Falstaff
Intro
Falstaff
Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)
From 14/12/2008 in Antwerp - from 08/01/2009 in Ghent
- Musical direction: Enrique Mazzola
- Director: Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
- Sir John Falstaff: Bruno Caproni
- Mrs Alice Ford: Ana Ibarra
- Ford: Werner Van Mechelen
- Mistress Quickly: Elzbieta Ardam
Verdi’s final opera is a brilliant riposte to Gioacchino Rossini’s suspicions that his colleague was too serious and melancholy to ever create a decent opera buffa. With Arrigo Boito’s libretto, the old master had finally come across the comedy which, in his own words, he had been looking for, for over 20 years. Boito, with whom Verdi had already worked in composing Otello, inspired new creative energy in the maestro. Verdi’s music subtly follows all the nuances of the text like never before. And at every moment, the composer surprises the audience with an endless variation of colourful, melodic impulses.
Falstaff is a playful anarchist of several years who turns the conservative town of Windsor on its head with his bingeing and brutal demeanour.
When he is again confronted with en empty purse, he decides to allow himself to be courted by two well-to-do ladies. The identical love letters he addresses simultaneously to Alice Ford and Meg Page set a crazy merry-go-round of intrigue in motion, the results of which are anybody’s guess and where the outraged citizens are shown a disquieting reflection of themselves. Verdi’s departure from his rich opera career combines, in inimitable fashion, all the elements of a positive life energy, the mild manner of an old humanist and his unconditional love of humanity. The philosophical conclusion is thus: Tutto nel mondo è burla or Everything in the world is madness.Practical
Surtitles: Dutch.
Team
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Musical direction
Enrique Mazzola
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Director
Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
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Set design
Cristian Taraborelli
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Giorgio Barberio Corsetti
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Costumes
Cristian Taraborelli
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Lightning
Giorgio Foti
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Video
Fabio Taquone
- Chorus master
- Sir John Falstaff
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Mrs Alice Ford
Ana Ibarra
- Ford
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Mistress Quickly
Elzbieta Ardam
- Mrs Meg Page
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Nannetta
Barbara Bargnesi
- Fenton
- Dr Caius
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Bardolfo
Pascal Pittie
- Pistola
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