<<  -- 5 --  Roderic Dunnett    Prisoner of Mab

C P Defranceschi's libretto drawn from The Merry Wives of Windsor (on which not just Verdi, Nicolai -- and Vaughan Williams -- based operas and Singspiels, but others, including Dittersdorf and Balfe, closer to Salieri's time) is a pleasure from start to finish : what it lacks in Pistol and Mistress Quickly, and the absence of a Fenton or Nannetta, it make up for in Bardolph (who has a superb falling asleep arioso which rivals Vivaldi's Winter) and a glorious homecoming tenor aria for a markedly dominant Ford. Sadly some of this disappeared in the Landestheater production for the sake of (arguably mistaken) economy, but the opera is a sheer welter of delights -- as much ensemble as solo work -- from start to finish; even the recitative is lively and characterful.

The show inevitably revolved around Carlo Hartmann's splendid, rotundish Falstaff -- he did a fair bit of revolving around the stage himself, delivering one set piece all but rotating on conductor Leif Klinkhardt's centrally-placed keyboard. Salieri's achievement is not to be underrated : there were times when one felt, as with Verdi, that it really was possible to improve on Shakespeare. Kurt Schober's Bardolph was suitably meaty, and the chorus, even though rear-placed, was full-voiced, punchy and disciplined. The antics with the duplicated letter, the basket and the final Herne the Hunter trick made as delicious nonsense as the original.

The music adds not just little touches (like the pirouetting decoration with which Sir John signs his name) but a host of dramatic incidents, with ensembles expanding as, one after another, members of the offended quartet pitch in, usually getting the wrong end of the stick (unlike Verdi, Salieri include both Fords and both Pages, here renamed Slenders, to advantage). All four gave well characterised, agreeably sung performances, though Birgitte Christensen's Mistress Ford rode memorably over the top and the young Ford, Marwan Shamiyeh, emerged in a league of his own : a tenor of tremendous promise, whom major opera houses should soon be hankering after.