Mistress FORD        Signora ZILLI
NANNETTA             Madame STEHLE
FENTON               M. GARBIN
Dr. CAIUS            Signor PAROLI
PISTOLA              Signor ARIMONDI
Mistress PAGE        Signora GUERRINI
Mistress QUICKLY     Signora PASQUA
FORD                 Signor PINI-CORSI
BARDOLFO             Signor PELAGALLI-ROSSETTI
FALSTAFF             M. MAUREL

The libretto, which is mainly based upon “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” also makes some contributions upon “Henry IV.,” particularly in the introduction of the monologue upon honor, and illustrates Boito’s skill in adaptation as well as his remarkable powers in condensation.  In the arrangement of the comedy the five acts are reduced to three.  The characters Shallow, Slender, William, Page, Sir Hugh Evans, Simple, and Rugby are eliminated, leaving Falstaff, Fenton, Ford, Dr. Caius, Bardolph, Pistol, Mistress Ford, Mistress Page, Anne, Dame Quickly and three minor characters as the dramatis personae, though Anne appears as Nannetta and is the daughter of Ford instead of Page.

The first act opens with a scene at the Garter Inn, disclosing an interview between Falstaff and Dr. Caius, who is complaining of the ill treatment he has received from the fat Knight and his followers, but without obtaining any satisfaction.  After his departure, Falstaff seeks to induce Bardolph and Pistol to carry his love-letters to Mistresses Ford and Page; but they refuse, upon the ground that their honor would be assailed, which gives occasion for the introduction of the monologue from “Henry IV.”  The letters are finally intrusted to a page, and the remainder of the act is devoted to the plots of the women to circumvent him, with an incidental revelation of the loves of Fenton and Nannetta, or Anne Page.  In the second act, we have Falstaff’s visit to Mistress Ford, as planned by the merry wives, the comical episode of his concealment in the buck-basket, and his dumping into the Thames.  In the last act, undaunted by his buck-basket experiences, Falstaff accepts a fresh invitation to meet Mistress Ford in Windsor Park.  In this episode occurs the fairy masquerade at Herne’s Oak, in the midst of which he is set upon and beaten, ending in his complete discomfiture.  Then all is explained to him; Nannetta is betrothed to Fenton; and all ends merry as a marriage bell.

There is no overture.  After four bars of prelude the curtain rises, and the composer introduces Dr. Caius with the single exclamation, “Falstaff,” and the latter’s reply, “Ho! there,” which are emblematic of the declamatory character of the whole opera; for although many delightful bits of melody are scattered through it, the instrumentation really tells the story, as in the Wagner music-drama, though in this latest work of the veteran composer there is less of the Wagnerian idea than in his “Aida.”  The first scene is mainly humorous dialogue, but there are two notable exceptions,—­the genuine lyrical music of Falstaff’s song ("’Tis