his servants, Bardolfo and Pistola, are drinking at the inn. Dr Caius bursts in and accuses Falstaff of burgling his house and Bardolfo of picking his pocket. Falstaff laughs at him; he leaves, vowing only to go drinking with honest, sober companions in future. When the innkeeper presents a bill for the wine, Falstaff tells Bardolfo and Pistola that he needs more money, and plans to obtain it by seducing the wives of two rich men, one of whom is Ford. Falstaff hands Bardolfo a love-letter to one of the wives (Alice Ford), and hands Pistola an identical letter addressed to the other (Meg). Bardolfo and Pistola refuse to deliver the letters, claiming that honour prevents them from obeying him. Falstaff loses his temper and rants at them, saying that "honour" is nothing but a word, with no meaning (Monologue: ''L'onore! Ladri ... ! '' / "Honour! You rogues ... !") Brandishing a broom, he chases them out of his sight.
''Ford's garden''
Alice and Meg have received Falstaff's letters. They compare them, see that they are identical and, together with Mistress Quickly and Nannetta Ford, resolve to punish Falstaff. Meanwhile, Bardolfo and Pistola warn Ford of Falstaff's plan. Ford resolves to disguise himself and visit Falstaff and set a trap for him.
A young, handsome fellow called Fenton is in love with Ford's daughter Nannetta, but Ford wants her to marry Dr. Caius, who is wealthy and respected. Fenton and Nannetta enjoy a moment of privacy, but are interrupted by the return of Alice, Meg and Mistress Quickly. The act ends with an ensemble in which the women and the men separately plan revenge on Falstaff, the women gleefully anticipating an enjoyable prank, while the men angrily mutter dire threats.
Act 2
''A room at the Garter Inn''
Falstaff is alone at the inn. Bardolfo and Pistola, now in the pay of Ford, enter and beg Falstaff to allow them to re-enter his service, secretly planning to spy on him for Ford. Mistress Quickly enters and tells him that Alice is in love with him and will be alone in Ford's home that afternoon, from two o'clock until three o'clock, just time for an amorous dalliance. Falstaff celebrates his potential success ("Va, vecchio John" / "Go, old Jack, go your own way").
Ford arrives, masquerading as a wealthy stranger, using the false name "Signor Fontana". He tells Falstaff that he is in love with Alice, but she is too virtuous to entertain him. He offers to pay Falstaff to use his impressive title and (alleged) charms to seduce her away from her virtuous convictions, after which he ("Fontana") might have a better chance of seducing her himself. Falstaff, delighted at the prospect of being paid to seduce the wealthy and beautiful woman, agrees, and reveals that he already has a rendezvous arranged with Alice for two o'clock – the hour when Ford is always absent from home. Ford is consumed with jealousy, but conceals his feelings. Falstaff withdraws to a private room to change into his finest clothes, and Ford, left alone, reflects on the evil of an uncertain marriage and vows to have revenge (''È sogno o realtà?'' / "Is it a dream or reality?"). When Falstaff returns in his finery, they leave together with elaborate displays of mutual courtesy.
''A room in Ford's house''
The three women plot their strategy ("Gaie Comari di Windsor" / "Merry wives of Windsor, the time has come!"). Alice notices that Nannetta is too unhappy and anxious to share their gleeful anticipation. This is because Ford plans to marry her to Dr Caius, a man old enough to be her grandfather; the women reassure her that they will prevent it. Mistress Quickly announces Falstaff's arrival, and Mistress Ford has a large laundry basket and a screen placed in readiness. Falstaff attempts to seduce Alice with tales of his past youth and glory ("Quand'ero paggio del Duca di Norfolk" / "When I was page to the Duke of Norfolk I was slender"). Mistress Quickly rushes in, shouting that Ford has returned home unexpectedly with a retinue of henchmen to catch his wife's lover. Falstaff hides first behind the screen, but realizes that Ford will likely look for him there. The women urge him to hide in the laundry basket, which he does. In the meantime Fenton and Nannetta hide behind the screen for another moment of privacy. Ford and his men storm in and search for Falstaff, and hear the sound of Fenton and Nannetta kissing behind the screen. They assume it is Falstaff with Alice, but instead they find the young lovers. Ford orders Fenton to leave. Badly cramped and almost suffocating in the laundry hamper, Falstaff moans with discomfort while the men resume the search of the house. Alice orders her servants to throw the laundry basket through the window into the River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
, where Falstaff endures the jeers of the crowd. Ford, seeing that Alice had never intended to betray him, smiles happily.
Act 3
''Before the inn''
Falstaff, cold and discouraged, glumly curses the sorry state of the world. Some mulled wine
Mulled wine, also known as spiced wine, is an alcoholic drink usually made with red wine, along with various mulling spices and sometimes raisins, served hot or warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas. It is us ...
soon improves his mood. Mistress Quickly arrives and delivers another invitation to meet Alice. Falstaff at first wants nothing to do with it, but she persuades him. He is to meet Alice at midnight at Herne's Oak in Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for man ...
dressed up as the ghost of Herne the Hunter
In English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. He is said to have antlers growing from his head, ride a horse, torment cattle, and rattle chains. The earliest m ...
who, according to local superstition, haunts the area near the tree, and appears there at midnight with a band of supernatural spirits. He and Mistress Quickly go inside the inn. Ford has realized his error in suspecting his wife, and they and their allies have been watching secretly. They now concoct a plan for Falstaff's punishment: dressed as supernatural creatures, they will ambush and torment him at midnight. Ford draws Dr. Caius aside and privately proposes a separate plot to marry him to Nannetta: Nannetta will be disguised as Queen of the Fairies, Caius will wear a monk's costume, and Ford will join the two of them with a nuptial blessing. Mistress Quickly overhears and quietly vows to thwart Ford's scheme.
''Herne's Oak in Windsor Park on a moonlit midnight''
Fenton arrives at the oak tree and sings of his happiness ("Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola" / "From my lips, a song of ecstasy flies") ending with "Lips that are kissed lose none of their allure." Nannetta enters to finish the line with "Indeed, they renew it, like the moon." The women arrive and disguise Fenton as a monk, telling him that they have arranged to spoil Ford's and Caius's plans. Nannetta, as the Fairy Queen, instructs her helpers ("Sul fil d'un soffio etesio" / "On the breath of a fragrant breeze, fly, nimble spirits") before all the characters arrive on the scene. Falstaff's attempted love scene with Alice is interrupted by the announcement that witches are approaching, and the men, disguised as elves and fairies, soundly thrash Falstaff. In the middle of the beating, he recognizes Bardolfo in disguise. The joke is over, and Falstaff acknowledges that he has received his due. Ford announces that a wedding will ensue. Caius and the Queen of the Fairies enter. A second couple, also in masquerade, ask Ford to deliver the same blessing for them as well. Ford conducts the double ceremony. Caius finds that instead of Nannetta, his bride is the disguised Bardolfo, and Ford has unwittingly blessed the marriage of Fenton and Nannetta. Ford accepts the ''fait accompli'' with good grace. Falstaff, pleased to find himself not the only dupe, proclaims that all the world is folly, and all are figures of fun (''Tutto nel mondo è burla ... Tutti gabbati!...Ma ride ben chi ride La risata final.'' / "Everything in the world is a jest ... but he laughs well who laughs the final laugh"). The entire company repeats his proclamation in a bewildering ten-voice fugue.
Music and drama
Verdi scored ''Falstaff'' for three flutes (third doubling piccolo), two oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
s, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
, three trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s, four trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
s, timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...
, percussion (triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC.
In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...
, cymbals, bass drum), harp, and strings. In addition, a guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
, natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the trump ...
, and bell are heard from offstage.[ Unlike most of Verdi's earlier operatic scores, ''Falstaff'' is ]through-composed
In music theory of musical form, through-composed music is a continuous, non- sectional, and non- repetitive piece of music. The term is typically used to describe songs, but can also apply to instrumental music.
While most musical forms such as t ...
. No list of numbers is printed in the published full score.[Boito and Verdi, introductory pages] The score differs from much of Verdi's earlier work by having no overture: there are seven bars for the orchestra before the first voice (Dr Caius) enters. The critic Rodney Milnes
Rodney Milnes Blumer OBE (26 July 1936 – 5 December 2015) was an English music critic, musicologist, writer, translator and broadcaster, with a particular interest in opera.Rodney Milnes. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan ...
comments that "enjoyment... shines from every bar in its irresistible forward impulse, its effortless melody, its rhythmic vitality, and sureness of dramatic pace and construction." In ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Roger Parker writes that:
The opera was described by its creators as a ''commedia lirica''. McDonald commented in 2009 that ''Falstaff'' is very different – a stylistic departure – from Verdi's earlier work.[McDonald 2009, p. 7] In McDonald's view most of the musical expression is in the dialogue, and there is only one traditional aria. The result is that "such stylistic economy – more sophisticated, more challenging than he had employed before – is the keynote of the work." McDonald argues that consciously or unconsciously, Verdi was developing the idiom that would come to dominate the music of the 20th century: "the lyricism is abbreviated, glanced at rather than indulged. Melodies bloom suddenly and then vanish, replaced by contrasting tempo or an unexpected phrase that introduces another character or idea". In McDonald's view the orchestral writing acts as a sophisticated commentator on the action. It has influenced at least one of Verdi's operatic successors: in 1952 Imogen Holst
Imogen Clare Holst (; 12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and festival administrator. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she is particularly known for her education ...
, musical assistant to Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
, wrote, after a performance of ''Falstaff'', "I realised for the first time how much Ben owes to erdi There are orchestral bits which are ''just'' as funny to listen to as the comic instrumental bits in '' A. Herring''!"
The extent to which ''Falstaff'' is a "Shakespearian" opera has often been debated by critics. Although the action is taken from ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'', some commentators feel that Boito and Verdi have transmuted Shakespeare's play into a wholly Italian work. The soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...
believed there was nothing English or Shakespearian about the comedy: "it was all done through the music". In 1961 Peter Heyworth wrote in ''The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'', "Because of Shakespeare we like to think of ''Falstaff'' as a work that has a certain Englishness. In fact the opera is no more English than ''Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...
'' is Egyptian. Boito and Verdi between them transformed the fat knight into one of the archetypes of ''opera buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
''."[Heyworth, Peter. "Falstaff and the Verdi canon", ''The Observer'', 14 May 1961, p. 26] Verdi himself, however, felt that the Falstaff of the opera is not a conventional Italian ''buffo'' character, but portrays Shakespeare's fuller, more ambiguous Falstaff of the ''Henry IV'' plays: "My Falstaff is not merely the hero of ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'', who is simply a buffoon, and allows himself to be tricked by the women, but also the Falstaff of the two parts of ''Henry IV''. Boito has written the libretto in accordance." A contemporary critic argued that the text "imitated with marvellous accuracy the metre and rhythm of Shakespeare's verse", but Hepokoski notes Boito's use of traditional Italian metric conventions.
Another recurrent question is how much, if at all, Verdi was influenced by Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's comic opera ''Die Meistersinger
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
''. At the time of the premiere this was a sensitive subject; many Italians were suspicious of or hostile to Wagner's music, and were protective in a nationalistic way of Verdi's reputation. Nevertheless, Verdi's new style was markedly different from that of his popular works of the 1850s and 1860s, and it seemed to some to have Wagnerian echoes.[Hepokoski, pp. 138–139] In 1999 the critic Andrew Porter wrote, "That ''Falstaff'' was Verdi's and Boito's answer to Wagner's ''Meistersinger'' seems evident now. But the Italian ''Falstaff'' moves more quickly." Toscanini, who did more than anyone else to bring ''Falstaff'' into the regular operatic repertoire, commented:
Verdi scholars including Julian Budden
Julian Medforth Budden (9 April 1924 in Hoylake, Wirral – 28 February 2007 in Florence, Italy) was a British opera scholar, radio producer and broadcaster. He is particularly known for his three volumes on the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (publishe ...
have analysed the music in symphonic terms – the opening section "a perfect little sonata movement", the second act concluding with a variant of the classic slow concertante
Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...
ensemble leading to a fast stretto, and the whole opera ending with "the most academic of musical forms", a fugue. Milnes suggests that this shows "a wise old conservative's warning about the excesses of the ''verismo
In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini.
''Verismo'' as an ...
'' school of Italian opera" already on the rise by the 1890s.[Milnes, p. 8] Among the solo numbers woven into the continuous score are Falstaff's "honour" monologue, which concludes the first scene, and his reminiscent arietta ("Quand'ero paggio") about himself as a young page. The young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton, are given a lyrical and playful duet ("Labbra di foco") in Act I;[ in Act III, Fenton's impassioned love song, "Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola" briefly becomes a duet when Nannetta joins him.][ She then has the last substantial solo section of the score, the "fairy" aria, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio", described by Parker as "yet another aria suffused with the soft orchestral colours that characterize this scene".][
The score is seen by the critic Richard Osborne as rich in self-parody, with sinister themes from '']Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had co ...
'' and ''Un ballo in maschera
''Un ballo in maschera'' ''(A Masked Ball)'' is an 1859 opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The text, by Antonio Somma, was based on Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's 1833 five act opera, '' Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué''.
Th ...
'' transmuted into comedy. For Osborne the nocturnal music of Act III draws on the examples of Weber, Berlioz and Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...
, creating a mood akin to that of Shakespeare's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Osborne views the whole opera as an ensemble piece, and he comments that grand soliloquy in the old Verdian style is reserved for Ford's "jealousy" aria in Act II, which is almost tragic in style but comic in effect, making Ford "a figure to be laughed at." Osborne concludes his analysis, "''Falstaff'' is comedy's musical apogee: the finest opera, inspired by the finest dramatist, by the finest opera composer the world has known".
Recordings
There are two early recordings of Falstaff's short arietta "Quand'ero paggio". Pini Corsi, the original Ford, recorded it in 1904, and Maurel followed in 1907.[Walker, Malcolm. "Discography" in Hepokoski, pp. 176–177] The first recording of the complete opera was made by Italian Columbia in March and April 1932. It was conducted by Lorenzo Molajoli with the chorus and orchestra of La Scala, and a cast including Giacomo Rimini as Falstaff and Pia Tassinari as Alice.[Notes to Naxos Historical CD 8.110198–99 (2002)] Some live stage performances were recorded in the 1930s, but the next studio recording was that conducted by Arturo Toscanini for the 1950 NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
radio broadcast released on disc by RCA Victor. The first stereophonic
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
recording was conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
for EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
in 1956.
Among the singers whose performances of the title role are on live or studio recordings, Italians include Renato Bruson
Renato Bruson (born 13 January 1936) is an Italian operatic baritone. Bruson is widely considered one of the most important Verdi baritones of the late 20th and early 21st century. He was born in Granze near Padua, Italy.
Biography and caree ...
, Tito Gobbi
Tito Gobbi (24 October 19135 March 1984) was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.
He made his operatic debut in Gubbio in 1935 as Count Rodolfo in Bellini's '' La sonnambula'' and quickly appeared in Italy's major oper ...
, Rolando Panerai
Rolando Panerai (17 October 1924 – 22 October 2019) was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertoire. He performed at La Scala in Milan, often alongside Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. He was known for musical ...
, Ruggero Raimondi
Ruggero Raimondi (born 3 October 1941) is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures.
Life and career
Early training and career
Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II. His voice mat ...
, Mariano Stabile
Mariano Stabile (12 May 1888 in Palermo, Italy – 11 January 1968 in Milan, Italy) was an Italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially the role of Falstaff.
Career
Stabile's vocal studies took place at ...
, Giuseppe Taddei and Giuseppe Valdengo
Giuseppe Valdengo (May 24, 1914, Turin – October 3, 2007, Aosta) was an Italian operatic baritone. ''Opera News'' said that, "Although his timbre lacked the innate beauty of some of his baritone contemporaries, Valdengo's performances were i ...
; Francophone singers include Gabriel Bacquier
Gabriel Bacquier (; 17 May 1924 – 13 May 2020) was a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertoires, he was considered a fine singing actor equ ...
, Jean-Philippe Lafont
Jean-Philippe Lafont (born 11 February 1951) is a French baritone. He studied in his native city of Toulouse and later at the Opéra-Studio in Paris.O'Connor, Patrick He made his operatic debut as Papageno in ''The Magic Flute'' at the Salle Favar ...
and José van Dam
Joseph, Baron Van Damme (born 27 August 1940 in Brussels), known as José van Dam, is a Belgian bass-baritone.
At the age of 17, he entered the Brussels Royal Conservatory and studied with Frederic Anspach. A year later, he graduated with diplo ...
; Germans include Walter Berry, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, ...
and Hans Hotter
Hans Hotter (19 January 19096 December 2003) was a German operatic bass-baritone. He stood 6 ft 4 in and his appearance was striking. His voice and diction were equally recognisable.
Early life and career
Born in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, ...
; and UK and US singers include Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992) was a Welsh bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Papageno in ''Die Zauberflöte'', and the title role in ''Wozzeck''. Evans was esp ...
, Donald Gramm
Donald John Gramm (February 26, 1927 – June 2, 1983) was an American bass-baritone whose career was divided between opera and concert performances. His appearances were primarily limited to the United States, which at the time was unusual for an ...
, Bryn Terfel
Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, (; born 9 November 1965) (known professionally as Bryn Terfel) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly '' Figaro'', '' Leporello'' and '' ...
, Leonard Warren
Leonard Warren (April 21, 1911 – March 4, 1960) was an American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Especially noted for his portrayals of the leading baritone roles in ...
and Willard White
Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE (born 10 October 1946) is a Jamaican-born British operatic bass baritone.
Early life
White was born into a Jamaican family in Kingston. His father was a dockworker, his mother a housewife. White first beg ...
.["Falstaff Discography"]
Opera Discography. Retrieved 21 July 2013
Notes, references and sources
Notes
References
Sources
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* Beaumont, Antony, ed. (1987). ''Busoni: Selected Letters''. New York: Columbia University Press.
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Further reading
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External links
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Libretto
at giuseppeverdi.it
* Kingston, W. Beatty (translator)
''Falstaff: A Lyrical Comedy in Three Acts''
Libretto with original English translation at archive.org.
Detailed information on the key arias
at aria-database.com
Detailed ''Falstaff'' discography
at operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
Victor Maurel's 1907 recording of "Quand'ero paggio"
at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falstaff (Opera)
1893 operas
Italian-language operas
Opera world premieres at La Scala
Operas by Giuseppe Verdi
Operas
Operas based on The Merry Wives of Windsor
Libretti by Arrigo Boito