Music by GIUSEPPE VERDI ( ) Libretto by ARRIGO BOITO ( ) after Shakespeare s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV

Transcription

1 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Programme Notes Online Special Verdi s Falstaff Friday 24 November pm Sunday 26 November pm Falstaff Comic Opera in Three Acts Music by GIUSEPPE VERDI ( ) Libretto by ARRIGO BOITO ( ) after Shakespeare s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV World premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 9 February 1893 British premiere: Covent Garden, London, 19 May 1894 After expressing all the griefs and lamentations of the human heart, to finish with a mighty burst of laughter that will astonish the world! wrote Arrigo Boito, librettist of Falstaff, to the 75-yearold Giuseppe Verdi. And there s still no more wonderful surprise in all of opera than Verdi s Falstaff, a masterpiece by a composer who, after a lifetime of writing bloody and passionate tragedies, came out of retirement to capture the spirit of Shakespearean comedy better than anyone since the Bard himself. No-one expected that, least of all Verdi. His path to comic opera had been long and troubled. His second opera, Un giorno di regno had been a comedy, and its failure hissed offstage by the La Scala audience at its premiere on 5 September 1840 was one of the greatest artistic traumas of his career. Each of the 22 operas (not including rewrites) that followed, from Nabucco (1842) to Aida (1871) was a tragedy. Verdi insisted that it was simply a question of finding the right collaborator: for twenty years I have been searching for a libretto for a comic opera, he

2 wrote to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in But many believed that the problem was more fundamental than that. The same went for his path to Shakespeare. Verdi revered Shakespeare he kept the complete works (in an Italian translation by Giulio Carcano) by his bedside, and called him Papa : the father of all modern dramatists. The problem, again, was finding the right librettist, and when Verdi s bold and innovative operatic setting of Macbeth to a libretto by Francesco Piave (1847, revised 1865) failed to satisfy, he was stung by suggestions that somehow he d failed to grasp Shakespeare. It may be I did not do him justice, he remarked. But to say I do not know, do not understand and do not feel Shakespeare, no, by God, no! He is my favourite poet; I have known him since childhood and reread him continually. He repeatedly pondered an opera based on King Lear. Arrigo Boito broke the deadlock: in his libretto for Otello, Verdi recognised something Shakespearean in every way. With the premiere of Otello at La Scala, Milan on 5 February 1887, Verdi finally achieved the great Shakespearean triumph he d dreamt of since his youth. So by 1889, two years after the premiere of Otello, Verdi was a national treasure, living comfortably in retirement in the village of Sant Agata and busying himself with the hospital he d founded in a nearby town (typically, he refused to let it be named after him). After a 48-year career he saw no need to gamble once again on the approval of the public ( those hyenas ). Boito, however had other ideas, and with encouragement from Ricordi, started to work at the crack in Verdi s armour, that one piece of unfinished business: a comedy. Verdi pleaded old age. In July 1889, Boito parried: I don t think that writing a comedy should tire you out. A tragedy causes its author genuinely to suffer [ ] The jokes and laughter of a comedy exhilarate mind and body. Confronted with sheer potential of Boito s ideas for a libretto, the composer gave way. I don t believe it, he told Boito. Still, let s think it over (take care to do nothing that would harm your career) and if you can persuade me, and I can find some way to cast off ten years or

3 so what joy to say to the public Here we go again! Roll up! Verdi insisted that he d have to work at his own pace, and he promised nothing. I started Falstaff simply to pass the time! he told Ricordi in 1891 Nothing else! But his imagination was already throwing out musical ideas. I am amusing myself by writing fugues, he wrote to Boito, while waiting for the first draft of Act One. Yes, sir, comic fugues and a comic fugue that might well come in handy for Falstaff! Ideas flew back and forth, and Boito and Verdi gave their hero a private nickname, Pancione ( Big Belly ). Boito s masterstroke was to take the farcical plot of The Merry Wives of Windsor and incorporate the passages from Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 that define the true essence of Sir John Falstaff the dreamer, philosopher and wit, as well as just the overweight sot (though that s there too, of course). In short, Boito created in Italian the Merry Wives of Windsor many Shakespeare-lovers wish the Bard had actually written a sparkling comedy full of warm, multi-dimensional characters. Then Verdi infused it with life-giving music. And what music! Verdi s feet never touch the ground, as he dispenses with the separate arias and ensembles of classical Italian opera, and lets the story pour out in a dancing, laughing stream of sound. The orchestra is in on the joke from the beginning from the piccolo that comments reedily on the unlikely prospect of a thin Falstaff, to the deliciously silly musical rendition of Falstaff s bar tab at the Garter Inn ( Three turkeys, two pheasants one anchovy ). It s one of the things that makes Falstaff work so brilliantly in concert. Then there are the characters Falstaff himself, the very definition of larger-than-life: by turns proud, overconfident and credulous, but always irresistibly human. The blustering Ford, the self-important Dr Caius. The two young sweethearts, Fenton and Nannetta whose happy, uncomplicated love is portrayed not with roof-raising arias or sentimental love-duets, but (as Boito put it) simply sprinkled on the whole comedy as one sprinkles sugar

4 on a tart. And of course, three of the strongest female roles in all opera: Mistresses Ford, Page and Quickly, the Merry Wives themselves, each brilliantly drawn and outwitting their menfolk at every turn. After a career filled with operatic heroines who end up suffocated, beaten, stabbed or coughing their lungs out with consumption, Verdi s last opera puts women in charge. In fact, there s a sense throughout Falstaff of generosity and warmth of accounts being settled, and things being put right. No-one dies, and there isn t a really unkind character in the whole show. We all know that Falstaff s lust for Alice is utterly deluded but the orchestra still asks us to feel at least a bit of sympathy for an old man s dreams. And at the end of Act Three, as Verdi conjures the misty enchantment of a moonlit Windsor Park, we know that the spectacle we re about to see is all a huge farce. But the music works its spell all the same. Tutto nel mondo è burla: the whole world s a joke. Verdi finishes with that comic fugue : traditionally the most serious of musical forms, here transformed into a joyous, orderly chaos that ties up all loose ends, answers all questions, and leaves everyone smiling. And this time, that really is Verdi s final operatic word. After years of rumour and months of anticipation, Falstaff was premiered at La Scala on 9 February 1893, eight months before Verdi s 80th birthday. Opera-lovers from across the world flocked to Milan, and after the premiere, Verdi and Boito had to leave La Scala by a back exit to avoid being mobbed. Crowds thronged the streets, and tried to storm Verdi s hotel after the performance he appeared three times on the balcony, like royalty, to receive their cheers. His triumph was reported around the globe. Falstaff, of course, would have seen that as no more than his due. Verdi remained self-critical even to the last: I don t know whether I have found the gay note, the true note, above all the sincere note, he confessed to a friend on the day of the premiere. The public gave him his answer, and to this day everyone who hears this unprecedented, unparalleled and

5 gloriously life-affirming opera tends to agree that Boito s advice to his great friend and collaborator was spot on: There is only one way to end your career more splendidly than with Otello, and that is with Falstaff. Verdi and Boito have the last laugh La risata final. They d astonished the world. And now we re all invited to dine with Sir John Falstaff. The Characters Sir John Falstaff Knight, drinker, lover, braggart and wit. Not as young as he once was, but still with an eye for the ladies who, he believes, find his resplendent paunch irresistible. Ford A gentleman of Windsor pompous but basically loving father of Nannetta, and possessive but basically good-humoured husband of Alice. Fenton A young gentleman of good family but straitened circumstances, with a terrific singing voice. In love with Nannetta. Dr Caius A Frenchman, rather past his prime and with more wealth than wit. Any resemblances to Shakespeare s Master Slender or Justice Shallow are entirely intentional. Bardolfo and Pistola Falstaff s disreputable, disloyal and distinctly unreliable retainers. Bardolfo s drink-raddled nose practically glows in the dark. Mistress Alice Ford Ford s wife, Nannetta s mother and the object of Falstaff s affections. Beautiful, generous and more quick-witted than all the men put together. Nannetta Daughter of the Fords, of marriageable age pretty, spirited, and like her mother, light on her feet. Shakespeare called her Anne Page. Mistress Quickly Definitely not Shakespeare s tavern landlady a

6 respectable and shrewd lady of Windsor, friend to Alice. Mistress Meg Page Friend of Alice and Mistress Quickly, beautiful, quick-thinking and also loved by Falstaff, though very much as a Plan B. Robin Falstaff s page and errand boy. A quiet lad. Synopsis Setting: Windsor, during the reign of King Henry IV ( ) Act One The Garter Inn, Windsor: the morning after a heavy night of revels, Sir John Falstaff and his retainers Bardolfo and Pistola are a bit the worse for wear. But they still have enough wit about them to deal with Dr Caius, who s now regretting spending the night drinking with them. The bar bill is more of a problem; Falstaff s purse is almost empty. But he has a plan: two ladies of Windsor, Alice Ford and Meg Page, are, he s sure, rather smitten with him. He s certain that he can find his way into both their hearts and their purses, and sends Bardolfo and Pistola to set up a pair of assignations. They regard the task as beneath their honour so Falstaff sends his page Robin instead, and gives them a thunderous dressing-down. In the garden of Ford s house by the Thames, Alice and Meg, plus their friend Mistress Quickly and Alice s daughter Nannetta, dissolve in laughter as they realise that they ve both received identical love letters from Falstaff. Bardolfo and Pistola, meanwhile, have teamed up with Dr Caius and the young gentleman Fenton to tell Ford of Falstaff s designs on his wife. They plan to call Falstaff s bluff even while the women plot a separate humiliation for the fat knight. Fenton and Nannetta who are in love seize a brief, sweet moment together as their elders scheme. Act Two

7 Back at the Garter Inn, Bardolfo and Pistola return apologetically to Falstaff and introduce Mistress Quickly. Alice and Meg, she tells Falstaff, are each eager for a tryst that very afternoon. He s delighted and when a stranger called Mr Brook ( Fontana ) arrives, pleading his love for Alice and urging Falstaff to woo her on his behalf, Falstaff happily agrees. He doesn t realise that Brook is Ford in disguise who finds it hard to contain his anger when he discovers that Falstaff already has a secret appointment with his wife. At Ford s house, the ladies set their trap for Falstaff. Only Nannetta is unhappy: she s learned that her father means to marry her to the miserable old Dr Caius. Alice, Meg and Mistress Quickly promise to help her: meanwhile, Falstaff has arrived for his rendezvous with Alice. But Ford, with Caius, Bardolfo, Pistola and a mob of neighbours is not far behind. As Ford furiously searches the house, Falstaff is bustled behind a screen and then into a laundry basket; whereupon Fenton and Nannetta steal another kiss behind the screen. Convinced he s found Falstaff, Ford pushes it aside and is shocked to find his daughter with her sweetheart. Falstaff meanwhile, buried beneath the filthy laundry, can barely breathe. Alice summons her servants and tells her jealous husband to watch as they carry the basket to the window and tip its contents laundry, Falstaff and all straight into the River Thames. Act Three That evening at the Garter Inn, a soggy Falstaff recuperates with a drink and bemoans his shabby treatment. But the Merry Wives aren t done with him yet. Mistress Quickly explains that Alice still loves him, and wants him to meet her at midnight under Herne s Oak in Windsor Park disguised as Herne the Hunter. Unknown to him, the ladies intend to disguise themselves as witches and fairies, and give him the fright of his life. Ford s in on the joke this time, but Alice warns him that he too deserves to be punished for his jealousy. In fact, Ford plans to use the evening s prank to force Caius and Nannetta together, and marry them. Mistress

8 Quickly overhears, and warns Nannetta. At midnight, the moon rises over Herne s Oak, and Fenton and Nannetta have joined the conspirators in supernatural disguises. Falstaff appears on cue and the plot swings into action; he s soon convinced that he s been surrounded by malevolent spirits. Nannetta slips away, and Falstaff suddenly notices that one of the fairies dancing round him is actually Bardolfo in a white dress. The game s up: Falstaff confesses that he s been an idiot. Ford now announces a moonlight wedding and Alice ushers in a second, masked couple; why not a double wedding? Only after it s done does Dr Caius realise that his bride is Bardolfo, and that the mysterious second couple are Fenton and Nannetta. Now it s Falstaff s turn to mock Ford who sees the funny side, blesses the young lovers, and suggests that everyone joins Sir John for a celebratory feast. All agree that laughter is the stuff of life and all the world s a jest. True Friends: Arrigo Boito and Verdi Well then, my dear Boito, let s talk frankly, without reticence, like the true friends we are. To show my gratitude, I could offer you some trifle or other, but what use would it be? It would be embarrassing for me, and useless to you. Permit me therefore, when you are back from Paris, to clasp your hand here. And for this handclasp you will not say a word, not even Thank you. There s something touchingly awkward about the letter of thanks that the 85-year-old Verdi wrote to Arrigo Boito after the French premiere of Verdi s Quattro Pezzi Sacri in Verdi had been too frail to travel, so Boito had gone in his stead. And now, five years since the two men had walked out together to receive the ovation at the premiere of their final opera, Falstaff, Verdi seems to be struggling for words to express the depth of his friendship. But then, the words had always been Boito s job. The partnership had not started well. Born in Padua, Boito came

9 from a bohemian family: his father was a painter, his mother a Polish countess. As an emerging composer with a fierce gaze and a flamboyant moustache, the young Boito threw himself into the revolutionary turmoil of Italy during the Risorgimento. He fought under Garibaldi in the War of 1866, and as a student at the Milan Conservatory he was at the heart of the group of absinthe-drinking, hashish-smoking young artists known as the Scapigliati ( The Dishevelled ). It was at a banquet in 1863 in honour of a new opera by Boito s friend Franco Faccio that Boito launched into a public attack on the state of Italian opera: an altar, slimed like a brothel wall. Rightly or not, Verdi who d taken a friendly interest in Boito, and had collaborated with him the previous year on his Inno delle Nazioni took that as a personal insult. For nearly two decades, they barely spoke. Meanwhile Boito worked on his own opera Mefistofele (1868) and libretti for Ponchielli (La Gioconda) and Faccio (an adaptation of Hamlet). It was their shared publisher Giulio Ricordi who eventually persuaded Verdi to let Boito help revise Simon Boccanegra in The collaboration went surprisingly well; so much so, that Ricordi enlisted Boito to help prod Verdi towards his longdiscussed Shakespeare opera. When Verdi saw Boito s draft for Otello, his imagination ignited: most beautiful, most powerful, Shakespearean in every way. Boito, by now, was intoxicated with Verdi s genius. Only you can compose Otello, he wrote to him: In writing those verses, I felt what you would feel when illustrating them with that other language, a thousand times more intimate and mighty sound. [ ] For Heaven s sake don t abandon Otello, don t abandon it. It is predestined for you. Verdi recognised a great libretto when he saw one, and the triumph of Otello in 1887 was followed in 1893 by Falstaff. It helped that Boito was himself a composer: Mefistofele remains one of the few Italian operas of the late 19th century to rival Verdi

10 for scope and ambition. Its failure dented Boito s confidence, and sad to say, the experience of working directly with Verdi extinguished his own musical impulse, much as his passionate love affair with the famous actress Eleonora Duse seems to have put him off the idea of marriage. Verdi continually encouraged Boito to complete his own second opera Nerone without success. Perhaps that s unimportant. Without words, there s no opera and if Boito had been a more successful composer, he might never have been such a musical writer. As librettist of Otello and Falstaff, he s co-creator of the two greatest operas ever created from the work of the world s greatest playwright. And for Arrigo Boito, that was enough: The voluntary servitude I consecrated to that just, most noble and truly great man is the act of my life that gives me most satisfaction. The Real Sir John Shakespeare seems to have based Sir John Falstaff on several different historical characters. The model most usually cited is Sir John Oldcastle (c ), a Herefordshire knight who became close friend of King Henry V but was later executed for insurrection and heresy. Early versions of the Henry IV plays actually called the character John Oldcastle but Oldcastle s descendant, the powerful Tudor politician Lord Cobham, objected, and he was renamed Falstaff. That name seems to have come from Sir John Fastolf ( ), another knight of Henry V who was famously (and it seems, unfairly) accused of cowardice. Like his fictional counterpart, he d served as page to the Duke of Norfolk, and he actually owned the Boar s Head Inn in Southwark. (Falstaff s favourite haunt, though, was in Eastcheap.) So neither quite adds up to a single original for Shakespeare s fat

11 knight any more than does William Rogers, the famously convivial innkeeper of Stratford-upon-Avon who was a friend of the Shakespeare family and whose former premises on Sheep Street were until recently marketed as The Falstaff s [sic] Experience. There is, however, an undeniable link between Falstaff and the West Midlands. In Act IV Scene 2 of Henry IV Part One he becomes the only major Shakespeare character to visit the Birmingham suburb of Sutton Coldfield ( Fill me a bottle of sack: our soldiers shall march through: we ll to Sutton-Co fil tonight ). In recognition, JD Wetherspoon has named its biggest pub in Sutton Coldfield s main shopping centre The Bottle of Sack. It s what Sir John would have wanted. Programme notes and additional material by Richard Bratby 2017