Le Nozze di Figaro - Mozart Opera
Mozart's Opera Buffa in Four Acts, The Marriage of Figaro, K 492
Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: plot summary, character list, and other Mozart opera information.
Mozart wrote some 20 operas, and four ot these are overwhelmingly popular on stage and record: Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte).
- Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- Composed: 1786, by then Mozart had moved to Vienna and freelancing.
- Libretto: in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on the French comedy by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.
- First performance: Burgtheater, Vienna, in May 1, 1786, conducted by Mozart himself.
- Comic opera (opera buffa) in four acts (two hours and thirty minutes)
- Setting: Count Almaviva's chateau of Aguas Frescas near Seville, 18th century.
The Marriage of Figaro is a comedy, embodying social satire that proved revolutionary at the time. It is a sequel to The Barber of Seville (Il barbieri di Siviglia),written by Gioachino Rossini, although Mozart and Rossini had nothing to do with each other. The playwright Beaumarchais wrote both stories as plays. Mozart picked up The Marriage of Figaro while Rossini, The Barber of Seville. Da Ponte has kept most of the complicated parts of Beaumarchais' satirical comedy. Mozart on his part, despite working within the format limitations of the old opera comedy, brilliantly managed to reflect the mood of the characters and the intrigue in music as enchanting as ever.
The Main Characters in Le Nozze di Figaro:
- Count Almaviva (Baritone)
- Figaro, Almaviva's valet (Baritone)
- Cherubino, Almaviva's Page (Soprano)
- Antonio, Almaviva's Gardener (Bass)
- Countess Rosina Almaviva (Soprano)
- Doctor Bartolo (Bass)
- Don Basilio, Music master (Tenor)
- Don Curzio, A Lawyer (Tenor)
- Susanna, The Countess's Maid (Soprano)
- Marcellina, Bartolo's ex-Housekeeper (Contralto)
- Barbarina, Antonio's Daughter (Soprano)
Basic plot summary of Mozart's opera Le Nozze di Figaro:
Figaro, Count Almaviva's valet, and Susanna, the Countess's maid, are about to be married when Figaro discovers that the Count is determined to revive an old custom – the seignorial right to anticipate the bridegroom on a servant's wedding night.
Figaro vows to outwit his master.
Figaro's troubles multiply as the aging Marcellina attempts, assisted by the lawyer Dr. Curzio and Dr. Bartolo, to hold Figaro to a marriage contract he has signed as a promissory note for a loan.
Through Figaro's strawberry mark on his arm, it was revealed later that Figaro in fact was actually the illegitimate son of Doctor Bartolo and Marcellina.
The young page Cherubino with his amorous ways (the Count found him with Barbarina and wants to punish him somehow) complicates the situation by overhearing the Count making advances to Susanna.
The Countess and Susanna plot against the Count, first dressing Cherubino as a girl to lure the Count and when the scheme didn't work, they exchanged costumes so that the Count will believe he is meeting Susanna, while the countess confronts him.
Outwitted at every turn, the selfish Count was forced to apologize.
Figaro also apologizes to Susanna for his suspicions of her unfaithfulness.
Other operas written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
- La clemenza di Tito
- Der Schauspieldirektor
- Die Entführung aus dem Serail
- Idomeneo
- Il rè pastore
- La finta Giardiniera
- Zaide
- Lucio Silla
- Il sogno di Scipione
- Ascanio in Alba
- Mitridate, rè di Ponto
- La finta semplice
- Bastien und Bastienne
Sources:
Mozart and His Operas Edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)
Opera, Editor-in-Chief, András Batta (2000 English Edition)
The Da Capo Opera Manual by Nicholas Ivor Martin (1997)
