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 also 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.
Falstaff is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, by William Shakespeare. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan.
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 depicting Falstaff in love.
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.
Edith Mathis is a Swiss soprano and a leading exponent of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart worldwide. She is known for parts in Mozart operas, but also took part in premieres of operas such as Henze's Der junge Lord.
Salomon Hermann Mosenthal was a writer, dramatist, and poet of German-Jewish descent who spent much of his life in Austria. He was also known for his opera libretti. His name is also sometimes written as Hermann Salomon von Mosenthal, Solomon Hermann Mosenthal, or Solomon Hermann von Mosenthal.
Michail Vladimirovich Jurowski was a Russian conductor who worked internationally, based in Germany for most of his career. He was particularly interested in the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, in concerts and recordings.
Norman Foster was an American operatic bass-baritone, a film and television actor and a television producer.
Franziska Gottwald is a German mezzo-soprano singer in opera and concert.
Irene Abendroth, born as Irene Thaller von Draga was an Austrian-Polish coloratura soprano singer. She was a pupil of Frau Wilczek. She was a member of the Vienna court opera in 1889, and she sang in Riga and Munich, and again in Vienna (1894-99). She was engaged from 1899 to 1908 at the Royal Opera in Dresden.
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.
Wilhelm Strienz was a German bass operatic singer.
Falstaff in Vienna is a 1940 German musical comedy film directed by Leopold Hainisch and starring Hans Nielsen, Gusti Wolf and Paul Hörbiger. It portrays the life of the nineteenth century composer Otto Nicolai, known for works such as The Merry Wives of Windsor.
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a 1918 German silent comedy film directed by William Wauer. It is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a 1965 Austrian-British historical comedy film directed by Georg Tressler and starring Norman Foster, Colette Boky and Charles Igor Gorin.
Moses is an 1892 sacred opera in eight scenes by Anton Rubinstein. The German libretto was written by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal who had earlier supplied Rubinstein with the libretto for his most successful opera Die Maccabäer (1875), and is best known as author of the libretto Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor by Otto Nicolai. The opera was scheduled to be premiered in Prague, but had to be cancelled after two rehearsals at the Neues Deutsches Theater. In the next three years the work received concert performances in Riga through the influence of the founder of the Bach Society there, as well as St. Petersburg, Bonn, Amsterdam, Cologne and Vienna. There is no firm evidence that the entire opera was ever performed on the stage in its entirety. The opera was revived 15 October 2017 in Warsaw, in what may have been the first complete performance.
Margit Bokor, born Margit Wahl, was a Hungarian operatic soprano. She created the role of Zdenka in Arabella by Richard Strauss at the Semperoper in 1933, but then had to leave Germany. She was a member of the Vienna State Opera from 1934 to 1938. She moved to Paris, then emigrated to the United States in 1939, continuing her career at opera houses of the Americas.
Ulrike Sonntag is a German operatic soprano and academic voice teacher at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. She was previously a member of the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Vienna State Opera, and other ensembles, and has performed in operas and concerts, and taught masterclasses, in several countries. Among her recordings are rarely performed oratorios by Fanny Hensel and Paul Hindemith.
Irma Beilke was a German operatic soprano, concert singer and academic voice teacher. A member of the Städtische Oper Berlin for decades, and also a member of the Vienna State Opera, she appeared in leading roles of the coloratura soprano and lyric soprano repertoire at major opera houses and festivals internationally, such as Mozart's Blonde and Verdi's La traviata. She took part in world premieres, including Capriccio by Richard Strauss. In 1945, she appeared in the first opera performance in Berlin after World War II, as Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio.
Johann Peter Ritter was a German composer, conductor, chorus master, and cellist born and died in Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany). He is best known in the United States for "Sun of My Soul" and "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name."
