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The Quality of the Cooks
Verdi comic operas on stage,
tasted by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
Verdi composed two 'comic' operas, fifty years apart: Un Giorno di Regno', the second opera of his long career, and Falstaff, his last masterpiece and farewell to life. This January they could be seen, and listened to, in Italy, within the span of a week: the latter inaugurated the 'season' of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera on 23 January 2010, and the former that of Parma's Teatro Regio on 29 January. This unique coincidence gives the opportunity to appraise Verdi as a 'comic' composer. Well, although he tried to be funny (especially in Un Giorno di Regno), his talents clearly lay elsewhere. Un Giorno di Regno is mediocre, and Falstaff, an absolute milestone in the history of opera, is not a 'comic' opera but a reflection on life by an eighty-year-old artist who has seen an entire century ripe with events that changed the world...
Copyright © 3 February 2010
Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy
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