Met Opera: James Levine Conducts Falstaff

Though Verdi was to live another eight years following its premiere, Falstaff (1893) was his last opera.  It was also the third work the composer had based on a Shakespearean play. Falstaff's immediate predecessor, Otello, had enjoyed a huge success and it may have been that that finally decided the composer, with the assistance of librettist Arrigo Boito, to envisage a comedy based on the The Merry Wives of Windsor.  This was only the second comedy Verdi had attempted (his earlier Un Giorno di Regno had been a dismal failure) and so was something of a risk for the elderly composer who had made his reputation as a tragedian.  But the gamble paid off.  Since its opening night at La Scala, Falstaff has been regularly performed and recorded and has become one the most popular of all operatic comedies.  As the Met's program states:

"'Falstaff is the best,' Levine says.  'Bear in mind that the best is also inherently most complicated.  But if you put all the great human comedies together, Falstaff is the crème de la crème - it's the one that rises to the very top.'  Verdi's final opera, Falstaff is also his only major comedy and perhaps the single greatest ensemble work in the repertoire."

This season, the Met has staged the first new production of Falstaff since 1964.  Unlike many of the Met's recent productions, this new staging by Robert Carsen is opulent and a pleasure to watch.  It provides an extravagant setting in which to follow the scheming antics of the old knight and his companions.

In terms of musical performance, this production was another triumph in what has already become one of most outstanding seasons at the Met in decades.  James Levine seems determined, after his long absence, to demonstrate than he has lost none of the skills that made him one of the world's greatest operatic conductors.  As in Così fan tutte earlier this season, he was in full control of the orchestra.  He moved the action along with perfect timing and made sure each note was precisely articulated.  The cast members, headed by Ambrogio Maestri in the title role, all worked extremely well together as an ensemble, an absolute necessity for this particular opera.  Serban Vasile, making his Met debut as Ford in place of the ailing Franco Vassalo, blended seamlessly into the cast.