"the production of verdi's falstaff at milan: falstaff concealed in the buck-basket in ford's house" from the graphic of february 18, 1893 as performed in the première production. (the première was on 9 february 1893, but the graphic is a weekly, and it takes more than two days to get illustrations from italy to england and prepare engravings. )
this engraving shows the climax of the chaotic scene near the end of act ii of giuseppe verdi's falstaff: the "merry wives of widsor", who have discovered falstaff sent two of them the same scandalous love note, differing only in the name it is addressed to, have decided to punish him. Unfortunately, the fake arrival of alice ford's husband ends up replaced by the real arrival. While he and the servants search the house top to bottom, the women stifle falstaff in a basket of laundry. Meanwhile, nannetta ford, alice's daughter, and her suitor fenton arrive during a moment of calm, and slip behind a screen for some kissing and other such romance. Ford, returning on the search for his wife, hears the noises behind the screen, and presumes his wife is there - but it turns out to be fenton with his daughter - which he sees as almost as bad. Nonetheless, the act ends with ford and alice reconciled as she reveals her plan to him, and invites him to watch falstaff thrown into the river with the laundry. The nannetta-fenton plot, however, will have to wait until the next act to be resolved. Date: 18 February 1893.
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