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The work is dedicated to Landon Ronald, was composed for the Leeds Musical Festival, and was produced there, the composer conducting, on October 2, 1913. Sir Edward, in a foreword, says:
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We must dismiss from our minds the Falstaff of _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ and turn to the Falstaff of _Henry IV._, parts one and two. A literary civil servant, Maurice Morgan, wrote a defence of Sir John from the general accusation of cowardice, which has, to some extent, helped the composer's inspiration. This essay was published in 1777, and contains several most interesting passages. In one place, quoted by Elgar, he writes:
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; and again:
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He is a character made up by Shakespeare entirely of incongruities, a man at once young and old, enterprising and fat, a dupe and a wit, harmless and wicked, meek in principle and resolute by constitution, cowardly in appearance and brave in reality: a knave, a gentleman and a soldier, without either dignity, decency, or honour.
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Dream Interlude.
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Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy and page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.