Conductor,
B. WALTON O'DONNELL
ANTHONY PINI (violoncello)
Nicolai's opera, based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, has long been one of the most popular, both here and on the Continent.
This overture is made up of tunes from the last act of the opera, in which Falstaff and the others join in a fancy-dress frolic, designed by the two ' Merry Wives ' and their friends for the fat Knight's discomfiture. A flowing tune on the violoncellos begins the Overture ; in the opera this is the moon rising over the Forest of Windsor, and the bustling merriment of the other tunes tells of the revels held there at night.