THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF J. VERDI'S OPERA “FALSTAFF” THROUGH THE PRISM OF EPISTOLARY WRITING (on the 210th anniversary of the composer's birth)

The year 2023 marks the 210th anniversary of the birth of the opera reformer, Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Through the prism of the composer's correspondence and the memoirs of his contemporaries, the article traces his work on the last opus, the opera “Falstaff ”. In this work, Verdi turns to the comic genre for the second time — his first comic opera “The King for a Day”, created during the most tragic period of the composer's life, was not a success. The libretto of “Falstaff ” was based on Shakespeare's comedy “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and fragments from his chronicle “Henry IV”. The composer and librettist A. Boito did not intend to create a purely comic opera similar to opera buffa. Boito wrote for Verdi a lyrical comedy, unlike any other, where the protagonist was a Shakespearean character — a fat, good-natured and cowardly drunkard. Verdi did not seek to resurrect in “Falstaff ” the naive gaiety of the old comic opera. He went his own way, without rejecting the traditions laid down by his predecessors (especially Rossini), but also without imitating them, achieving greater psychological intensity. The composer's letters reveal his amazing character — his modesty and selfdoubt, his mercy and optimism, his thorough approach to all the details of the production and his incredible capacity for work.