Mulder-Fabbri German Opera: Merry Wives of Windsor

“The Fabbri troupe took possession of the Grand Opera House last night, before an audience of respectable dimensions. The opera was Nicolai’s rather unsatisfactory work based on ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor.’ We say based, as the librettist has made sad havoc with the lines of Shakespeare, and has even changed the names in the most unauthorized manner. It is hardly probable that such an opera will ever find favor with the countrymen or admirers of the poet. The music is very trying on a company, not so much from its intrinsic difficulties as on account of its unsuitableness in some of the scenes to express intelligibly the situation. The cast last night was the following [see above]. Of these, we can only select Mme. Fabbri, Mme. Perl and Mr. Müller as deserving of praise. These two ladies were in excellent voice and received hearty applause during the evening, and Mr. Müller’s magnificent baritone voice (and we doubt it is second to any in America), fine stage presence and grateful acting elevated the comparatively small role of Ford into a prominent position. Carl Formes, for whom the role of Falstaff was written, has lost little or nothing of his great powers as an actor, but of the voice that once thrilled the elite of Europe nothing remains but a wreck, sad to listen to. As for the rest of the cast, we regret to be obliged to say that we cannot offer an extenuating explanation of their utter worthlessness. The tenor who personated Fenton was simply execrable, and the chorus in the last act sang terribly out of tune. Professor Mülder held a well-appointed orchestra up to their work, and made that department a success of the most unqualified character.”

“The first performance of the season of German opera at the Grand Opera-house attracted, last evening, an audience that crowded the house in every part. Nicolai’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ which has already been given at the Stadt Theatre by the artists who took part in its recital yesterday, was interpreted. The rehearsal was most successful. Mme. Fabbri was complimented with many superb bouquets; Herr Muller and Carl Formes elicited a great demonstration of delight in the comic duet in the second act; Miss Clara Perl was greeted with much warmth; and, in brief, the impression of the earliest representation of the series was decisively favorable.”

“Nicolai’s opera of the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ at present scarcely known on our stage, deserves more general appreciation. The score is carefully and scientifically written. It is, in parts, very graceful even imaginative, rich in color and lively in movement, while the orchestration is of a true Teutonic elaborateness and warmth of harmonic effect. The humorous parts of the opera, too, are very happily worked up, such, for instance, as the sestet and chorus (the jealousy-scene with the buck-basket), at the end of the first act, and the capital drinking scene, followed by the spirited duo between Fluth and Falstaff in the second. Mr. Karl Formes acts with great breadth of comic humor as Falstaff. Mr. Jacob Muller’s Fluth presents some good points of method, not to mention his very clear and powerful baritone, which more thorough culture would render admirably effective. We cannot conscientiously praise Mme. Fabbri’s Mrs. Fluth, though the lady still possesses the remains of a once efficient soprano. Mme. Clara Perl makes an acceptable Mrs. Reich, and Miss Rosetti is graceful and engaging as Anna.”