When did Falstaff by Verdi premiere and where?
Falstaff premiered on the 9th of February 1893 at La Scala in Milan. The conductor was Edoardo Mascheroni, and the title role was sung by baritone Victor Maurel.
Questions about Falstaff (opera)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What Shakespeare plays is Verdi's Falstaff based on?
The libretto by Arrigo Boito draws on The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Boito incorporated dozens of passages from Henry IV to give the character of Falstaff greater psychological depth than in the comedy alone.
How old was Verdi when he wrote Falstaff?
Verdi was approaching eighty when he composed Falstaff. It was the last of his 26 operas, and the collaboration with Boito took from mid-1889 to completion over three years.
Why did Falstaff fall out of the repertoire after its premiere?
Audiences were accustomed to grand arias, choruses, and traditional operatic finales, none of which Falstaff provided in the expected form. By the time of Verdi's death in 1901 the work had fallen out of the international repertoire, surviving mainly through the advocacy of conductors such as Arturo Toscanini.
Who rescued Falstaff from neglect after Verdi's death?
Arturo Toscanini did more than anyone else to restore Falstaff to the repertoire. As musical director of La Scala from 1898 and the Metropolitan Opera from 1908, he programmed the work from the start of each tenure, and after returning to La Scala in 1921 he presented it in every season through 1929.
When was Falstaff first recorded as a complete opera?
The first complete recording was made in March and April 1932 by Italian Columbia, conducted by Lorenzo Molajoli with the La Scala chorus and orchestra. The next studio recording came from Toscanini for NBC radio in 1950, released on disc by RCA Victor.