Falstaff was composed to a libretto fashioned by Arrigo Boito largely from Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor. Superficially the work is an opera buffa in its depiction of the travails of the penniless knight, Sir John Falstaff, but goes beyond the operatic tradition of the time. The vocal line is integrated into the orchestral texture, and with self-quotations and parodic elements, the opera is saturated with as much irony as comedy,forming the fitting culmination of Verdi’s entire operatic life. Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts this acclaimed staging of Verdi’s final masterpiece.
Cast
Sir John Falstaff - Nicola Alaimo, baritone
Ford, marito di Alice - Simone Piazzola, baritone
Fenton - Matthew Swensen, tenor
Dr. Cajus - Christian Collia, tenor
Bardolfo, seguace di Falstaff - Antonio Garés, tenor
Pistola, seguace di Falstaff - Gianluca Buratto, bass
Mrs. Alice Ford - Ailyn Pérez, soprano
Nannetta, figlia di Alice e Ford - Francesca Boncompagni, soprano
Mrs. Quickly - Sara Mingardo, alto
Mrs. Meg Page - Caterina Piva,
mezzo-soprano
Director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf