Falstaff 'Versus' The Mastersingers Of Nuremburg

[Homo Aestheticus]

Let me say at the outset that having to choose between the two would be impossible: I adore them both to bits. They were among the first operas I fell in love with and I've gone through many wonderfully different phases with them. But I've always felt that  The Mastersingers has some dross and musically weak moments whereas  Falstaff  has none. There have been so many times when listening to  Falstaff  where my delight has been so intense that I just want to go screaming in the streets.... Verdi was a freakin genius !!!! I cannot believe he produced this baby at the age of 80 and with no real expectation of wide acclaim !!!! And I cannot believe that the man who wrote  Nabucco  wrote this nuanced, inexhaustible and mind-blowing opera !!!!

Falstaff  is right up there with  Pelleas et Melisande  in making me go into a complete frenzy....  0:)

[Superhorn]

  Why compare apples and oranges?  Both Falstaff and Die Meistersinger are among the greatest masterpieces of the operatic repertoire.
Falstaff is swift and quicksilver,while Die Meistersinger is expansive and takes its time to unfold. 




                                                              

[Brian]

banana

EDIT: Though I am quite a fan of Falstaff

[Homo Aestheticus]

Why compare apples and oranges? 

I am not comparing, I am asking who was the better craftsman in comic opera.

Falstaff is swift and quicksilver,while Die Meistersinger is expansive and takes its time to unfold. 

I don't like those generalities when applied to music.

Also, can you honestly say that after the moving prelude to Act 3 of  The Mastersingers  that tedium does not dominate the next 40 minutes or so between Hans Sachs and Walther ?

I am referring to basically everything just before the start of the gorgeous quintet. Needless to say the music is supreme from that scene until the very end of the opera.

[jochanaan]

I am not comparing, I am asking who was the better craftsman in comic opera...

Consider that Verdi had had an entire lifetime to hone his craft.  Also that brevity is the soul of wit...

[Sean]

Alright there Eric, how's it going?

They're both great works, and both in their own way need a bit of patience to get into; Falstaff was a one I reacted quite adversely to at first, largely after my efforts with the rather structureless Bernstein recording. Actually Falstaff is a bit Straussian and a product of its time in the way its formal designs subliminally creep up on you as you reflect on them; its shimmering surface tone is unique of course...

[Haffner]

Both are supernaturally brilliant Masterpieces. It's obvious which one I favor, but I take absolutely nothing away from the other.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Also that brevity is the soul of wit...

People often seem to forget the person who says that line in Hamlet and instead take it as Shakespeare's personal opinion...

[(poco) Sforzando]

People often seem to forget the person who says that line in Hamlet and instead take it as Shakespeare's personal opinion...

What was that guy's name? Corambis? Ponolius?

It is one of the "familiar quotations" with which no performance of Hamlet today would be without, but the whole sequence of "wise proverbs" that Polonius uses to send Laertes off to France could easily be omitted without any loss of plot or sense. However, considering that many of Shakespeare's plays last upwards of three hours in uncut performances, he could hardly have been accused of brevity as a dominating characteristic. (That said, recent scholarship suggests very strongly that the plays were both published in fuller versions for reading, and presented on stage in shortened versions that would have lasted no more than about 2 1/2 hours.)

[Karl Henning]

People often seem to forget the person who says that line in Hamlet and instead take it as Shakespeare's personal opinion...

People often seem to forget 

[(poco) Sforzando]

People often seem to forget 

We're not elephants, you know.

[Karl Henning]

We're not elephants, you know.

That, I have never forgot.