Falstaff is an Italian opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, on a libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. It was first performed in Milan, on February 9, 1893. Verdi's last opera and perhaps greatest masterpiece, composed when he was 80, and only his second comedy since his earlier attempt Un giorno di regno in 1840.
The composition of the opera
When Verdi composed Falstaff he was not writing it for a commission. He was just writing it for his own pleasure, without a performance in mind. When he had finished it he felt that it would be his last work and that his life’s work had finished. It was almost true. It was indeed his last opera and his last big work.
When composers turn plays into operas they usually have to make some changes in the drama to make it suitable to be sung. Verdi had already turned two other Shakespeare plays into opera: Otello and Macbeth. When he composed these he worked with librettists to create something as close to Shakespeare’s plays as possible, but when writing Falstaff he took more freedom. The character of Falstaff is very close to the way he is shown in Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays, rather than the Falstaff of The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Principal roles
Falstaff - baritone
Ford - baritone
Alice - soprano
Nanetta - soprano
Fenton - tenor
Mistress Quickly - contralto
Meg Page - mezzo-soprano
The story of the opera
Act I
This takes place in the Garter Inn (). Dr Caius, who is a rich man with servants, complains that Falstaff has beaten his servants and that Falstaff’s two friends Bardolfo and Pistola made him drunk and then stole his money. Falstaff laughs at him. He says he will never get drunk again unless he is in the company of good, religious people. Bardolfo and Pistola in the background sing “Amen” until Falstaff stops them, complaining that they sing out of tune.
Falstaff complains that his bill for the drinks is very high. He says that his two friends drink so much that he won’t have enough to eat and he’ll get thin and then he cannot be his proper self. He says he is in love with two ladies: Mrs Ford and Mrs Page. He has written love letters to them both. He asks his two friends to take the letters to them, but they refuse. Falstaff is cross and gets a page boy to take them instead. Then he chases his friends with a broom.
The next scene changes to the garden of Ford’s house. Four ladies are in the garden: Alice Ford and Meg Page and also Mistress Quickly and Anne Ford, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Ford. Verdi calls her “Nannetta”. The four of them look at the two letters that Alice and Meg have received and find they are exactly the same except for the address. They are amused and a bit annoyed, so they decide to tease Falstaff.
Mr Ford is walking with Dr Caius, Fenton and Falstaff’s two friends. Fenton is a young man who is in love with Nannetta, but Ford does not want him to marry his daughter. Bardolfo and Pistola have deserted Falstaff. They tell Ford that Falstaff is in love with his wife. He is cross, of course, and plans revenge. The music of the four ladies and the music of the five men is sometimes heard separately, and sometimes it is combined. Fenton and Nannetta stay behind to kiss and they sing a love duet. When the men and ladies come back they each sing their own music again. This is a famous ensemble: the way Verdi has combined the two songs is very clever.
Act II
Bardolfo and Pistola are back in the Garter Inn with Falstaff. They pretend they are very sorry to have deserted Falstaff. They tell him that there is an old woman outside who wants to speak to him. It is Mistress Quickly, who comes in and curtseys very low to Falstaff. She gives him the message that Alice would love to see him, but that Meg’s husband is guarding her and never leaves her by herself. He can see Alice when her husband is out between two and three o’ clock (). Falstaff is pleased and gives Mistress Quickly a tip (some money) as she leaves. He sings to himself “Alice is mine” (“”).
The next visitor Falstaff has is Ford. Falstaff does not know who he is. Ford says his name is Master Brook (Signor Fontana). He gives Falstaff a purse with silver and tells him that he is in love with Mistress Ford (Alice). He asks Falstaff to get her for him. Falstaff says he will be seeing her that very afternoon. Ford asks him whether he knows Alice’s husband (i.e. himself). Falstaff says he does and he describes to him what a terrible man Ford is. It is a very comic scene with a lot of very clever humour.