The History of Verdi's "Falstaff"

Have you ever been disappointed by the film version of a favorite novel? How often have you left the theatre with the overwhelming opinion that the book was so much better than anything they could do onscreen?

Adapting any work of art to another genre is tricky business, and it seems the better the original, the more difficult the task is to transform it. When it's tried with true masterpieces, there are so many variables, egos, and expectations involved that creating a successful adaptation is even more difficult.

In the case of Giuseppe Verdi, however, the phenomenon simply validates his genius – he was more than up to the task. Historically, the plays of Shakespeare have been particularly difficult to translate into opera. Many different composers have tried it over the years, resulting in more than 300 Shakespeare-based operas. Remarkably, only about a half-dozen have succeeded in achieving a position in the standard repertory. Even more remarkably, Verdi wrote three extremely successful operas based on Shakespeare’s plays: Macbeth, Otello, and Falstaff.

Based on two of Shakespeare’s plays, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, Falstaff tells the story of one of the Bard’s most vivacious characters – the lying, lecherous, womanizing Sir John Falstaff, who pursues two married women at the same time in hopes of securing their fortunes. In Falstaff, the title character is running out of money and looking for a quick fix. So he sets his sights on two rich, albeit married, women, and writes them love letters. But he doesn't fool anyone, his plot is quickly discovered and revenge is sought, complete with mistaken identities, disguises and much more mischief. Ultimately the "fat Knight" learns his lesson.

Written when Verdi was nearly 80, the opera sparkles with freshness and originality, proving that the master never even came close to losing his touch. In fact, with Falstaff, Verdi was actually venturing onto fresh ground. His only other comedy was a youthful work written more than 50 years earlier, Un giorno di regno, written in 1840, only his second opera, and not very successful, at that. Featuring a lush and lively score, Verdi’s final opera, Falstaff, is considered by most (including Verdi himself!) to be among his most brilliant.

Verdi’s favorite librettist, Arrigo Boito, was tasked with the near impossible job of turning a sprawling Shakespearean text into a taut opera plot and singable rhyming Italian verses, proving Boito’s stunning talent. Falstaff was not commissioned, yet Verdi wrote it with virtually no changes to the draft libretto. The three acts opera premiered at La Scala on March 12, 1893 and was an immediate success. The first North American performance was at the Metropolitan Opera in 1895.

Plot Synopsis

Act I

Sir John Falstaff, the portly rascal of Windsor, sits in the Garter Inn with his usual partners-in-crime Bardolfo and Pistola. Dr. Caius enters to accuse the three (correctly) of entering his home and robbing him, but Falstaff dismisses the charges with mock solemnity. He then berates his friends for being unable to pay the bill. Seeking to better his fortunes, Falstaff tells them of his plans to woo two wealthy married ladies, Alice Ford and Meg Page. He writes identical love letters to both, but his henchmen decide their ethics forbid them from delivering the notes. Falstaff gives them to a page boy instead and then lectures his cronies on honor as he chases them from the inn.

In her garden, Alice and her daughter, Nannetta, talk to Meg and Dame Quickly, compare the letters, and soon discover that Falstaff has sent exactly the same words to both ladies. Outraged, they resolve to punish him. The ladies withdraw as Ford arrives with Dr. Caius, Fenton, Bardolfo and Pistola, all warning him about Falstaff's designs. Briefly alone, Nannetta and Fenton steal kisses until the women return, plotting to send Quickly to Falstaff to arrange a rendezvous with Alice. Next Nannetta and Fenton are interrupted by Ford, who also plans to visit Falstaff. As the women reappear, both the women and the men all pledge (albeit separately) to succeed in their revenge on the fat knight.

Act II

At the inn, Falstaff accepts Bardolfo and Pistola's feigned penitence for their mutiny. Soon Quickly curtseys in to assure him that both Alice and Meg return his ardor. Falstaff rewards Quickly with a small sum for arranging a meeting with Alice in a well-know oak tree in the nearby forest. When alone, Falstaff gloats and preens himself. The next visitor is Ford, disguised as "Master Brook" and pretending an unrequited passion for Alice. Falstaff boasts that he already has set up a tryst. Ford, unable to believe his ears, vows to avenge his honor. Regaining his composure when Falstaff returns, he leaves arm in arm with the fat knight.

In Ford's house, Quickly tells Alice and Meg about her visit with Falstaff at the inn. Nannetta does not share in the fun: her father has promised her to wealthy Dr. Caius, although she and young Fenton are madly in love. The women reassure her before hiding, except for Alice, who sits strumming a lute as her fat suitor arrives. Recalling his youthful days as a slender page, he is cut short when Quickly announces Meg's imminent approach. Falstaff leaps behind a screen, and Meg sails in to report that Ford is on his way over in a fury. Quickly confirms this, and while Ford and his men search the house, Falstaff takes refuge amid the dirty linen in a laundry basket. Slipping behind a screen, Nannetta and Fenton attract attention with the sound of their kissing. While Meg and Quickly muffle Falstaff's cries for air, Ford sneaks up on the screen, knocks it over and pauses briefly to berate the lovers as the chase continues upstairs. Alice orders servants to heave the basket into the Thames, then leads her husband to the window to see Falstaff dumped into the muddy river.

Act III

At sunset outside the inn, Falstaff bemoans his misadventure while downing a mug of warm wine. His reverie is halted by Quickly, who insists that Alice still loves him and proves it with a note appointing a midnight rendezvous in Windsor Park. Alice, Ford, Meg, Caius and Fenton sneak in as Falstaff enters the inn with Quickly, who tells him the spooky tale of the Black Huntsman's ghost, often seen in Windsor Park at midnight. Alice and the others pick up the story, plotting to frighten Falstaff by dressing up as wood sprites.

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