Falstaff

STORY

Act I

In an inn, Dr Caius accuses Sir John Falstaff and his two companions, Bardolfo and Pistola, of playing various pranks on him the night before. While Falstaff admits his responsibility in these events, Bardolfo and Pistola deny that they took advantage of the doctor’s drunken stupor to rob him. As he storms out, Dr Caius vows that, if he ever gets drunk again, ‘it will be with honest, sober, pious, well-bred people’. Once calm has returned, Falstaff reveals his plan to fill his empty coffers. He is going to send love letters to two wealthy and married bourgeoises, Mrs Alice Ford and Mrs Meg Page, in the hope of seducing them both. He believes that the ladies love his big belly and instructs Bardolfo and Pistola to deliver the letters. Both messengers refuse the assignment, however, claiming that their honour is at stake. Falstaff bursts into a rage and entrusts the letters to his page. He chases Bardolfo and Pistola away, and muses on the meaning of ‘honour’. ‘What is it then? A word. What is in that word? Air.’

At the Ford house, Alice and her daughter Nannetta are visited by Meg and Mrs Quickly. Alice and Meg have each received a love letter from Falstaff. Apart from their names and addresses, the letters are identical. The four women decide to teach Falstaff a lesson. Bardolfo, Pistola and Dr Caius warn Mr Ford that Falstaff is planning to seduce his wife Alice. The four women return, together with Fenton, a young man who is close to the Ford family. Fenton is in love with Nannetta and believes that those feelings are mutual. So there are two groups that want to teach Falstaff a lesson. The women agree that Mrs Quickly will deceive Sir John into thinking that Alice and Meg are head over heels in love with him and want to meet him. They promise to trap him if he shows up for the romantic rendezvous. Among the men, Ford decides to visit Falstaff under a false identity. He vows to expose him. While the older characters gloat over their plotting, Nannetta and Fenton seize the opportunity to share a secret kiss.

Act II

Falstaff receives a visit from Mrs Quickly, who tells him that Alice is in love with him and wishes to welcome him at her home. He can only come, however, when her husband is out, namely between two and three o’clock daily. Mrs Quickly then reports, with a less explicit message, that Meg has also accepted his invitation. Falstaff is looking forward to his date with Alice when an unknown man, a certain Maestro Fontana (Ford in disguise), asks to meet him. Fontana confides in Falstaff that he is in love with Alice Ford but that she refuses to answer his love letters. The visitor asks Falstaff, in exchange for a handsome reward, to seduce Alice and test her marital fidelity. Falstaff accepts the proposal keenly and even mentions in passing that he has already taken steps in that direction. ‘In half an hour she will be in my arms’, he announces triumphantly, before changing his clothes for this tête-à-tête. Consumed by jealousy, Ford worries about the future of his marriage and then leaves with the smartly dressed Falstaff.

At the Ford house, the four women are getting ready to play a trick on Falstaff. Nannetta, however, is markedly silent: she has just learned that her father wants to marry her off to Dr Caius. Falstaff then makes his entrance, ready to conquer Alice. While he loses himself in trivial gallantries, the conversation is interrupted by Mrs Quickly and Meg. In a state of frenzy, they warn Alice that her furious husband is on his way to unmask his wife’s lover. The three women hide Falstaff behind a screen. Ford appears at the head of a group of men and instructs them to turn his house upside down to catch his wife’s lover. The women take advantage of the chaos to push Falstaff into a laundry basket, before ordering their servants to throw its contents out the window and straight into the river. When Ford sees Falstaff floundering in the water, he sees through the ruse and laughs along with them.

Act III

A melancholy Falstaff muses on his fate as a man and his recent trials and tribulations. More than ever, he feels excluded from the world around him. Then Mrs Quickly arrives with a new message from Alice. She deeply regrets the recent turn of events and wants to make amends. She invites Falstaff to a new, night-time rendezvous. Sir John doesn’t need to be asked twice. Neither does he suspect, however, that this is another trick by Alice, her husband, their daughter Nannetta, Meg and Mrs Quickly. They all plan to appear at the rendezvous disguised as elves and fairies and to give Falstaff a good scare. When assigning the roles, Alice gives her daughter that of the Fairy Queen. Ford passes this valuable information on to Dr Caius, to whom he wants to give his daughter’s hand in marriage that same evening, using the disguises. Mrs Quickly overhears their conversation and decides to thwart their plan.

After Fenton has sung a charming serenade for Nannetta, Alice and Mrs Quickly dress the young man in a costume identical to that of Dr Caius. The clock strikes midnight: Falstaff appears, followed shortly by Alice, to whom he addresses words of passion. Suddenly, a cry is heard, and elves, fairies and other mysterious creatures appear. Alice runs off while Falstaff tries to hide, especially in order to avoid the gaze of the Fairy Queen (Nannetta in disguise).

Then the spectacle really begins, as they all vie with one another to plague, scare and chasten Falstaff. After a while, Falstaff recognizes Bardolfo among his attackers and realizes what is happening. Ford suggests ending the evening with the marriage of the Fairy Queen. However, he doesn’t know that Fenton has taken Dr Caius’s place. After the wedding blessing, the lovers drop their masks and Ford realizes that he too has been duped. Falstaff has the last word. With an infectious roar of laughter, he exclaims: ‘The whole world is a farce.’