Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi
The hilarious misadventures of the old knight Sir John Falstaff, erotomaniac, windbag and boastful, wishing to seduce two rich Windsor damsels, will serve as a framework for an exemplary libretto, both concise and sparkling, by Arrigo Boito, after Shakespeare. Verdi only had to graft a music with dazzling verve, handling with naturalness both the quasi-spoken song and the lyrical flights of fancy on a most voluble orchestral accompaniment. The pathos of these ten characters with strong characters rubs shoulders with our liberating laughter, until the masterly final fugue (in C major!) on the words “everything in the world is a farce”, symbol of this strikingly tonic masterpiece. Let’s hold our breath, the duo Michael Schønwandt and David Hermann is at work, it promises us exciting moments of musical theater.
 
Opera in III Acts
Livretto by Arrigo Boito
In Italian with French subtitles