CSO captures aging man’s delusions in enchanting ‘Falstaff’

SHARE CSO captures aging man’s delusions in enchanting ‘Falstaff’
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Ambrogio Maestri sang the role of Sir John Falstaff as Maestro Riccardo Muti led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
in Verdi’s “Falstaff.” (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

It’s not often that you hear an audience at Symphony Hall giggle out loud. But that is exactly what happened more than once Thursday night as Riccardo Muti led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and 10 soloists, in a sparkling, virtuosic performance of Verdi’s “Falstaff” (to be repeated on April 23 and 26).

The last of the great Italian composer’s 28 operas – and the rare comedy – “Falstaff” was written as Verdi approached the age of 80. And while broadly comic in its plot line, the libretto by Arrigo Boito, which trims Shakespeare to his essence, is really a bittersweet portrait of a man who will not go gentle into that good night.

An undeniable highlight of the ongoing Shakespeare 400 Chicago project that is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, “Falstaff” also demonstrates that Verdi was to opera what Shakespeare was to theater – a foundational artist capable of capturing the best and worst of human nature, and never abandoning an essentially humanistic spirit. (Note: For full enjoyment, put away the booklets handed out with programs that contain a translation by the ordinarily peerless William Weaver, and instead, feast on Sonya Friedman’s sensationally hip and witty supertitles.)

In addition, feast on Verdi’s score, and this rendering of it, which seems to take its cue from that guy named Hamlet, who advised a troupe of actors visiting the Danish court to “speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue.” The music here spins out with such tripping speed and lightness – and such a sense of exuberant chatter (especially as the women join forces in conspiratorial glee) – that it creates a perfect giddiness.

Maestro Riccardo Muti led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and guest soloists, in Verdi’s “Falstaff.” (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

Maestro Riccardo Muti led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and guest soloists, in Verdi’s “Falstaff.” (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Highly recommended

When: April 23 at 8 p.m. and

April 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Symphony Center,

220 S. Michigan

Tickets: $36 – $260

Info: (312) 294-3000;

http://www.cso.org

Run time: 3 hours with

two intermissions

Orson Welles, who made a great film about Sir John Falstaff (“Chimes at Midnight”), called him “Shakespeare’s greatest creation.” Perhaps what he really meant was that Falstaff – who we get to know as an aging soldier and skillful moocher in the two parts of “Henry IV” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” – was Shakespeare’s greatest exemplar of an indomitable life force.

A man of grand appetites and formidable girth, Falstaff (Ambrogio Maestri) imbibes vast quantities of sherry while hanging out at the Garter Inn along with his low-life pals, Bardolfo (Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani) and Pistola (Luca Dall’Amico), and invariably finding a way to have others pay the tab. Full of bluster and pretensions of grandeur, he is no hero; it is simply his sheer zest for life that takes precedence over all else. In fact, with an ego as inflated as his belly, he still fancies himself such a desirable lover that he has the audacity to try to simultaneously seduce two attractive married women.

Completely ridiculous and laughably egotistical at times, Falstaff is ultimately subjected to quite a series of humiliations by those wives of Windsor – Alice Ford (a sparkling performance by Eleanora Buratto, a lush, velvety-toned soprano), and Meg Page (mezzo soprano Laura Polverelli), who are helped by inn-keeper, Mrs. Quickly (mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona). But while he might be a scoundrel and a buffoon, there is something so resilient and tremendously lovable about Falstaff he is all but irresistible. Certainly this is the case as he is played by Maestri, whose malleable face and wonderfully sweet baritone voice even brought a grin to Maestro Muti’s face at many moments.

A subplot of the opera concerns the connivances of Alice Ford’s jealous husband (deftly sung and played by Luca Salsi), and his plan to marry off his daughter, Nannetta (soprano Rosa Feola), to the aging Dr. Caius (Saverio Fiore). The beautiful young Nannetta is madly in love with Fenton (tenor Saimir Pirgu), and the poetic duets of these two are exquisitely rendered. The quintessence of young romantic love, their triumph assures that the natural order of things will be maintained.

A highlight of the opera’s third act is the magical midnight masquerade-in-the-woods devised by the “merry wives” as a final lesson to put Falstaff in his place. This musically thrilling finale summons the full power of the chorus, soloists and sublime orchestra. Led by the old knight himself (who deftly turns the table on his tormentors) they join for a pure Falstaffian declaration: “All the world’s a clown. Man is born a jester. In his mind, his reason is wavering always. All mocked! All mortals taunt one another. But he who laughs last laughs best.”

Soprano Rosa Feola and other soloists joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus as Maestro Riccardo Muti led a performance of Verdi’s “Falstaff” at Symphony Center. (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

Soprano Rosa Feola and other soloists joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus as Maestro Riccardo Muti led a performance of Verdi’s “Falstaff” at Symphony Center. (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)

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