BRIO Feasts on Falstaff

BRIO Feasts on Falstaff

Three composers: Verdi (1813-1901); Nicolai (1810-1849); Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) (Italian, German and English); all based their operas on Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ pub. 1602.

The Plot: Set in 15th century Elizabethan England, Sir John Falstaff, a well-fed nobleman, arrives in Windsor down on his luck, and decides to try to seduce a mature married woman in order to gain some financial advantage. In order to increase his chances of success, he sends exactly the same love-letter to Mistress Ford and to Mistress Page, changing only the names. The women soon compare letters and are outraged at his audacity, particularly as neither is attracted to the corpulent knight. They decide to teach him a lesson by leading him on, and then playing tricks on him. There are a number of smaller parts in the play/operas, but in our selections the characters are:

Sir John Falstaff – the comic protagonist

Mistress Ford – a married lady

Mistress Page – a married lady

Mistress Quickly – a servant who goes between the ladies and Sir John with messages

Nannetta Ford – daughter of Mistress Ford

*Shakespeare’s names for the characters have been used in these programme notes for simplicity, although the names of the characters vary in the three different operas. The singers take on different characters in our version.

Concert programme: Apart from the first piece, which encapsulates the themes of the story, we are presenting the music ‘chronologically’, so following the story-line through the three different operas.

Vaughan Williams: Trio. “Sigh no more ladies, Ladies sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever”….

Verdi: Falstaff’s Honour Monologue, draws largely from Shakespeare’s Henry IV. A furious Falstaff questions the notion of ‘honour’.

Nicolai: Duet: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page read and compare the letters from Sir John and decide to take revenge on him.

Verdi: Duet: Mistress Quickly (a servant) reports to Sir John that both ladies have received his letters and are madly in love with him.

Vaughan Williams: Quartet: Sir John is trying to woo Mistress Ford. Mistress Page enters, pretending jealousy. Quickly rushes in to say that Ford’s husband is approaching. They all try to hide Falstaff in a laundry basket.

Nicolai: Mistress Page sings the ballad of Herne the Hunter, who is forced to hunt forever after killing a deer near a sacred oak tree.

Nicolai: Chorus; “Oh sweet moon, oh charming night”. It is night in Windsor Park. The chorus wishes that peace will soon be restored.

Verdi: Nannetta (Alice Ford’s daughter) is pretending to be the Queen of the Fairies and is summoning the little folk to her in Windsor Park at night.

Nicolai: Trio: Falstaff appears in Windsor Park dressed (with antlers) as Herne the Hunter. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page creep up on him and he says he will woo them both!

Nicolai: Trio: Mistress Ford, Mistress Page and Nannetta report that all’s well that ends well, (with Falstaff making a brief appearance to thank them for their forgiveness) in this joyful finale.

Leos Janacek (1854-1928) Mladi

When he turned 70, Janácek decided to give himself a little musical birthday present. The result was his wind sextet Mladi (Youth), a typically fresh and vital product of the composer's miraculous old age. Mladi is a nostalgic reminiscence of the time the composer spent as a choirboy at the Augustinian monastery in Brno.  The third movement began life as a short piece for piccolo and piano called “The March of the Blue Birds,” a reference to the blue uniforms worn by the choristers.  Mladi was first performed at a concert given to celebrate Janacek’s seventieth birthday in 1924.  It is rich in references to the folk songs of Moravia. “Very seldom has a composer been able to write "humorous" instrumental music without lapsing into being corny. Janacek is the exception, the master of musical wit and novelty. Mladi is jolly and outlandish, and yet full of musical subtilty and invention. Already nearly a century old, it is still fresh and full of surprises…”Giordano Brun

“Janácek was one of music's true originals “ --David Hurwitz