Someone who follows Sir John Falstaff is said to be a Falstaffian, and one wonders if the collective noun for a group of Falstaffians might be a “disturbance.” Regardless of what they’re called, we’ll have an afternoon of Falstaffs on this week’s Sunday Opera (9/27 3:00 p.m.) in a production of LA-Opera.
We’ll begin with a perennial favorite from the pen of Giuseppe Verdi: his last opera based on the exploits of Sir John and his infamous run-in with Alice Ford and Meg Page. This production comes to us from the LA Opera and helps fill the void we’ve felt since finances caused them to stop their regular output of broadcast operas.
The libretto follows Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” fairly well and looks at Sir John’s machination as he tries to woo, and extract funds from, two ladies of society, and his mistreatment that follows. This, of course, includes being thrown into the river while hiding in a large laundry hamper and the wonderful terrors of the final scene at “Hearne’s Oak.” There’s a subplot involving our young lovers, but all ends happily as all good comedies should.
The ladies on whom Sir John sets his sights are Nicole Heaston as Alice and Sarah Saturnino as Meg. Their accomplice and go between, Mistress Quickly, is performed by Hyona Kim.
Our young lovers here, Nanetta and Fenton, are sung by Deanna Breiwick and Anthony Leon.
Of course, there needs to be some over officious and pompous men to be ridiculed, and they come in the form of the overly sure husband to Alice simply known as Ford sung by Ernesto Petti and the clueless Dr. Caius performed by Nathan Bowels.
And, finally, we have the Falstaffians, Pistol and Bardolph, who have long been by Falstaff’s side, making sure to get their share of all takings. They’re sung by Vinicius Costa and Yuntong Han in this production.
James Conlon conducts the LA Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
After “Falstaff,” we’ll turn to another aspect of Sir John in Gordon Getty’s opera, “Plump Jack” whose libretto was culled from other Shakespearean works, “Henry IV Parts 1 & 2” and “Henry V.” In this work, we have an older yet no wiser Falstaff whose life is coming to an end as is his connection to Prince Hal as Hal becomes the new King, Henry V.
This recording of the concert version of the opera features Lester Lynch as Falstaff, Nikolai Shukoff as Prince Hal, Susanne Mentzer as Nell Quickly, Robert Breault as Shallow, and more. Ulf Schirmer conducts the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Munich Radio Orchestra.
We’ll close our afternoon together with another “Falstaff.” This time, it’s a look at his character in a symphonic poem entitled Sir John Falstaff, A Humoresque for Full Orchestra, Op. 60 by German composer Hugo Kaun (1863 – 1932). This decidedly romantic programmatic piece depicts Falstaff “thumbing his nose at the establishment, drinking, cheating, and taking naps. It’s performed here by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Jonathan Stockhammer.
