Verdi’s long journey to his final opera—his only successful comic work—is a lesson in perseverance and reinvention. He was 80 years old when Falstaff premiered at La Scala in Milan, Italy—the same house where Verdi’s first work, Oberto, Count of Boniface, premiered more than 50 years earlier. In between these landmark events of the composer’s professional life, he lost a wife and two children to illness, experienced scathing failure, and buried himself in work until reaching such a level of popular success that he was able to subsidize a retirement home for professional musicians.

My presentation—“Verdi (finally) gets the last laugh: an introduction to Falstaff”—will trace this long arch of Verdi’s life, leading to the creative partnership with librettist-composer Arrigo Boito, with whom he wrote his last two operas. I will also consider why comedy proved—and continues to be—a major challenge for opera composers in the late 19th century to the present.

The “Exploring Opera” learning series also offers LAUSD teachers an opportunity for professional development and salary points.