The last scene takes place at night under Herne’s Oak. The moon shines. Fenton sings an aria. Falstaff appears in his disguise, wearing a pair of antlers on his head and wrapped in a big cloak. Midnight strikes. For a moment he is alone with Alice, but then she leaves him by himself. Nannetta is disguised as the Queen of Fairies. She and her friends sing beautiful music. Falstaff has hidden his face in his cloak, but everyone goes to him and torments him. When people take off their masks Falstaff feels really stupid, although he tries to say that his wittiness helped the joke. Ford announces that Nannetta will marry Caius. Alice leads another couple to him and he announces that they too will marry. When they take off their masks he finds that Bardolfo was disguised as Nannetta, so he will marry Caius! The other couple were Fenton and Nannetta in disguise. Now it is Ford who looks stupid, and Falstaff takes the opportunity to tease him. They finish by singing “” (“Joking is man’s vocation. Wise is he who is jolly”). The music is a fugue, which is usually thought of as being a serious academic form, but the mood here is jolly.