Falstaff: English National Opera Guide 10

by Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito, J. Calder

The English National Opera Guides were originally conceived in partnership with the English National Opera and edited by Nicholas John, the ENO's dramaturg. Most of the guides are devoted to a single opera, which is described in detail with many articles that cover its history and information about the composer and his times. The complete libretto is included in both the original language and in a modern singing translation, except where the opera was written in English. Each has a thematic guide to the most important musical themes in musical notation and is lavishly illustrated. They also contain a bibliography and a discography which is updated at each reprint. The ENO guides are widely regarded as the best series of their kind and excellent value.

Genres: Music

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1893

About the author

Fullest artistic form of operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer, included La Traviata in 1853, Aïda in 1871, and Otello in 1887; people credit him with raising the genre.

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, mainly a Romantic, most influenced the 19th century. Houses frequently perform his works throughout the world, and some themes transcended the boundaries of the genre and long took root in popular culture:
* "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto
* "Va, pensiero" (The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco , and
* "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (The Drinking Song).

Masterworks of Giuseppe Verdi used a generally diatonic rather than a chromatic musical idiom, and people sometimes criticized tendency toward melodrama, which dominates the standard repertoire a century and a half.

Reviews

[Recensioni in tre parole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arguto. Vivace. Divertente.

[Yuval · Rating 4 out of 5]

The format of these books are particularly helpful: the libretto on one side, a page of running commentary on the libretto and score on the other. This author put out the best introduction to the RING I know in the same format; if this one is a little less overwhelming in its insight, I think it has more to do with the qualities of FALSTAFF itself. The opera does gain much, however, from a careful, specific reading, and a long essay on the genesis of the opera also offers illuminating context for appreciating what makes this a masterpiece of an opera. The concluding remarks, however, are not much more than useless trivia. ("Verdi began his career naming operas after his title male character, then lots of operas named after the female character, and ends his career with two operas named after male characters again." Wow, thanks.) Despite that, an excellent supplement to the opera.

[Raúl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basado en Las alegres comadres de Windsor, nuevamente se unen Arrigo Boito como libretista y Verdi para componer una gran obra, que será la última de la carrewra del compositor, en su más creativa senectud. Un libreto fascinante, bien gtrabado, una gran adaptación de la comedia de Shakespeare que sabe dar todo lo que tiene ésta de farsesco y le brinda a Verdi la oportunidad de crear una música brillante y desenfadada, con un juego tímbrico y melódico que la hacen especialmente brillante, una de las mejores de su carrera.