Page:Merry Wives of Windsor (1922) Yale.djvu/139

of Windsor In 1838 Balfe's opera, Falstaff, with an Italian libretto by Maggioni, was produced at London. Nine years later a German version, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, with music by Nicolai, was given in Berlin. Nicolai's work was soon afterwards produced in Paris with some amusingly Gallic touches—Fenton is transformed into a young poet; Caius becomes a bullying captain; and Anne Page's character suffers by being made deceitful and dishonest. Perhaps to balance these French features Rule Britannia was introduced into a chorus toward the end of the piece. The greatest of the operatic versions of the play is Verdi's Falstaff (1893).

During all this time the original comedy has main tained its popularity on the stage. Among innumerable modern productions may be mentioned that at the New Theatre in New York (1910), and those of Sir Herbert Tree, who 'made Falstaff such a merry rogue that you forgot his cowardice and his grossness in laughing at his conceit and his mock bravery.' Tree's productions of the play in England and America were elaborately mounted, and generally accompanied by the music for the lyrics composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1874. The play is a favorite for amateur performances. It was presented by the Yale Dramatic Association in 1909.

 

The text of the present volume is, by permission of the Oxford University Press, that of the Oxford Shakespeare, edited by the late W. J. Craig, except for the following deviations:

1. In accordance with the plan of this series, the 