Falstaff (opera) knight, Sir John Falstaff, to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth. Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boito's draft libretto. It took the collaborators three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new opera from Verdi aroused immense interest in Italy and around the world, "Falstaff" did not prove to be as popular as earlier works in the composer's canon. After the initial performances in Italy, other European countries and the US, the
Giuseppe Verdi by Renato Castellani, where Verdi was played by Ronald Pickup, with narration by Burt Lancaster in the English version; and the 1985 play "After Aida", by Julian Mitchell (1985). He is a character in the 2011 opera "Risorgimento!" by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero, written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification of 1861. Verdi appeared on the Italian 1000 lire notes printed from 1962–76. Beginning in 1969 his house was shown on the reverse. He has also appeared on various postage stamps. Verdi's operas are frequently staged around the world. All of his operas are available in recordings in