Verdi's last work, in the popular tradition, is a lighthearted comedy about a fat drunkard who cynically seduces two women and is severely punished by them. However, when one carefully examines the Shakespearean original and carefully analyzes the extraordinary richness of the musical motifs, one discovers a darker undercurrent to this mysterious work, which the aged, accomplished composer consciously wrote as a farewell to his immense legacy, his own impressive life, and the world he philosophically viewed as the creator's painful joke on people and their actions. Reaching this undercurrent and revealing its supreme artistic beauty seems worth departing from the stereotype of a protagonist supposedly engaged solely in enjoying the remnants of the pleasures of table and bed, and in fairground clowning.

Falstaff

Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

Verdi’s final work is commonly perceived as a joyful comedy about a fat boozer who cynically seduces two women and gets severely punished for it. Only once you read into the Shakespearian original and carefully analyse the extraordinary richness of the opera’s musical motifs, you get to the bottom of the mysterious work, consciously written by the aged composer as a farewell to his momentous oeuvre, impressive life, and the mortal world, which he ironically summed up as the Creator’s painful joke played on humans and their endeavours.

Wiesław Olko

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Nov 27 - Dec 27, 2026

Falstaff · Polish National Opera

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17 - 26 Apr, 2026

Falstaff · Polish National Opera

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