Falstaff [complete]<br>

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) composed Falstaff between 1889 and 1892, returning to opera after a sixteen-year hiatus following Otello to create his only mature comic masterpiece and his final work for the stage. Based primarily on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, with additional material drawn from Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, the opera was fashioned by librettist Arrigo Boito into a brilliant comedy celebrating wit, love, and human folly. The plot follows the aging, boastful Sir John Falstaff, who attempts to improve his finances by simultaneously courting two wealthy married women, Alice Ford and Meg Page. Discovering his scheme, the women devise a series of increasingly elaborate pranks that culminate in Falstaff's public humiliation in Windsor Forest, where deception gives way to forgiveness and the opera concludes with the famous ensemble, "Tutto nel mondo ? burla" ("All the world's a jest"). Completed when Verdi was nearly eighty, Falstaff reveals the composer's astonishing creative vitality through its seamless musical continuity, sparkling orchestration, and conversational vocal writing, departing from traditional operatic forms in favor of an almost symphonic flow. The opera received its triumphant premiere on February 9, 1893, at La Scala in Milan under Edoardo Mascheroni, earning immediate international acclaim. Today, Falstaff is universally regarded as one of the greatest comic operas ever written and one of the crowning achievements of the operatic repertoire, admired for its Shakespearean humanity, unmatched ensemble writing, and the youthful exuberance with which Verdi concluded one of music history's most extraordinary careers. Falstaff. Instrumentation: 3(3rd dPicc).2+1(EH).2+1(BCl).2: 4.3.3+1(BTbn).0: Timp.Perc(1-2): Hp: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set; Vn1/Vn2 Foglietto): Off-stage (Hn, Gtr, Bell): Vocal soli (10 roles, SSAATTTBBB): Mix Chorus. Reprint edition.

Features:


Instrumentation: 3(3rd dPicc).2+1(EH).2+1(BCl).2: 4.3.3+1(BTbn).0: Timp.Perc(1-2): Hp: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set; Vn1/Vn2 Foglietto): Off-stage (Hn, Gtr, Bell): Vocal soli (10 roles, SSAATTTBBB): Mix Chorus




Category: Vocal (Opera) Score
Contributors: By Giuseppe Verdi/ Libretto by Arrigo Boito, after The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV by William Shakespeare.
Pub Date: 2/2020
Series: Kalmus Opera Library