Editing Falstaff (opera) (section)

==Composition history==

===Conception===
By 1889 Verdi had been an opera composer for more than fifty years. He had written 27 operas, of which only one was a comedy, his second work, ''[[Un giorno di regno]]'', staged unsuccessfully in 1840.<ref>Budden, Vol. 1, pp. 69–74</ref> His fellow composer [[Rossini]] commented that he admired Verdi greatly, but thought him incapable of writing a comedy. Verdi disagreed and said that he longed to write another light-hearted opera, but nobody would give him the chance.<ref name=klein>Klein, John W. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/911833 "Verdi and ''Falstaff''"], ''[[The Musical Times]]'', 1 July 1926, pp. 605–607 {{subscription required}}</ref> He had included moments of comedy even in his tragic operas, for example in ''[[Un ballo in maschera]]'' and ''[[La forza del destino]]''.<ref>Baldini, p. 220</ref>

[[File:Verdi Man and Musician (1897) 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Verdi in 1897]]

For a comic subject Verdi considered [[Cervantes]]' ''[[Don Quixote]]'' and plays by [[Carlo Goldoni|Goldoni]], [[Molière]] and [[Labiche]], but found none of them wholly suitable.<ref name=klein /> The singer [[Victor Maurel]] sent him a French libretto based on Shakespeare's ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]''. Verdi liked it, but replied that "to deal with it properly you need a Rossini or a [[Donizetti]]".{{refn|Authorities differ on the date of Maurel's offering. Algernon St John-Brenon in ''The Musical Quarterly'' in 1916 put the date at 1886, before the premiere of ''Otello''.<ref>St John-Brenon, Algernon. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/738179 "Giuseppe Verdi"], ''The Musical Quarterly'', January 1916, pp. 130–162</ref> Karen Henson in ''19th-Century Music'' in 2007 quotes letters from 1890 that show Maurel's offer of the French libretto as dating from that year, while it was still a secret that Verdi was working on ''Falstaff''.<ref>Henson, Karen. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/ncm.2007.31.2.113 "Verdi versus Victor Maurel on Falstaff"], ''19th-Century Music'', November 2007, pp. 113–130 {{subscription required}}</ref>|group=n}} Following the success of ''[[Otello]]'' in 1887 he commented, "After having relentlessly massacred so many heroes and heroines, I have at last the right to laugh a little." He confided his ambition to the librettist of ''Otello'', [[Arrigo Boito]].<ref name=klein /> Boito said nothing at the time, but he secretly began work on a libretto based on ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'' with additional material taken from ''Henry IV'', parts [[Henry IV, Part 1|1]] and [[Henry IV, Part 2|2]].<ref name=klein /> Many composers had set the play to music, with little success, among them [[Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf]] (1796), [[Antonio Salieri]] ([[Falstaff (Salieri)|1799]]), [[Michael William Balfe]] (1835) and [[Adolphe Adam]] (1856).<ref>Melchiori, pp. 90–91</ref> The first version to secure a place in the operatic repertoire was [[Otto Nicolai]]'s ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor (opera)|The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'' in 1849, but its success was largely confined to German opera houses.<ref>Rice, John A. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O901546 "Falstaff (i)"], and Brown, Clive. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O009159 "Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Die"], ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Opera]]'', Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 March 2014 {{subscription required}}</ref>

Boito was doubly pleased with ''The Merry Wives'' as a plot. Not only was it Shakespearian, it was based in part on [[Trecento]] Italian works – ''[[Il Pecorone]]'' by Ser [[Giovanni Fiorentino]], and [[Boccaccio]]'s ''[[Decameron]]''. Boito adopted a deliberately archaic form of Italian to "lead Shakespeare's farce back to its clear Tuscan source", as he put it.<ref name=hso>Porter, Andrew. "Roll Up! Here We Come Again!", programme booklet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 6 December 1999, pp. 10–14</ref> He trimmed the plot, halved the number of characters in the play,{{refn|Boito eliminated the characters Master George Page, William Page, Justice Shallow, Slender, Sir Hugh Evans, Nym, Peter Simple and John Rugby. He turned Fenton into a conventional juvenile lead, rather than Shakespeare's less romantic and more mercenary character. Mistress Quickly became simply a neighbour of the Fords and Pages, rather than Caius's servant.<ref name=hso /> Subplots involving these characters were cut, including Caius's discovery of Simple in his closet (I.iv), his duel with Evans (III.i), William's Latin lesson (IV.i), and the theft of a German duke's horses (IV.v).<ref>Hepokoski, p. 26</ref>|group=n}} and gave the character of [[Falstaff]] more depth by incorporating dozens of passages from ''Henry IV''.<ref name=hso />{{refn|There is a tradition that Shakespeare wrote ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' at the command of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], who expressed a wish to see "Sir John in Love".<ref name=rowse>Rowse, p. 444</ref> The character was familiar to Elizabethan audiences from both parts of ''Henry IV'' and there was disappointment when Shakespeare omitted him from ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''.<ref name=rowse /> ''The Merry Wives'' was written in haste, and most critics in the 18th century and afterwards found the character of Falstaff crudely drawn by comparison with the more ambiguous figure in the two earlier plays. In 1744 [[Corbyn Morris]] wrote that in ''The Merry Wives'', Falstaff is "in general greatly below his true character".<ref>Vickers, p. 122</ref> In later studies of the character by [[Maurice Morgann]] (1777) and William Richardson (1789) the Falstaff of ''The Merry Wives'' is almost completely ignored.<ref name=m89>Melchiori, p. 89</ref> After Boito's time many critics continued to share the views of Morris and his successors; [[John Dover Wilson]] (1953) was dismissive,<ref name=m89 /> and [[W. H. Auden|W H Auden]] called ''The Merry Wives'' "Shakespeare's worst play".<ref name=rowse/> [[A. L. Rowse|A L Rowse]] (1978) took a more favourable view: "It is the same old reprobate, with the same virtuosity of language in recounting his misadventures as that with which he had regaled Prince Hal."<ref name=rowse />|group=n}}

Verdi received the draft libretto a few weeks later, by early July 1889, at a time when his interest had been piqued by reading Shakespeare's play: "Benissimo! Benissimo!&nbsp;... No one could have done better than you", he wrote back.<ref name=PM700>Verdi to Boito, 6 and 7 July 1889, in Phillips-Matz 1993, p. 700. (punctuation used here are as in the book)</ref> Like Boito, Verdi loved and revered Shakespeare. The composer did not speak English, but he owned and frequently re-read Shakespeare's plays in Italian translations by [[Carlo Rusconi]] and {{ill|Giulio Carcano|it}}, which he kept by his bedside.<ref name=gallo />{{refn|The house, near [[Busseto]], remains in the possession of the Verdi family. The composer's rooms are preserved intact and are open to the public. Verdi's volumes of Shakespeare remain by his bedside.<ref name=gallo>Gallo, Denise (2010). "Repatriating 'Falstaff': Boito, Verdi and Shakespeare (in Translation)", ''Nineteenth-Century Music Review'', November 2010, pp. 7–34</ref>|group=n}} He had earlier set operatic adaptations of Shakespeare's ''[[Macbeth]]'' (in 1847) and ''[[Othello]]'' (in 1887) and had considered ''[[King Lear]]'' as a subject; Boito had suggested ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''.<ref>Steen, p. 453</ref>

{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#F6CED8 |salign=right| quote = What a joy! To be able to say to the Audience: "We are here again!! Come and see us!!"| source = Verdi to Boito, 8 July 1889<ref name=PM700 />|align=right| width=250px}}
Verdi still had doubts, and on the next day sent another letter to Boito expressing his concerns. He wrote of "the large number of years" in his age, his health (which he admitted was still good) and his ability to complete the project: "if I were not to finish the music?" He said that the project could all be a waste of the younger man's time and distract Boito from completing his own new opera (which became ''[[Nerone (Boito)|Nerone]]'').<ref name=PM700 /> Yet, as his biographer [[Mary Jane Phillips-Matz]] notes, "Verdi could not hide his delight at the idea of writing another opera". On 10 July 1889 he wrote again:
{{blockquote|Amen; so be it! So let's do ''Falstaff''! For now, let's not think of obstacles, of age, of illnesses! I also want to keep the deepest ''secrecy'': a word that I underline three times to you that no one must know anything about it! [He notes that his wife will know about it, but assures Boito that she can keep a secret.] Anyway, if you are in the mood, then start to write.<ref>Verdi to Boito, 10 July 1889, in Phillips-Matz, pp. 700–701</ref>|}}

===Composition===
Boito's original sketch is lost, but surviving correspondence shows that the finished opera is not greatly different from his first thoughts. The major differences were that an act 2 monologue for Ford was moved from scene 2 to scene 1, and that the last act originally ended with the marriage of the lovers rather than with the lively vocal and orchestral [[fugue]], which was Verdi's idea.<ref>Hepokoski, p. 22</ref> He wrote to Boito in August 1889 telling him that he was writing a fugue: "Yes, Sir! A fugue{{space}}... and a ''buffa'' fugue", which "could probably be fitted in".<ref>Verdi to Boito, 18 August 1889, in Phillips-Matz, p. 702</ref>
[[File:Boito-1893.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Head and shoulder shot of middle-aged man, moustached, slightly balding|upright|[[Arrigo Boito|Boito]] in 1893]]

Verdi accepted the need to trim Shakespeare's plot to keep the opera within an acceptable length. He was sorry, nonetheless, to see the loss of Falstaff's second humiliation, dressed up as the Wise Woman of [[Brentford]] to escape from Ford.{{refn| Some editions of Shakespeare give the name as "Brainford".<ref>Shakespeare and Alexander, act IV, scene ii</ref> | group=n}} He wrote of his desire to do justice to Shakespeare: "To sketch the characters in a few strokes, to weave the plot, to extract all the juice from that enormous Shakespearian orange".<ref>Wechsberg, p. 229</ref> Shortly after the premiere an English critic, [[R A Streatfeild]], remarked on how Verdi succeeded:
{{blockquote|The leading note of [Falstaff]'s character is sublime self-conceit. If his belief in himself were shattered, he would be merely a vulgar sensualist and debauchee. As it is, he is a hero. For one terrible moment in the last act his self-satisfaction wavers. He looks round and sees every one laughing at him. Can it be that he has been made a fool of? But no, he puts the horrible suggestion from him, and in a flash is himself again. "Son io," he exclaims with a triumphant inspiration, "che vi fa scaltri. L'arguzia mia crea l'arguzia degli altri." ["I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men", a line from Henry IV part 2.] Verdi has caught this touch and indeed a hundred others throughout the opera with astonishing truth and delicacy.<ref name=s111>Streatfeild, p. 111</ref>|}}

In November Boito took the completed first act to Verdi at [[Villa Verdi|Sant'Agata]], along with the second act, which was still under construction: "That act has the devil on its back; and when you touch it, it burns", Boito complained.<ref>Boito to Verdi, 30 October 1889, in Phillips-Matz, p. 703</ref> They worked on the opera for a week, then Verdi and his wife [[Giuseppina Strepponi]] went to Genoa. No more work was done for some time.<ref>Hepokoski, pp. 22–26</ref>

The writer Russ McDonald observes that a letter from Boito to Verdi touches on the musical techniques used in the opera – he wrote of how to portray the characters Nannetta and Fenton: "I can't quite explain it: I would like as one sprinkles sugar on a tart to sprinkle the whole comedy with that happy love without concentrating it at any one point."<ref>Boito to Verdi, in McDonald 2009, p. 8</ref>

The first act was completed by March 1890;<ref>Hepokoski, p. 35</ref> the rest of the opera was not composed in chronological order, as had been Verdi's usual practice. The musicologist [[Roger Parker]] comments that this piecemeal approach may have been "an indication of the relative independence of individual scenes".<ref name=parker/> Progress was slow, with composition "carried out in short bursts of activity interspersed with long fallow periods" partly caused by the composer's depression. Verdi was weighed down by the fear of being unable to complete the score, and also by the deaths and impending deaths of close friends, including the conductors [[Franco Faccio]] and [[Emanuele Muzio]].<ref name=parker/> There was no pressure on the composer to hurry. As he observed at the time, he was not working on a commission from a particular opera house, as he had in the past, but was composing for his own pleasure: "in writing ''Falstaff'', I haven't thought about either theatres or singers".<ref name=parker/> He reiterated this idea in December 1890, a time when his spirits were very low after Muzio's death that November: "Will I finish it [Falstaff]? Or will I not finish it? Who knows! I am writing without any aim, without a goal, just to pass a few hours of the day".<ref>Verdi to Maria Waldmann, 6 December 1890, in Philips-Matz, p. 707: Waldmann was a young singer with whom Verdi corresponded</ref> By early 1891 he was declaring that he could not finish the work that year, but in May he expressed some small optimism, which by mid-June, had turned into:
{{blockquote|The Big Belly ["''pancione''", the name given to the opera before the composition of ''Falstaff'' became public knowledge] is on the road to madness. There are some days when he does not move, he sleeps, and is in a bad humour. At other times he shouts, runs, jumps, and tears the place apart; I let him act up a bit, but if he goes on like this, I will put him in a muzzle and straitjacket.<ref>Verdi to Boito, 12 June 1891, in Philips-Matz, p. 709</ref>|}}

[[File:Maurel-iago.jpg|thumb|left|alt=man in 16th century costume sitting in chair| upright|[[Victor Maurel]] as Iago in Boito and Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'']]
Boito was overjoyed, and Verdi reported that he was still working on the opera. The two men met in October or November 1891,<ref>Hepokoski, p. 36</ref> after which the Verdis were in Genoa for the winter. They were both taken ill there, and two months of work were lost. By mid-April 1892 the scoring of the first act was complete and by June–July Verdi was considering potential singers for roles in ''Falstaff''. For the title role he wanted Victor Maurel, the [[baritone]] who had sung Iago in ''Otello'', but at first the singer sought contractual terms that Verdi found unacceptable: "His demands were so outrageous, exorbitant, [and] incredible that there was nothing else to do but stop the entire project".<ref>Verdi to [[Teresa Stolz]], 9 September 1892, in Phillips-Matz, p. 712</ref> Eventually they reached agreement and Maurel was cast.{{refn|Maurel's compliance stopped short of playing the title role in the original company's tour when it played in Germany. As a Frenchman, with the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War still an offence to French national pride, he refused to perform in Germany.<ref>"Verdi's ''Falstaff'' at Berlin", ''The Times'', 2 June 1893, p. 5</ref>|group=n}}

By September Verdi had agreed in a letter to his publisher [[Casa Ricordi]] that La Scala could present the premiere during the 1892–93 season, but that he would retain control over every aspect of the production. An early February date was mentioned along with the demand that the house would be available exclusively after 2 January 1893 and that, even after the dress rehearsal, he could withdraw the opera: "I will leave the theatre, and [Ricordi] will have to take the score away".<ref>Verdi to Ricordi, 18 September 1892, in Phillips-Matz, pp. 714–715</ref> The public learned of the new opera towards the end of 1892, and intense interest was aroused, increased rather than diminished by the secrecy with which Verdi surrounded the preparations; rehearsals were in private, and the press was kept at arm's length.<ref>"Verdi's ''Falstaff'', ''The Times'', 8 December 1892, p. 5</ref> Apart from Verdi's outrage at the way that La Scala announced the season's programme on 7 December – "either a revival of ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'' or ''Falstaff''" – things went smoothly in January 1893 up to the premiere performance on 9 February.<ref>Phillips-Matz, p. 715</ref>