Otto Nicolai’s very German take on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor was a big hit in the mid-19th century but has been infrequently performed since then, largely because Verdi’s version, Falstaff, completely eclipsed it. The Italian equivalents of Shakespeare’s names – Nannetta for Ann etc – are fairly confusing but the German ones are enough to drive one distracted as Mistress Ford becomes Frau Fluth, Mistress Page turns into Frau Reich and Mistress Quickly disappears altogether. At any rate the plot is pretty much the same, with poor old amorous Sir John teased and taunted at every turn by the tiresomely vengeful wives and, ultimately, by their husbands as well.
It does offer a number of juicy roles and is a good choice for a Guildhall performance by opera students with considerable ability, both musically and dramatically. They are over-stretched, however, by the thudding passages of spoken dialogue which unfortunately they are obliged to deliver in German. This was an obvious case for performing in English and was not helped by a stiltedly old-fashioned translation for the surtitles, clashing badly with the zippily updated action.
The plot has been transposed to an imagined Windsor of today with an ingenious set designed by Tom Rogers that shoots sideways so that the Fluth kitchen – all flowered print curtains, pink Aga with matching toaster and apple green kettle, is smoothly replaced by the Reich dining room with its steel and glass table, sludgy taupe walls and black and white photographs. The trick is repeated so that the kitchen is cleverly transformed into an over-sofa-ed sitting-room, the dining-room becomes an office and so on until everyone ends up as they should, outdoors, by a large oak tree beneath a giant moon.
Director Harry Fehr has given the singers plenty to do but the characters are not richly developed, which is probably as much Nicolai’s fault as anyone’s. He writes music that trails clouds of Mendelssohn and Weber and is lyrically romantic rather than robustly characterful, although there are some genuinely original and appealing touches in the final act in particular, where he can fully indulge in creating a haunted forest atmosphere, with an intriguing insect chorus accompanied by strange buzzing and stinging music for strings. Clive Timms, conducting, knows exactly how to support and sustain from the pit while keeping things moving along.