Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor

Last updated

Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor
Produced by Johnny Green
StarringJohnny Green
CinematographyRobert H. Planck
Edited byJohn McSweeney Jr.
Distributed by MGM
Release date
  • 1953 (1953)
Running time
9 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor (also known as The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture) is a 1953 American short musical film produced by Johnny Green. It won an Oscar in 1954 for Best Short Subject (One-Reel). [1] The film consists of the MGM Symphony Orchestra playing the Overture to Otto Nicolai's opera The Merry Wives of Windsor , conducted by Johnny Green.

Contents

Cast

Related Research Articles

John Falstaff Character in three of Shakespeares plays

Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, where he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England. Falstaff is featured as the buffoonish suitor of two married women in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Though primarily a comic figure, Falstaff embodies a depth common to Shakespeare's major characters. A fat, vain, and boastful knight, he spends most of his time drinking at the Boar's Head Inn with petty criminals, living on stolen or borrowed money. Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king.

Overture in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which were independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at the head of a programme".

<i>The Merry Wives of Windsor</i> Play by William Shakespeare

The Merry Wives of Windsor or Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a reference to the town of Windsor, also the location of Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. Though nominally set in the reign of Henry IV or early in the reign of Henry V, the play makes no pretence to exist outside contemporary Elizabethan-era English middle-class life. It features the character Sir John Falstaff, the fat knight who had previously been featured in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. It has been adapted for the opera at least ten times. The play is one of Shakespeare's lesser-regarded works among literary critics. Tradition has it that The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I. After watching Henry IV Part I, she asked Shakespeare to write a play showing Falstaff in love.

Herne the Hunter

In English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. He is said to have antlers growing from his head, ride a horse, torment cattle, and rattle chains. The earliest mention of Herne comes from William Shakespeare's 1597 play The Merry Wives of Windsor, and it is impossible to know how accurately or to what degree Shakespeare may have incorporated a real local legend into his work, though there have been several later attempts to connect Herne to historical figures, pagan deities, or ancient archetypes.

Otto Nicolai 19th-century German composer and conductor

Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai was a German composer, conductor, and one of the founders of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor as Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. In addition to five operas, Nicolai composed lieder, works for orchestra, chorus, ensemble, and solo instruments.

<i>The Merry Wives of Windsor</i> (opera)

The Merry Wives of Windsor is an opera in three acts by Otto Nicolai to a German libretto by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal based on the play The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare.

Ancient Pistol Character in several plays by Shakespeare

Ancient Pistol is a swaggering soldier who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. Though full of grandiose boasts about his prowess, he is essentially a coward. The character is introduced in Henry IV, Part 2 and reappears in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V.

Bille Brown

William Gerald BrownAM professionally known as Billie Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright.

Johnny Green American songwriter

John Waldo Green was an American songwriter, composer, musical arranger, conductor and pianist. He was given the nickname "Beulah" by colleague Conrad Salinger. His most famous song was one of his earliest, "Body and Soul" from the revue Three's a Crowd. Green won four Academy Awards for his film scores and a fifth for producing a short musical film, and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Alexandra Gilbreath is an English actress, born in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Lee Whitlock is a British television and film actor.

Timothy Clark Choate was an American actor who starred in a number of film and television roles on series such as Dragnet and Babylon 5.

Gerard McCarthy is an actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Norman Foster was an American operatic bass-baritone, a film and television actor and a television producer.

Camilla Spira German actress

Camilla Spira was a German film actress. She appeared in 68 films between 1924 and 1986. She was born in Hamburg, Germany, of Jewish ancestry on her father's side, and died in Berlin, Germany. Her father was the Austrian actor Fritz Spira who died in the Ruma concentration camp in 1943. Her mother was actress Lotte Spira and her sister was the East German actress Steffie Spira.

Tangled Tunes is a piece of light classical music by Albert Ketèlbey, first recorded in 1914, comprising 107 melodies with some repetitions.

The Merry Wives of Windsor is an English play by William Shakespeare which was first published in 1602.

<i>The Merry Wives of Windsor</i> (1950 film) 1950 film

The Merry Wives of Windsor is a 1950 East German musical comedy film directed by Georg Wildhagen. It was based on William Shakespeare's play by the same name.

Corporal Nym Character in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V

Corporal Nym is a fictional character who appears in two Shakespeare plays, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V. He later appears in spin-off works by other writers. Nym is a soldier and criminal follower of Sir John Falstaff and a friend and rival of Ancient Pistol.

The Merry Wives of Windsor is a 1910 silent short historical comedy based on the play by William Shakespeare directed by Francis Boggs and produced by the Selig Polyscope Company. Two cast members were Kathlyn Williams and Margarita Fischer.

References

  1. "The 26th Academy Awards (1954) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2011.