Music:Giuseppe Verdi.Lyrics:Arrigo Boito, after Shakespeare.
Libretto
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Première
First performance at La Scala in Milano.
| Roles | Voices |
|---|---|
| Falstaff | bass-baritone |
| Ford | bass-baritone |
| Fenton | tenor |
| Dr Cajus | tenor |
| Bardolfo | tenor |
| Pistola | bass |
| Mrs Alice Ford | soprano|
| Nannetta | soprano |
| Mrs Quickly | mezzo-soprano |
| Mrs Meg Page | mezzo-soprano |
| The landlord | bass |
"Falstaff! … Sir John Falstaff!!!". Dr Cajus is furios, Falstaff´s companions Pistola and Bardolfo have beaten up his servants, gotten him drunk and emptied his pockets. But "The knight Falstaff" will noty be dishonoured. Even the innkeeper´s demand for payment falls on deaf ears. Falstaff has not calculated what he can afford before ordering, his stomach needs to be filled regally, without his great belly he is nothing. And these servanmts! Cost a fortune, and what do they actually do, apart from drinking? What he needs is a woman. Two problems require two solutions. Falstaff writes two identical letters, one to the beautiful Alice Ford, and one to the delightful meg page, borh married and wealthy. His servants will earn their keep, as messengers. But no, Pistola and Bardolfo argue that their honour will be compromised and will have no part in his plan. Falstaff is uncomprehending of their stance., "Honour feeds no hunger", they are free to go!
Alice Ford, her daughter Nannetta, Meg Page and Mrs Quickly are good neighbours. It is therefore only a matter of minutes before Falstaff´s identical passionate letters to Alice and Meg are compared and identified. The ladies shall have sweet revenge!
Ford, followed by the gentleman Fenton and Dr Cajus as well as Falstaff´s previous companions Pistola and Bardolfo, have gathering, and Falstaff´s former servants reveal to Ford Falstaff´s plan to seduce his wife. Young Fenton succeeds in stealing a moment with his beloved Nannetta.
The ladies decides to send Quickly to Falstaff with a coquettish invitation from Alice: Unaware of the ladies´ plans, Ford decides to seek out Falstaff, disguised and under the assumed name of Flood.
Bardolfo and Pistola ask Falstaff to allow them to return to his service. Mrs Qiuckly´s arrival is announced by Bardolfo,who is now involved in the plot against Falstaff. In polite terms Mrs Quickly conveys that Alice Ford can receive Sir Falstaff "between two and three"., when Ford is usually absent. Amorous greetings are passed on from beautiful Meg - however her husband is regrettably rarely absent.
The next guest to arrive is "Flood" - Ford in disguise. He has brought wine and money hoping that with this Falstaff will help him win a certain Alice Ford, whom he loves above all things. If Falstaff, a well spoken man of class, can seduce her first, maybe he can clear the way for "Mister Flood". Everything seems to be going Falstaff´s way, he is even being paid for seduction: "Within a half hour she will be in my arms!". Flood/Ford is struck by extreme jealousy. He knows nothing of his wife´s invitation to Falstaff to be in earnest.
The merry wives are gathered and Mrs Quickly gives an account of her visit to Falstaff, who is arriving "between two and three"! Nannetta, who is in love with young Fenton, is distraught when she finds out that her father plans to marry her off to Dr Cajus. But to this problem her mother has a solution.
Falstaff comes calling, precisely between two and three. Mrs Alice Ford is lying on her chaise longue with her lute, and the coquette comedy can begin… She is modest,not expensive to maintain, cannot bear the thought of her rival Meg, and to the tones of flutes and violins Falstaff is reminded, as though it were yesterday, of a slender young page … himself! When Falstaff becomes too excited Quickly rushes in to announce the arrival of Meg. Falstaff must hide! We also have unexpected visitors - Ford, insane with jealousy and accompanied by a gang of men. The house must be searched, Falstaff found and punished! How so save "a whale" in a hurricane? Perhaps in a laundry basket…which will later be carried to a window, which happens to be open, just above the Thames river. Eventually Ford does find forbidden love in his home. Not in the form of Falstaff however, but in that of his rebellious daughter Nannetta, caught with Fenton in a tight embrace.
Falstaff, humiliated and arisen from the river, curses the world and his own fate.Sweet warm wine is his only solace. But the ladies have not finished with him yet. Again Mrs Quickly arrives …: "Alice is distraught!". Falstaff must give her another chance: "come to the Windsor woods at midnight, disguised as the Black Hunter.
Alice prepares the final act of her female comedy, played in the mystical forest. Ford who has almost been forgiven for thinking Alice could betray him with Falstaff,prepares Dr Cajus for a special secret ceremony during which Cajus will be married to Nannetta.
… when the night is dark, everyone is in disguise and no one knows who is who, elf or human, good or evil. Punishment, mercy, reunion and a happy marriage will all play their part, lit by lanterns and the shine of the moon.
"And then we will go to the home of Sir Falstaff and eat. All the world is a joke, all are born for jest and trickery."
Translation: Pernille Krafft
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