Full-bodied lust for life meets the search for meaning! With his last masterpiece, written at the age of almost 80, Giuseppe Verdi not only breathed new life into the genre of Italian operatic comedy, but also revolutionized the genre almost immediately and opened it up for the 20th century. In the title role, exceptional baritone and »stage animal« Scott Hendricks returns to the Komische Oper Berlin, and audience favorite Günter Papendell makes his debut as the cheated husband Ford.
Out of his precarious financial situation, Sir John Falstaff, who is convinced of his virility, tries to win over two rich ladies at once with two identical love letters: Alice Ford and Meg Page. It's just stupid that the two friends see through the game and decide to teach Falstaff a lesson...
The transience of humans characterizes Western culture: the search for meaning and love of life find their origin and end in human mortality. In this respect it is surprising and again not surprising that Verdi ended his career as an opera composer with Falstaff of all things. His second comic opera is still a milestone in the genre, with works such as Gianni Schicchi and Der Rosenkavalierpaved the way. Falstaff, a character who comes from Shakespeare's drama Henry IV and his comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor , becomes a character in Verdi and his librettist Arrigo Boito who combines the contradictions of human existence: lust for life and melancholy, down-to-earthness and daredevilry , excessive enjoyment and philosophical brooding.
