Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Justice Department: Verdi's Falstaff

People should know that one of my favorite operas is Verdi's Falstaff. It was Verdi's final opera and his only comedy.

In the opera's finale, the comic figure Falstaff proclaims in a fugue, which the entire company sings, that all the world is folly and all are figures of fun (Tutto nel mondo รจ burla... Tutti gabbati! / "Everything in the world a jest . . . ").

In the end, I don't take things too seriously. The Justice Department asked me: "How would you react to Dennis Race -- (the attorney who fired me) -- if you saw him in a men's room?" (A comical question in itself! Why a men's room?) I said: "I would say, I'm Gary Freedman. I used to work at Akin Gump. Maybe you remember me."



Everything in the world is a jest.

The man is born as a jester,

His faith is trembling in his heart,

As well as the reason.

We always fool ourselves!

We fool each other.

But who laughs at the final joke

is the one who laughs better.


Yes, he who laughs last, laughs best. I'm waiting for the final laugh.

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