Name: Falstaff
Start: 1982-06-30T00:00:00.000Z
End: 1982-06-30T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Royal Opera House

Organization

Conductor

Brian Large

Stage director

Ronald Eyre

Set designer

Hayden Griffin

Costume designer

Michael Stennett

Lighting designer

Jennifer Tipton

Choreographer

David Toguri

Singer

Baritone

Renato Bruson

Sir John Falstaff

Soprano

Katia Ricciarelli

Mrs. Alice Ford

Leo Nucci

Ford

Contralto

Lucia Valentini-Terrani

Mrs. Quickly

Barbara Hendricks

Nannette

Tenor

Francis Egerton

Bardolph

John Dobson

Doctor Caius

Royal Opera House

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Others

Chorus of the Royal Opera House

Falstaff

London

United Kingdom

This first-rate 1982 production of Verdi’s Falstaff  marked the great 20th century Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini's return to opera conducting after more than a decade's absence. Renato Bruson leads a brilliant cast as the lovable fat knight Sir John Falstaff, going toe to toe in a series of hijinks with Katia Ricciarelli (Alice Ford) and Brenda Boozer (Meg Page).

Falstaff brought Verdi’s brilliant career as an opera composer to a close with a burst of laughter. Resurrecting Mozartian opera buffa and bringing a beloved Shakespearean character back to the stage, the work's retrospection is tempered by its truly innovative construction, anticipating Strauss’s preferred idiom of “conversation through music” and favoring plot and character interactions over virtuosic showpieces. The tale begins when Sir John Falstaff, nicknamed “il Pancione” (Potbelly), comes up with the idea for what he expects to be an easy way to pay off his drinking debts: seducing two rich married women. Quickly discovering his trickery, the ladies in question plan vengeance, laying a trap for him and at the same time helping two young lovers outwit an overbearing father.

Falstaff forever: there has been no shortage of great performances Verdi's final stroke of genius, and this is without question one of them. After a period of respite lasting several years, Giulini returned to the conductor's podium in 1982. Could this be the reason why this London Falstaff sounds so ripe and mature on the one hand, and yet so cocky and free on the other?

Falstaff Verdi

Public

Approved

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