The Merry Wives of Windsor

Otto Nicolai

opera comique

(Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor)
Libreto by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal
In Lithuanian langugage

Conductor Jonas Janulevičius
Director and choreographer Gianni Santucci (Italy)
Set designer Alessandro Camera (Italy)
Costume designer Maria Carla Ricotti Italy)
Chorus Masters Ramūnas Tilvikas, Rasa Vaitkevičiūtė

Sir John Falstaff- Liudas Mikalauskas, Tadas Girininkas, Tomas Ladiga
Frau Fluth – Raminta Vaicekauskaitė, Gitana Pečkytė, Ieva Goleckytė
Frau Reich- Rita Preikšaitė, Rūta Zaikauskaitė, Nelė Kovalenkaitė
Herr Fluth -Raimondas Baranauskas, Ramūnas Urbietis, Laimonas Pautienius
Herr Reich – Giedrius Prunskus, Andrius Apšega
Anna Reich – Ingrida Kažemėkaitė, Živilė Lamauskienė
Fenton – Kęstutis Alčauskis, Povilas Padleckis, Mindaugas Zimkus
Slender – Žanas Voronovas, Egidijus Bavikinas
Dr.Cajus – Jonas Lamauskas
Innkeeper – Evaldas Kondrackis, Karolis Bauža

Men and women of Windsor, neighbors, elves, spooks, and insects – chorus and ballet artists.

The name of the German composer Otto Nicolai (1810-1849) is mostly recognized by his opera “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, based on the comedy of the same title written by William Shakespeare. Otto Nicolai began his opera in 1845, as he himself stated then “with great affection and cheerful mood”. However, due to his busy schedule at the office he managed to finish the opera only in the last years of his life.

He thoroughly developed the script and the plan of the opera himself, while the libretto was written by a young poet H.S.Mosethal. O.Nicolai kept all the situations created by Shakespeare, on the other hand, he had them shortened quite a bit.

“The Merry Wives of Windsor” is a charming comedy in 3 acts, full of good humor, lyrics, fantasy, and reality. In the sense of the form it is a classical opera where the structure of musical numbers enclose traditional arias, ensembles, choir scenes and spoken recitatives. The musical language, especially the lyrical episodes, reminds of other German romantics K. M. Webber and F. Mendelsohn. One can also sense the influence of Italian opera buffa.

The premiere of this fantasy comic opera, with conducting by Otto Nicolai himself, took place in Berlin, in 1849, only a few months remaining until the death of the author.