Day 55: The Wary Wives of Windsor

Hey everyone! Welcome to Day 55!

Today was a long day, so this account of my listening session of Verdi's final opera is not nearly as developed as I would have liked. Just think of this as incentive to buy the book version of this blog, which should be available in better bookstores everywhere by 2096 at the latest.


Verdi: Falstaff - April 1st and 8th, 1950

For Arturo Toscanini, Falstaff was not just the crowning glory of Giuseppe Verdi's operatic canon, but one of the grandest achievements in all of opera. In 1936, one year before giving his final staged performance of the work, Toscanini told a friend that "No opera is more beautiful, more complete, newer and more Latin than Falstaff." Considering the exceptional authority Toscanini had with Verdi operas such as Otello, Rigoletto, and Aida, this is really saying something.

Toscanini did not get to witness the first performance of Falstaff, but it soon became one of the cornerstones of his repertoire. The opera went on to be the work Toscanini conducted more than any other on the stage (twenty-seven productions in all). Verdi's publisher, Giulio Ricordi, complained about Toscanini's excessively metronomic interpretation of Falstaff, but the opera's librettist, Arrigo Boito, gave his hearty approval. I think Boito knew what he was talking about.

Fifty-six years after his first production of the opera, Toscanini recorded Falstaff over two broadcasts with the NBC Symphony and a superb cast of soloists. These broadcasts are not his only surviving account of the work, but it is the only one to be preserved in listenable sound. The only other surviving Toscanini performance of Falstaff comes from an air check of a performance from Salzburg in 1937 that has yet to see a proper release. I have not heard the Salzburg recording, but the critical consensus is that it possesses more flexibility and theatricality than the NBC broadcast. That may or may not be, but I can only judge Toscanini's conception of the opera from what I have heard, and what I have heard is extraordinary.

This NBC recording is brilliant in every way, but especially so for the stunning cohesion of the cast. Giuseppe Valdengo made for a perfectly rapscallion title character, while Herva Nelli, Nan Merriman and Cloe Elmo made for imposing trio of merry wives. The NBC Symphony gave one of its finest efforts in the music of Verdi in these broadcasts, and filled the score with beautifully timed accents that accentuate the glorious humor of the opera.

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That's it for Day 55!

Check back tomorrow for a trio of French masterpieces, only one of which is about Spain.

Happy Tuesday!