There is an artistic reason for this, apart from the radical difference between the German and Italian views of opera.  In ‘Otello’ the action is rapid for the most part, and in many scenes the music only aims at furnishing a suitable accompaniment to the dialogue.  A symphonic treatment of the orchestra, in such scenes as that between Iago and Othello in the second act, would tend to obscure the importance of the dialogue upon the stage, every word of which for the proper comprehension of the drama, must be forcibly impressed upon the listener’s attention.  In such a scene as the handkerchief trio, in which the situation remains practically the same for some time, a symphonic treatment of the orchestra is thoroughly in place, and here Verdi displays extraordinary skill in working out his theme, though even here his method has very little resemblance to that of Wagner.

Six years after ‘Otello’ came ‘Falstaff,’ produced in 1893, when Verdi was in his eightieth year.  Boito’s libretto is a cleverly abbreviated version of Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ with the addition of two or three passages from ‘Henry IV.’  There are three acts, each of which is divided into two scenes.  The first scene takes place in the Garter Inn at Windsor.  Falstaff and his trusty followers, Bardolph and Pistol, discomfit Dr. Caius, who comes to complain of having been robbed.  Falstaff then unfolds his scheme for replenishing his coffers through the aid of Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, and bids his faithful esquires carry the famous duplicate letters to the comely dames.  Honour, however intervenes, and they refuse the office.  Falstaff then sends his page with the letters, pronounces his celebrated discourse upon honour, and hunts Bardolph and Pistol out of the house.  In the second scene, we are in Ford’s garden.  The letters have arrived, and the merry wives eagerly compare notes and deliberate upon a plan for avenging themselves upon their elderly wooer.  Dame Quickly is despatched to bid Falstaff to an interview.  Meanwhile Nannetta Ford, the ‘Sweet Anne Page’ of Shakespeare, has contrived to gain a stolen interview with her lover Fenton, while the treacherous Bardolph and Pistol are telling Ford of their late master’s designs on is wife’s honour.  Ford’s jealousy is easily aroused, and he makes up his mind to carry the war into the enemy’s country by visiting Falstaff in disguise.  The second act takes us back to the Garter.  Dame Quickly arrives with a message from Mrs. Ford.  Falstaff is on fire at once, and agrees to pay her a visit between the hours of two and three.  Ford now arrives, calling himself Master Brook, and paves his way with a present of wine and money.  He tells Falstaff of his hopeless passion for a haughty dame of Windsor, Mrs. Alice Ford, begging the irresistible knight to woo the lady, so that, once her pride is broken, he too may have a chance of winning her favour.  Falstaff gladly agrees, and horrifies the unlucky Ford by confiding