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Article: The Merry Wives of Windsor: the performance of community.(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Shakespeare Bulletin
- Article date:
- June 22, 2005
- Author:
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At the end of Verdi's Falstaff (1887), after the confusions and mistakings, the disguisings and mismatches have been revealed and resolved, Falstaff calls for "Un coro e terminam la scena" ('A chorus to finish the play') and Ford suggests dinner with Falstaff: "Poi con Sir Falstaff, tutti andiamo a cena" ("Then, with Sir John, we'll all go to dinner"). Falstaff begins the chorus, singing the theme of what will become an energetic and joyous fugue, the most formal of musical forms pressed into service to celebrate the comic resolution: "Tutto nel mondo e burla. L'uomo e nato burlone" ("The whole world's a joke. Man is born a joker"). (1)
Comedies often end in a ...