VERDI, Giuseppe 1813-1901

Falstaff. [Facsimile of the autograph musical manuscript full score]

Milano: G. Ricordi, [1951].

Folio. Quarter dark blue morocco with blue cloth boards, facsimile of Verdi's autograph signature to upper. 1f. (recto title, verso copyright), 394, [i] (blank) pp. + 1f. (recto limitation statement, verso blank).

Binding very slightly worn; new endpapers.

A limited edition, this no. 403 of 500 copies. Hopkinson 64c(c). Scarce.

Falstaff, Verdi's final opera, is a commedia lirica in three acts to a libretto by Arrigo Boito after Shakespeare’s plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and King Henry IV. It was first performed in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala on 9 February 1893.

"Few would deny how richly Verdi deserved this final triumph, or how heartening a message Falstaff offers. The opera leaves us with a musical image that exactly reflects those famous photographs of Verdi in his last years: an old man, in black hat, with eyes that have lived through a lifetime of struggle, smiling out wisely at the world." Roger Parker in Grove Music Online.

Item #39104

Price: $1,650.00  other currencies