Performance History
The first performance of Falstaff took place on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan to great success. The illustrious French baritone Victor Maurel, who had created the role of Iago in Verdi's previous opera, Otello, sang Falstaff at the premiere.
The first performance abroad was in Vienna, on 21 May 1893. Hamburg first saw Falstaff on 2 January 1894, conducted by Gustav Mahler. In the UK, the opera was first presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 19 May 1894 with Arturo Pessina in the title role, while the US premiere was at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, on 4 February 1895 with Victor Maurel as Falstaff.
The opera is still frequently performed throughout the world.
Read more about this topic: Falstaff (opera)
Famous quotes containing the words performance and/or history:
“To vote is like the payment of a debt—a duty never to be neglected, if its performance is possible.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)