Falstaff
Robert Carsen’s production of Verdi’s comic masterpiece is filled with wit, humour and joie de vivre.
Photos
Introduction
Old, large and lecherous, Sir John Falstaff can’t resist the ladies. But they can resist him, and three of them plot to put an end to his advances once and for all.
News and features
You've got mail!
A look at the plot device of letters in opera.
Your reaction: Falstaff on BP Big Screens
A selection of tweets from before, during and after the live relay of Falstaff, beamed to locations around the UK.
Performance of Falstaff dedicated to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Great German baritone died this week aged 86.
Your reactions to Falstaff
A collection of tweets from the opening night of Robert Carsen's new production.
Listen: Falstaff director Robert Carsen interviewed for ROH Insights
Audio clips from the recent ROH Insight event.
Robert Carsen on Falstaff
The director talks about “one of the greatest works of lyric theatre”.
Background
Giuseppe Verdi's final opera tells the tale of a portly knight with an irrepressible appetite for life, love and laughter. Falstaff crowned a career that spanned more than 50 years. Arrigo Boito – with whom Verdi also collaborated on Otello – created a libretto based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV Parts I and II. Verdi matched the libretto’s sprightliness with a score of rapid switches in mood and tempo. Falstaff had its premiere in Milan in 1893 when Verdi was 79 and was instantly hailed a masterpiece.
Robert Carsen's production is set in 1950s England and draws out the warmth, love of food and comedy at the heart of the opera. Falstaff moves from comic intrigue, as the Merry Wives outmanoeuvre the scheming men, to tender romance and infectious merriment. Musical highlights include Falstaff's monologue in Act I in which he mocks honour, Fenton's lovestruck sonnet in Act III, and the final – sublime – fugue in praise of laughter.
Running time
About 3 hours | including one interval
Language
Sung in Italian with English surtitles
Credits
| Director | Robert Carsen |
| Set designs | Paul Steinberg |
| Costume designs | Brigitte Reiffenstuel |
| Lighting design | Robert Carsen |
| Lighting design | Peter van Praet |
Related links
- www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk Falstaff - World Shakespeare Festival
- www.guardian.co.uk Falstaff - Robert Carsen interview - The Guardian
- en.wikipedia.org Falstaff - Wikipedia
- www.independent.co.uk Falstaff - review - The Independent
