Verdi scholars including Julian Budden have analysed the music in symphonic terms – the opening section "a perfect little sonata movement", the second act concluding with a variant of the classic slow concertante ensemble leading to a fast stretto, and the whole opera ending with "the most academic of musical forms", a fugue.Milnes, pp. 7–8 Milnes suggests that this shows "a wise old conservative's warning about the excesses of the verismo school of Italian opera" already on the rise by the 1890s.Milnes, p. 8 Among the solo numbers woven into the continuous score are Falstaff's "honour" monologue, which concludes the first scene, and his reminiscent arietta ("Quand'ero paggio") about himself as a young page.Osborne, pp. 16 and 18 The young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton, are given a lyrical and playful duet ("Labbra di foco") in act 1; in act 3, Fenton's impassioned love song, "Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola" briefly becomes a duet when Nannetta joins him. She then has the last substantial solo section of the score, the "fairy" aria, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio", described by Parker as "yet another aria suffused with the soft orchestral colours that characterize this scene".
Verdi scholars including Julian Budde,n have analysed the music in symphonic terms – the opening section "a perfect little sonata movement", the second act concluding with a variant of the classic slow concertante ensemble leading to a fast stretto, and the whole opera ending with "the most academic of musical forms", a fugue.Milnes, pp. 7–8 Milnes suggests that this shows "a wise old conservative's warning about the exc,esses of the verismo school of Italian opera" already on the ,rise by the 1890s.Milnes, p. 8 Among the solo numbers woven into the continuous score are Falstaff's "honour" monologue, which concludes the first scene, and his reminiscent arietta ("Quand'ero paggio") about himself as a young page.Osborne, pp. 16 and 18 The young lovers Nannetta and Fenton are given a lyrical and playful duet ("Labbra di foco") in act 1; in act 3, Fenton's impassioned love song, "Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola" briefly becomes a duet when Nannetta joins him. She then has the last substantial solo section of the score, the "fairy" aria, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio" described by Parker as "yet another aria suffused with the soft orchestral colours that characterize this scene".