Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff

For decades, Ver­di was haunt­ed by Rossini’s crit­i­cism that he was inca­pable of writ­ing a com­ic opera. The barbed com­ment hung over Ver­di like a curse, which is why, at near­ly 80 years of age and with half a cen­tu­ry’s expe­ri­ence as a com­pos­er and 27 operas under his belt, he set about writ­ing the three-act com­e­dy Fal­staff. And after Otel­lo, he was also hun­gry for a change of genre, say­ing: “I’ve ruth­less­ly slaugh­tered hordes of heroes and hero­ines, and now I’m ready for a bit of a laugh.”
Although Ver­di feared he might not be able to com­plete the work, Arri­go Boito’s pow­ers of per­sua­sion con­vinced him to get start­ed on it despite his advanc­ing age. He liked and respect­ed Shake­speare, keep­ing his vol­umes on his bed­side table. Boito cob­bled togeth­er from The Mer­ry Wives of Wind­sor and both parts of Hen­ry IV a libret­to that was so sin­gu­lar that Ver­di was unable to resist it. He com­posed with­out a dead­line, with end­less free­dom, for his own amuse­ment. Thus was born a com­plete­ly new genre: the lyric com­e­dy. The paunchy and com­i­cal char­ac­ter of Fal­staff and his attempts at seduc­tion for prof­it are depict­ed in this rich and imag­i­na­tive­ly melod­ic opera with a nuanced dash of wise self-irony.