Free Opera Tonight: Falstaff beds down in Lille

Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff,  is streamed  for you by Slippedisc courtesy of OperaVision. The production is from Opéra de Lille.

Verdi was already in his eighties with a successful career behind him when he wrote Falstaff. After Otello and Macbeth,  the composer went back to Shakespeare, this time for a comedy about the grotesque figure of Falstaff. A drunkard, womaniser, troublemaker and glutton, Falstaff is also capable of tenderness and dejection. It is this endearing and complex character – so human in his excesses and demise – that director Denis Podalydès conjures up in the inspired setting of a run-down hospital designed by Eric Ruf. This musical masterpiece, in which the orchestra plays a particularly important role, is conducted by Antonello Allemandi. Clad in costumes by Christian Lacroix, the cast of excellent singers work as an ensemble to bring these colourful characters to life.

Falstaff is sung by Tassis Christoyannis, Alice Ford by Gabrielle Philiponet, Meg Page by Julie Robard-Gendre  and Mrs Quickly by Silvia Beltrami.

The Plot: the lecherous Falstaff, with his infamous roving eye, finally meets his match when his underhand plans to solve money troubles have the three merry wives of Windsor conspiring to teach him a lesson.

Sung in Italian with subtitles in French, English and Italian.

Available on Friday 22 September at 1900 CET/ 1800 London/ 1300 New York