Falstaff
opera · commedia lirica in tre atti
Composer Giuseppe Verdi
Librettist Arrigo Boito
Synopsis
Sir John Falstaff, an old, fat knight short of money, sends identical love letters to two wealthy wives of Windsor, Alice Ford and Meg Page. The women compare them and plan to punish him with Mrs Quickly's help, while Ford lays his own trap. Ford means his daughter Nannetta for Dr Cajus, but she loves Fenton.
Versions
Key facts
- Premiere
- 9 February 1893, Teatro alla Scala, Milan
- Acts
- 3
- Language
- Italian (it)
- Setting
- Windsor, in the reign of Henry IV.
What's different
The original, first given at La Scala and conducted by Edoardo Mascheroni. Verdi went on changing the score through the first run, and the text he settled on for Rome two months later replaced this one. Part of the Milan orchestration is lost, so this version can no longer be performed as it was first heard.
Dramatis personae
| Role | Voice | Created by |
|---|---|---|
| Sir John Falstaff A fat knight. | baritone | Victor Maurel |
| Ford A wealthy man, Alice's husband. | baritone | Antonio Pini-Corsi |
| Fenton One of Nannetta's suitors. | tenor | Edoardo Garbin |
| Dott. Cajus A doctor. | tenor | Giovanni Paroli |
| Bardolfo A follower of Falstaff. | tenor | Paolo Pelagalli-Rossetti |
| Pistola A follower of Falstaff. | bass | Vittorio Arimondi |
| Mrs. Alice Ford Ford's wife. | soprano | Emma Zilli |
| Nannetta The daughter of Alice and Ford. | soprano | Adelina Stehle |
| Mrs. Quickly A woman of Windsor. | mezzo-soprano | Giuseppina Pasqua |
| Mrs. Meg Page Alice's friend. | mezzo-soprano | Virginia Guerrini |
| L'Oste della Giarrettiera The landlord of the Garter Inn. | silent role | Attilio Pulcini |
| Robin Falstaff's page. | silent role | — |
| Un paggetto di Ford A page in Ford's household. | silent role | — |
Key facts
- Premiere
- 15 April 1893, Teatro Costanzi, Rome
- Acts
- 3
- Language
- Italian (it)
- Setting
- Windsor, in the reign of Henry IV.
What's different
The revision Verdi made during the opera's first run, given at the Teatro Costanzi by the Milan company, with Verdi and King Umberto I present. It is the only version whose text survives completely documented, and it is the basic text of Ricordi's critical edition, edited by Gabriele Dotto. The scores in circulation before that edition mixed the Rome and Paris texts without a consistent rationale. Primary here for those reasons.
Dramatis personae
| Role | Voice | Created by |
|---|---|---|
| Sir John Falstaff A fat knight. | baritone | Victor Maurel |
| Ford A wealthy man, Alice's husband. | baritone | Antonio Pini-Corsi |
| Fenton One of Nannetta's suitors. | tenor | Edoardo Garbin |
| Dott. Cajus A doctor. | tenor | Giovanni Paroli |
| Bardolfo A follower of Falstaff. | tenor | Paolo Pelagalli-Rossetti |
| Pistola A follower of Falstaff. | bass | Vittorio Arimondi |
| Mrs. Alice Ford Ford's wife. | soprano | Emma Zilli |
| Nannetta The daughter of Alice and Ford. | soprano | Adelina Stehle |
| Mrs. Quickly A woman of Windsor. | mezzo-soprano | Giuseppina Pasqua |
| Mrs. Meg Page Alice's friend. | mezzo-soprano | Virginia Guerrini |
| L'Oste della Giarrettiera The landlord of the Garter Inn. | silent role | Attilio Pulcini |
| Robin Falstaff's page. | silent role | — |
| Un paggetto di Ford A page in Ford's household. | silent role | — |
Key facts
- Premiere
- 18 April 1894, Théâtre Lyrique, Paris
- Acts
- 3
- Language
- French (fr)
- Setting
- Windsor, in the reign of Henry IV.
What's different
Given by the Opéra-Comique, then playing at the place du Châtelet, in a free French translation by Boito and the poet Paul Solanges which Verdi approved. He attended, and made further changes to the score for it, which are poorly documented.
Translator Arrigo Boito, Paul Solanges
Dramatis personae
| Role | Voice | Created by |
|---|---|---|
| Sir John Falstaff A fat knight. | baritone | Victor Maurel |
| Ford A wealthy man, Alice's husband. | baritone | Gabriel Soulacroix |
| Fenton One of Nannetta's suitors. | tenor | Edmond Clément |
| Caïus A doctor. | tenor | Carrell |
| Bardolphe A follower of Falstaff. | tenor | Barnolt |
| Pistolet A follower of Falstaff. | bass | Hippolyte Belhomme |
| Mrs. Alice Ford Ford's wife. | soprano | Louise Grandjean |
| Nanette The daughter of Alice and Ford. | soprano | Lise Landouzy |
| Mrs. Quickly A woman of Windsor. | mezzo-soprano | Marie Delna |
| Mrs. Meg Page Alice's friend. | mezzo-soprano | Esther Chevalier |
| L'Oste della Giarrettiera The landlord of the Garter Inn. | silent role | — |
| Robin Falstaff's page. | silent role | — |
| Un paggetto di Ford A page in Ford's household. | silent role | — |
Source
- The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare (1602)
- Henry IV, Part 1 by William Shakespeare (1598)
- Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare (1600)
Written from
- Budden, J. (1981) The operas of Verdi. Volume 3: From Don Carlos to Falstaff. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 415-531.
- Ricordi (n.d.) Verdi, Falstaff: critical edition. (Accessed: 29 September 2026).
- Wikipedia (2026) Falstaff (opera). (Accessed: 28 September 2026). The English article.
- Boito, A. (1893a) Falstaff: commedia lirica in tre atti. Milan: G. Ricordi. (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
- Boito, A. (1893b) Falstaff: commedia lirica in tre atti. Milan: G. Ricordi. (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
- Casaglia, G. (n.d.) '9 Febbraio 1893', in L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia. (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
- Casaglia, G. (n.d.) '18 Aprile 1894', in L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia. (Accessed: 28 September 2026).
- Wikipedia (2026) Falstaff (Verdi). (Accessed: 28 September 2026). The Italian article.
- Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (n.d.) Falstaff 1893, Archivio storico. (Accessed: 29 September 2026).