Hello everyone.
I'm very sorry that I haven't been doing a thing with my blog in the last several months. Indeed, I'm especially ashamed that I said I would start updating it regularly again and then I just ignored everything - making a liar of myself is not a good thing at all.
SOOOO... Let us start anew and hope that I won't distract myself in the whirl of the everyday.
One major reason why I haven't been posting anything recently was that I was out of the country for most of the Summer. I spent a great deal of time at the Benedictine Monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia, Italy. I went there thinking I didn't have a vocation to the monastic life but instead to the diocesan priesthood and came back home having that view supported. However, my experience there was marvelous. I really do wish I had that vocation! Moving away from vocational issues, however, for obvious reasons, living a monastic existence and updating this blog didn't seem to coincide.
Now that I have made this lengthy introduction, let me get to the meat of what I want to talk about now. It has nothing to do with Catholicism or religion but instead lies within a secondary passion of mine - Classical music. The strains of Verdi are running through my head and I wish to explain why I think that everyone who isn't should start listening to 'Falstaff' RIGHT NOW!
However, let's start at the beginning: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) is perhaps the greatest opera composer who ever lived (Wagnerians will strongly disagree). He wrote dozens of operas - many of them amazing - while at the same time being a major figure in the movement for Italian reunification. Concerning the latter, I can't say I'm too happy with it. Not only was Verdi an atheist, he was also virulently anti-clerical, anti-papal, and as supporter of Garibaldian excess. Nevertheless, his music is so wonderful that even I cannot hold too much against him. For years my loyalties have wavered between the different operas: 'La Traviata', 'Il Trovatore', and 'Rigoletto' - all written in his 'middle period' contain a seemingly never-ending series of melodic invention which it is impossible not to love. However, his late operas: 'Otello' and 'Falstaff' have a magnificence which I doubt anyone (except Wagner, if you must) could match. 'Aida' is a stirringly beautiful anomaly between these two periods but has never been one of my favorites.
Now...to the subject of 'Falstaff'. While I was at the monastery, one of the wonderful monks there - an opera buff - introduced me on the sly to perhaps the most wonderful opera I have ever heard. I had heard of 'Falstaff' before, of course, but had never given it a proper chance. "Not tuneful enough", I would say like so many others. "Verdi in his dotage trying to be revolutionary". What a fool I was. I have not been able to stop listening to it. Supremely funny, it has a wealth of melody that positively skips from tune to tune - admittedly not lingering on any one overmuch as in Verdi's early operas - but of such worth as to make your spine tingle with joy.
Now, anyone who has taken a Shakespeare course will recognize the name of Falstaff from 'Henry IV' (I and II) as well as 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. It is the latter which was dramatized by Arrigo Boito (a composer in his own right) and given magnificent music by the Shakespeare loving Verdi. Light hearted Verdi is unusual - he only wrote one other comic opera, a flop from the very beginning of his career - 'Falstaff', however, shows that Verdi could pen as good a comic opera as Mozart. The fat knight is an utter rogue - he really has no redeeming qualities except for his wit. However, one can't help but sympathize with him during the hilariously funny episodes where he is tricked by two women he has been trying to seduce. Indeed, the sheer Englishness of this opera (minus the Italian libretto) make it reminiscent of something written by Gilbert and Sullivan. However, Verdi was a better composer than Sullivan could have dreamed of being (I say that as someone who relishes Gilbert and Sullivan) so 'Falstaff' puts 'H.M.S. Pinafore' to shame.
I should probably clean this post up a great deal and add a proper conclusion but I must confess to being a bit tired - I'm not used to blogging anymore, after all. However, I will urge you to find a copy of 'Falstaff' NOW and start listening. Believe me - it's worth it.
-Giuseppe Verdi
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