1786: Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” Salzburg Festival 2006 Photo: Monika Rittershaus 1786 Le nozze di Figaro: Figaro, Susanna, Marcellina, Bartolo and Cherubim Salzburg Festival 2006 Photo: Monika Rittershaus With the French revolution in the background, Beaumarchais had written the French comedy “The Barber of Seville”. The piece was considered an open challenge to nobility! Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was intrigued by the material. Furthermore, his favourite librettist Lorenzo da Ponte agreed to collaborate on the project! The result was to be an Italian Opera buffa, “Le Nozze di Figaro”, an independent musical drama full of suspense but without a clear political message. There was only a little room for allusions to the revolution of commoners against nobility.

After all, Mozart wanted to avoid having a performance of “The Marriage of Figaro” prohibited by the authorities, something that had happened to different incarnations of the play in Vienna… It was da Ponte’s task to pique the interest of the emperor in the new opera to avoid antagonising him from the very start. Mozart and da Ponte collaborated harmoniously – despite being under extreme time pressure, as always. Mozart still had to make a living for his family on the side. The story of the opera starts where Beaumarchais' play ends: at the court of the Count Almaviva. To win the lady of one’s heart with trickery and imagination… Figaro, the valet of Count Almaviva, is in preparations for his wedding. Susanna, his chosen, is the chamber maid of Countess Rosina. But Count Almaviva has cast an eye on the beautiful Susanna too. The page Cherubino and Marcellina, the count’s housekeeper - to whom Figaro has promised marriage should he be incapable of paying his debts - join the merry fray. Cherubino is an enfant terrible and frequently causes chaos and confusion.

The story resembles a modern screwball comedy, with changing disguises, mistaken identities, trickery and outbursts of jealousy. But the happy end is inevitable and Figaro’s marriage can take place. The only revolutionary aspect of Mozart’s “Figaro” is the triumph of the common man over the arrogance of nobility. In one aria, for instance, Cherubino irreverently calls his employer “contino” - little count. Joseph II spotted the little jibe but was not averse to a little bit of mockery at the expense of the Viennese nobility. Mozart and da Ponte had reached their goal: “The Marriage of Figaro” was performed and even rewarded by a fee from the emperor. The world premiere on May 1, 1786, at the Burgtheater in Vienna was not exceptionally successful. The orchestra had difficulties coming to terms with Mozart’s complicated music. The Viennese audience, more attuned to the works of the popular Salieri, were not overly thrilled. One critic wrote: “On the first night, the audience did not really know what to make of it.” “The Marriage of Figaro” in Prague However, Mozart’s opera was far more successful in Prague.

After the less than moderate success of his work in Vienna, Mozart found himself in dire need of money again. There still was no permanent employment in sight. Unexpectedly, he was invited to conduct “Figaro” himself in Prague. Mozart travelled to the capital of Bohemia with his wife Constanze. “The Marriage of Figaro” was an overwhelming success. The audience in Prague raved and celebrated Mozart for three weeks. And the money was good: it is said that Mozart made up to one thousand guilders in Prague.

Full of hope, the Mozarts returned to Vienna, where the big breakthrough would surely now be inevitable … Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna - May 01, 1786 - HISTORY.com Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna Share this: Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna Author Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna URL Publisher A+E Networks By 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was probably the most experienced and accomplished 30-year-old musician the world has ever seen, with dozens of now-canonical symphonies, concertos, sonatas, chamber works and masses already behind him. He also had 18 operas to his name, but none of those that would become his most famous. Over the final five years of his life (he died in 1791), Mozart would compose four operas that are among the most important and popular in the standard repertoire.

This remarkably productive period of creative, critical and popular success for Mozart began with Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), which received its world premiere in Vienna, Austria, on May 1, 1786. Figaro was the first collaboration between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, and for their source material they chose a controversial play by the French writer Beaumarchais: La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro, the second part of a trilogy that began with Le Barbier de Séville (later the basis for the Rossini opera). Figaro the play was censored in Beaumarchais’s native France over concern about its “subversive” plotline, which depicts the efforts of a Spanish nobleman, Count Almaviva, to seduce Suzanne, a beautiful young servant of his wife, only to be thwarted and humiliated by his wife, the Countess Rosina, working in concert with the Count’s servant, Figaro, who is also Suzanne’s fiancée.

To the French nobility of the time, Figaro was seen as condoning class conflict, but Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte managed to allay any concerns on the part of their patron, the Hapsburg Emperor Joseph II, by transforming the story into a light comedy. (Mozart’s successful pitch for Figaro is imagined in a comic scene in the film Amadeus (1984), in which the Emperor begins by saying to Mozart, “Figaro is a bad play. It stirs up hatred between the classes… My own dear sister Antoinette writes me that she is beginning to be frightened of her own people.”) The combination of da Ponte’s libretto and Mozart’s score made Le nozze di Figaro an instant success and led to two further triumphant collaborations on Don Giovanni and Cosî fan tutte.

There were five encores during the premiere performance of Figaro on this day in 1786, and seven during its second performance one week later, prompting the emperor himself to impose a ban on encores during future performances, in order “to prevent the excessive duration of operas, without however prejudicing the fame often sought by opera singers from the repetition of vocal pieces.” Related Videos Watch Mozart's Overture to The Marriage of Figaro Performed Using Only Handbells Watch Mozart's Overture to The Marriage of Figaro Performed Using Only Handbells November 13, 2014 Print The Marriage of Figaro premiered on May 1, 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed the opera, also conducted the first two performances while seated at the keyboard. Another famed composed Johannes Brahms said, “In my opinion, each number inFigaro is a miracle; it is totally beyond me how anyone could create anything so perfect; nothing like it was ever done again, not even by Beethoven." Pianists , acoustic and electric guitarists and cello quartets have performed the Overture.

It has also been referenced in films and television and was heard in the 1971 film Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,where it was wrongly identified as a Sergei Rachmaninoff piece by one of the children's parents. The Marriage of Figaro was originally scored for two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes, two horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, strings and timpani. In the video above the Overture is performed by Bells on Temple Square . Follow us for more insights on songs and performances by the Choir: The Marriage of Figaro | opera by Mozart | Britannica.com The Marriage of Figaro Alternative Title: “Le nozze di Figaro” Related Topics Bryn Terfel The Marriage of Figaro, Italian Le nozze di Figaro, comic opera in four acts by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte ), which premiered in Vienna at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786. Based on Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais ’s 1784 play Le Mariage de Figaro , Mozart’s work remains a favourite in the operatic repertoire .

Background and context In 1782, as Mozart was making his way as a composer in Vienna, Count Orsini-Rosenberg, director of the Burgtheater (the imperial theatre), invited him to write an opera buffa . The young composer was in favour at the court of Emperor Joseph II , but he had stiff competition in established local composers, including Antonio Salieri , Vicente Martín y Soler , and Giovanni Paisiello . Mozart was hoping for greater fame and financial security, and in his choice of material he was influenced by the unprecedented success in Vienna of Paisiello’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (1783), which was based on Beaumarchais’s earlier play Le Barbier de Séville (1775; The Barber of Seville). That work would later also become the basis of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini ’s The Barber of Seville (1816). Beaumarchais’s sequel had been translated into German. Performances of the play were planned in Vienna, but the emperor refused permission to stage the work, allowing only its publication.

(Joseph had heard from his sister Marie Antoinette about the troubles the play had caused in Paris.) Da Ponte, one of the poets of the imperial court, removed political content and faithfully translated the rest into Italian—the appropriate language for the opera buffa that Mozart intended to compose. The emperor allowed the project to go forward without objection. With Mozart’s masterpiece of a score, the result was a witty yet profound tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (file no. LC-USZ62-87246) Similar Topics Star Wars The Marriage of Figaro was in some ways an instant success. Its bubbling overture, its brilliantly crafted arias—which give insights into the personalities of the characters who sing them—and its lively and intricate ensemble scenes won the hearts of nearly all who witnessed it. Encores became so numerous that after the work’s third performance the emperor declared that, to keep the evening to a reasonable length, only numbers written for a single voice could be repeated in any opera.

(As it turned out, this edict may not have been enforced.) The house in Vienna where Mozart and his family lived during 1784–87; known as Figarohaus, it … © Photos.com/Jupiterimages Partisans of Mozart’s rivals did their best to spoil the early performances. Orsini-Rosenberg had favoured another librettist over Da Ponte, and he was not inclined to make the production go smoothly. Late in the summer, one local reviewer remarked upon “the unruly mob in the gallery” that was still determined to disrupt the performances with noise. Yet, the journalist added, the opera “contains so many beauties, and such a richness of thought as can proceed only from the born genius.” The opera was performed only nine times during 1786 in Vienna , perhaps because Martín y Soler’s Una cosa rara (also set to a libretto by Da Ponte) came on the scene and essentially pushed the Mozart work aside. The Marriage of Figaro made a more durable impression in its next performances, in Prague later in 1786.

In January 1787 Mozart and an entourage including his family traveled to Prague by invitation to attend the opera and spend time with local music lovers and patrons; he conducted at least one performance himself. Encouraged by the opera’s favourable reception, the theatre’s director asked Mozart to write something new specifically for Prague. That work would be the opera Don Giovanni . Countess Rosina, the count’s wife ( soprano ) Figaro , the count’s valet (baritone) Susanna, the countess’s maid and Figaro’s betrothed (soprano) Cherubino, a page ( mezzo-soprano ) Doctor Bartolo, a physician ( bass ) Marcellina, Bartolo’s housekeeper (mezzo-soprano) Don Basilio, a music master (tenor) Antonio, a gardener (bass) Barbarina, Antonio’s daughter (soprano) Don Curzio, a lawyer (tenor) Villagers, peasants, servants, wedding guests Setting and story summary The Marriage of Figaro is set in Count Almaviva’s castle near Seville (now Sevilla ), Spain , in the late 18th century.

Act I Count Almaviva’s castle, in an empty room where Figaro and Susanna will live after their marriage. Listen: Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus: “Marriage of Figaro” Overture to the opera The Marriage of Figaro, by Mozart. Figaro is measuring a space for his nuptial bed while his fiancée, Susanna, tries on her bridal hat. She does not like their new bedroom. Her objection confounds Figaro, for the room is conveniently close to the bedrooms of the Count and Countess whom they serve. But Susanna warns Figaro that it is all too convenient and close for the Count, who is plotting with her music master, Don Basilio, to seduce her. The Countess rings for her, and Susanna leaves. Alone, Figaro vows revenge (“ Se vuol ballare, signor Contino ”) and storms off in a rage. Dr. Bartolo enters with his housekeeper, Marcellina. Figaro had once promised to marry her, and Bartolo promises her that he will find a way to hold Figaro to his promise.

Bartolo would love to take revenge on Figaro for having earlier foiled his plan to marry Rosina (now the Countess). Bartolo leaves to put his scheme into effect. Susanna returns, and Marcellina jealously spars with her, then leaves in a huff. The teenaged page Cherubino comes in. He tells Susanna that he is in love with the Countess, but the Count has caught him with young Barbarina (Susanna’s cousin and daughter of the gardener Antonio). Cherubino cannot contain his romantic desires (“ Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio ”). Cherubino hides behind a chair when the Count arrives to beg Susanna for a tryst before he goes to London with Figaro on diplomatic business. But his wooing is interrupted by the arrival of Don Basilio, and the Count seeks a hiding place. He heads for the chair that conceals Cherubino, forcing the boy to jump into the seat. Susanna hastily covers him with a cloth. When the jealous Count hears Basilio gossip about Cherubino and the Countess, he reveals himself. Basilio naturally concludes that the Count and Susanna are in a relationship.

This is all too much for Susanna, who begins to faint. The Count and Basilio rush to her aid and try to get her into the chair where Cherubino is concealed, but she revives and orders them away. The Count vows to make Cherubino leave the castle. When Susanna expresses sympathy for the boy, the Count tells her that Cherubino has been caught with a woman before. Recalling how he found the page hiding under a tablecloth in Barbarina’s room, he lifts the cloth that conceals Cherubino. The Count accuses Susanna of dallying with the boy. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Their argument is interrupted by the arrival of Figaro and a group of peasants. Figaro leads them in singing the Count’s praises for having abolished the feudal droit du seigneur, the right of the lord of the manor to sleep with his servant’s bride on her wedding night. Figaro invites the Count to place the bridal veil on Susanna as a symbol of his blessing on their marriage, which is to take place later that day. The Count is forced to agree, but he privately vows to help Marcellina marry Figaro instead.

He also gets Cherubino out of the way by drafting him into his regiment. Figaro teases the boy, who now must trade his pursuit of women for the “glories” of war (“ Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso ”). Cherubino arrives and, at Susanna’s urging, sings the Countess a love song that he wrote for her (“ Voi che sapete ”). He shows the Countess the regimental commission he had just gotten from Basilio. She and Susanna realize that the commission has no seal on it. Figaro has told Cherubino of the plan to deceive the Count, and Susanna begins to dress the uncomfortable boy as a woman. When she goes into another room to find some ribbon, he declares his love for the Countess. At that moment, the suspicious Count bangs on the door, and Cherubino dives into the closet. The Count demands to know who was with the Countess, and she tells him it was Susanna, who has gone into another room.

The Count shows his wife the anonymous letter that Figaro had written about her “lover.” A noise from the closet obliges the Countess to say that Susanna is in there, not in the other room. Susanna reenters the room, unseen by the Count and Countess, and realizes that there is a problem, so she hides behind a screen. As Cherubino cowers, terrified, in the closet, the Count orders “Susanna” out, but the Countess insists that the door remain closed. The Count is convinced that the Countess is hiding a lover in there. As they argue, they warn each other not to go too far and create a scandal. Susanna remains behind her screen, horrified by the situation. The Countess absolutely refuses to open the closet, so the Count brings her with him to look for something with which to break the closet open. He locks the door behind them. Susanna lets Cherubino out of the closet. In a panic, he escapes through the window, and Susanna hides in the closet.

The characters Susanna (left) and Cherubino in a scene from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera … Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images When the Count and Countess return, she finally admits that Cherubino is in the closet, claiming that it was just a joke. He does not believe her protestations of innocence and threatens to kill Cherubino. Drawing his sword, he flings open the closet door. They are both astonished to find Susanna. The Count, abashed, is forced to beg his wife’s forgiveness. She and Susanna explain that the episode with the closet, and the anonymous note, were all a prank. Figaro arrives to announce that the wedding is about to begin. Questioned by the Count, he denies writing the anonymous note, to the consternation of Susanna and the Countess. The Count is anxious for Marcellina’s arrival so that he can stop the wedding. Trending Topics Open Door policy Antonio, the gardener, barges in, complaining that someone has jumped from the Countess’s balcony onto his flower garden. Susanna and the Countess caution Figaro, who had seen Cherubino jump. Figaro claims that he himself leapt from the balcony.

But Antonio claims he saw a boy, someone half Figaro’s size. The Count immediately realizes that the fugitive was Cherubino. Figaro, sticking to his story, says such optical illusions are common and that Cherubino was on his way to Seville. Figaro explains that he was hiding in the closet waiting for Susanna. After hearing the Count’s shouts, he decided to escape by jumping, and he has injured his foot in the process. He suddenly develops a limp in order to prove his story. But Antonio produces Cherubino’s military commission, which he found in the garden. Figaro, confounded, throws the gardener out. Prompted by the women, Figaro triumphantly explains that the page gave the paper to him because it lacks a seal. Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio arrive to demand justice , claiming that Figaro had entered into a contract to marry Marcellina in exchange for a loan. The Count agrees to judge the case, to the joy of Marcellina and the consternation of Figaro. Act III An elegantly decorated room in the castle where the wedding will take place. Alone, the Count ponders the confusing situation.

Unseen by the Count, the Countess urges a reluctant Susanna to go ahead with Figaro’s plan and tell the Count that she will meet him in the garden later. Because Cherubino is gone, the Countess will impersonate Susanna. The Countess leaves. Susanna overhears the Count talking to himself about Figaro marrying Marcellina. Emboldened, she approaches him, claiming that she has come to get some smelling salts for the Countess, who is having a fainting fit. He tells her that she should keep the salts for herself because she is about to lose her intended husband. She counters that she will repay Marcellina’s loan with the dowry the Count had promised her. But the Count claims he cannot remember any such promise. She has no choice but to flirt with him, and they agree to meet in the garden at night. But as she is leaving, she runs into Figaro, and the Count overhears her saying that they have “won the case.” Enraged, the Count threatens to punish them for their betrayal (“ Vedrò mentr’io sospiro ”). The judge Don Curzio arrives with Marcellina and Bartolo.

He announces that Figaro must marry Marcellina or repay the loan. Figaro claims that he is of noble birth and cannot marry without his relatives’ consent. When the Count asks who they are, Figaro replies that he was stolen as an infant but hopes to find his parents within 10 years. Bartolo demands proof of his claim, so Figaro shows him a birthmark on his arm—a birthmark that reveals that he is the love child of Marcellina and Bartolo. The reunited family embrace as the frustrated Count rails against fate. Meanwhile, Susanna, unaware of this development, arrives with the money to pay Marcellina, only to be enraged by the sight of Figaro and his mother fondly embracing. But peace reigns when all is explained to her. The Count storms off with Don Curzio. Bartolo proposes marriage to Marcellina. Marcellina tears up Figaro’s debt . Bartolo gives Figaro and Susanna a dowry, and Susanna adds to it the money she had come in with. The four, chuckling at the Count’s frustration, go off to plan a double wedding.

The Countess enters, wondering if the plan to catch the Count will work and recalling sadly the loss of their love (“ Dove sono ”). After she leaves, Antonio and the Count arrive. Antonio tells the Count that he knows that Cherubino is still in the vicinity, because he found at his house the women’s clothing that Cherubino had been wearing. They run off to look for him. The Countess returns with Susanna, and the two concoct a note, from Susanna to the Count, asking for a meeting in the garden. They seal the note with a pin, which the Count is to return if he agrees to meet her. Barbarina and some peasant girls, including Cherubino in disguise, come to serenade the Countess. Antonio and the Count return to unmask Cherubino, to the consternation of the Countess. The Count threatens to punish the boy, but Barbarina persuades the Count—who had once, with kisses, promised her anything she wanted—to let her marry Cherubino. Figaro arrives, eager for the wedding preparations to begin. The Count begins to cross-examine him again, and Antonio produces Cherubino as proof that they have caught Figaro lying.

But Figaro cleverly claims that it is possible that both he and Cherubino had jumped into the garden. The wedding march begins, and everyone goes off to get ready, leaving the Count and Countess alone. She refuses to discuss her confusion about Cherubino with him. The wedding party returns in procession, singing another paean to the abolition of the feudal right to sleep with the bride. Susanna slips the sealed note to the Count. As the couples dance the fandango , the Count opens the note, pricks his finger on the pin, and drops it. Figaro watches him with great amusement, believing the note to be from some unknown lady. The Count finds the pin, thrilled at the prospect of meeting Susanna later, and invites everyone to a magnificent wedding banquet. Act IV Barbarina, terribly upset, is searching the garden for something that she has lost (“ L’ho perduta, me meschina! ”). When Figaro arrives with Marcellina and asks the weeping girl what is wrong, she replies that she has lost the pin that the Count gave her to deliver to Susanna as a token of their tryst.

Angry, but pretending that he already knows all about it, he plucks a pin from Marcellina’s dress and gives it to Barbarina, who goes off to give it to Susanna. Figaro collapses into his mother’s arms. She advises him to stay calm, but rage overtakes him and he vows to avenge all deceived husbands. Marcellina, afraid for Susanna, leaves to warn her. Figaro then enlists Basilio and Bartolo to help trap the lovers. Alone again, he denounces the perfidy of women (“ Aprite un po’ quegli occhi ”). He hides as Susanna arrives, accompanied by Marcellina and the Countess. Marcellina warns Susanna that Figaro is already in the garden. That suits Susanna just fine, as she can avenge herself on both Figaro for his jealousy and the Count for his philandering. Marcellina retires into the pavilion. The Countess is too nervous to remain but allows Susanna to stay for a bit to enjoy the breezes. Susanna sings a love song to an unnamed lover to punish the spying Figaro (“ Deh, vieni, non tardar, o gioia bella ”).

Then she hides nearby and puts on the Countess’s cloak. Figaro is furious, but he continues to lie in wait. Cherubino arrives, looking for Barbarina, who has meanwhile hidden herself in the pavilion. At the same time, the Countess enters, disguised as Susanna. Cherubino, not realizing who she really is, begins flirting with her. The Count comes in and receives the kiss Cherubino has meant for “Susanna.” The Count slaps Cherubino for his impudence, and the boy flees into the pavilion. Now the Count does some flirting of his own with “Susanna,” and Figaro becomes even angrier. The Count tries to lure “Susanna” into the dark pavilion. But hearing Figaro’s voice and fearing discovery, he tells her to go into the pavilion without him. He exits, promising to meet her later. The real Susanna arrives, disguised as the Countess. When Figaro hears her voice, he immediately realizes who she is. He pretends to court the “Countess.” Susanna is furious until he reveals his joke, and they tenderly reconcile . When the Count returns, the couple replay the joke.

The enraged Count seizes Figaro and calls for weapons. “The Countess” flees into the pavilion as Bartolo, Basilio, Antonio, and Curzio rush in. The Count demands that his wife come out of the pavilion. To everyone’s amazement, out pop Cherubino, Barbarina, Marcellina, and Susanna, who is still dressed as the Countess. She and Figaro pretend to beg the Count’s forgiveness. He refuses, and the Countess reveals herself. The chastened Count humbly asks her pardon. She grants it, and everyone rejoices.

Backstage at Utah Opera | The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart, Marriage, and the da Ponte trilogy Home > Online Learning >The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart, Marriage, and the da Ponte trilogy The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart, Marriage, and the da Ponte trilogy The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart, Marriage, and the da Ponte trilogy Posted by Utah Opera in Online Learning , Productions , The Marriage of Figaro 25 Apr 2016 The first two plays in Beaumarchais’s trilogy are better known today in operatic versions: Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (from 1816) and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (from 1786). The 20th-century French composer Darius Milhaud wrote an operatic setting of The Guilty Mother—the third play in the trilogy—in 1966, though it is not widely performed. W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) But Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, the first story in the trilogy, was written thirty years after Mozart had set the second story, The Marriage of Figaro.

Why didn’t Mozart set The Barber of Seville instead? Ardent fans of opera history know that an earlier composer, Giovanni Paisiello, had already written a very successful opera adaptation of The Barber of Seville in 1782, which played in five theaters in Vienna in between 1783 and 1804, with over 100 performances. We know Mozart was familiar with Paisiello’s Barber—in 1789 he composed an alternate aria for his sister-in-law, Josepha Hofer, to sing in a production of Paisiello’s opera. Even when Rossini was approached to do a new adaptation of Beaumarchais’s Barber, he hesitated because Paisiello’s version was still very popular, and he felt that work was still too good to try and replace it with a new version. Rossini was eventually convinced to do so anyway, but for a number of years after the premiere of his own Barber in 1816, Paisiello’s older version was still the more popular and more frequently performed of the two.

So in 1786, when Mozart was contemplating a new opera, he really didn’t have the option of setting The Barber of Seville. Besides, the new Beaumarchais play had premiered in France only two years earlier, so it was still very fresh and new when Mozart took it on as a project (despite the Emperor’s misgivings). Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838) For the libretto of The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart turned to a new collaborator, Lorenzo da Ponte, who would prove central to the composer’s future operatic ventures. From 1786 to 1790, Mozart composed three operas for Vienna, all of them settings of libretti by da Ponte: The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Così fan tutte (1790). Throughout this “da Ponte trilogy,” there is an underlying consistency of theme that may draw directly on da Ponte’s own life experiences and which, in The Marriage of Figaro, also overlap with Beaumarchais’s. Lorenzo da Ponte was born Jewish in Venice.

When he was a teenager, he was compelled (along with all his siblings) to convert to Roman Catholicism by his father, who wished to remarry. Though da Ponte subsequently studied at a seminary and was ordained a Catholic priest, he took a mistress, lived in brothel in Venice, and was found guilty of “public concubinage.” Through a connection with Antonio Salieri, da Ponte eventually moved to Vienna in the mid-1780s and almost immediately found a new mistress, the opera singer Adriana Ferrarese. In 1791, da Ponte moved away from Vienna with yet another companion, Nancy Grahl (with whom he eventually had four children, though never married), working for a time in London before settling in the United States and becoming a US citizen. Here he helped found the forerunners of the Academy of Music and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. So when da Ponte conceived of an opera libretto based on the themes of fidelity, honor, lust, love, and broken promises, he writes from extensive first-hand experience.

It’s not too much of an overstatement to claim that sex and seduction drive the plots of most of Mozart’s best-known operas and stage works. Starting with The Abduction from the Seraglio in 1782, Mozart produced a stream of highly entertaining and vivid portrayals of the tensions between earthy lust and elevated, honorable love, set against the backdrop of highly politicized periods and scenarios. In each of the three da Ponte operas, this anxiety about sex and idealized love arises as well-defined eras of social and political systems, and their influence on interpersonal relations, are coming to a close. In Don Giovanni, the opera’s premise is built around a feudal order that allowed a nobleman to seduce anyone he pleased, usually without legal or moral repercussions. The Don’s demise at the very end of the opera, then, signals the start of a new morality in Europe as well as a new political system. Similarly, in The Marriage of Figaro, an “enlightened” Count considers reinstating the feudal law—the “droit de seigneur”—that would allow him to legally bed Susanna, his wife’s maid, on the night of her wedding to his own servant, Figaro.

That he is tricked into giving up this plan—and what’s more, tricked by his own servants as they conspire to deceive the aristocracy—is a reminder that another old order in Europe was about to give way. Though the story of The Marriage of Figaro was set safely in the 17th century, the themes centering on a servant class outwitting the aristocracy were very contemporary to Beaumarchais, Mozart, and da Ponte. Social and political revolution was in the air. As Mozart tells the Emperor in Amadeus, he plans to downplay somewhat the social politics in these operas and raises the theme of love/lust—a theme more immediately relevant to all audience members—to a primary position. Review: The Marriage of Figaro An Opera for Our Time by Susan W.

Bowen Review: The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838) Michigan Opera Theater, Detroit, November 2007 Jane Glover, Conductor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Detroit's Michigan Opera Theater performed the poetical and musical masterpiece "The Marriage of Figaro" opera, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte in November, 2007. It first premiered in Vienna in1786, and although its popularity at the time was overshadowed by much lesser works, operas which are long forgotten, "Figaro's" universal importance has withstood the test of time. Identified as a "light, comic opera", there is much more here than meets the eye. Mozart and Da Ponte conspired to transform the opera-going population of Europe, as part of a grander revolutionary mobilization - to win support for the American Revolution in Europe: for the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The "Ideas of 1776" were not just "talk" in the salons of Europe's capitals: Beaumarchais, the author of the Figaro trilogy (Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro and The Guilty Mother) was a spy for and an arms supplier to the American Revolution, known as a political activist, pamphleteer, political prisoner, as well as author. That Mozart was in the circles of the American Revolution has been amply documented in Fidelio Magazine articles (1) , and DaPonte himself became an American citizen in 1828, and was involved in both the American Philosophical Society circles of Philadelphia and New York, and later, with the younger generation of patriots around James Fenimore Cooper. It is little wonder that such passion for truth, justice, and the inalienable rights of man, should resonate so concordantly with the creative impulse in classical poetry and music. Mozart was insistent that the revolutionary play, the banned "Marriage of Figaro," be the work that he and DaPonte set to music, to demonstrate to the world what they could do with opera.

Italian opera was all the rage, even in German-speaking Europe, and until then, operas were limited to set piece presentations of aria, duet, trio, and finale, around a basic storyline, in both opera seria (serious) and buffa (comic). Lorenzo Da Ponte Mozart had written to his father in 1782 that "...The best thing of all is when a good composer, who understands the stage and is talented enough to make suggestions, meets an able poet, the true phoenix; in that case, no fears need be entertained as to the applause of even the ignorant...". Mozart first met his librettist when Da Ponte was a very busy Theater Poet in 1783, and by 1785 they began work in earnest on "Figaro", both cognizant that they were fathering something entirely new. Here was Mozart's opportunity, with a "true phoenix", to elaborate the stunning breakthrough he had made in motivic thorough composition, expressed in 1785 with the German Lied.

He employed the full palate of orchestral and vocal colors to add another dimension to the many ironies already written into the rich Italian libretto, which DaPonte had transformed so well from the French play. "Figaro" transformed opera forever, and a revolutionary breakthrough was realized with the marriage of drama, music and poetry under the arc of a unifying concept. Musically, Mozart played with the themes of vengeance and forgiveness, freedom and wisdom, love and trust, and courage, bringing the audience into little conspiracies, flanking maneuvers, and counter conspiracies throughout the four acts, expressed differently by each character and combination of characters. Mozart scored the part of the Count specifically for the baritone voice, a first in opera, and he created ensembles with six and seven voices, new kinds of recitatives which move the complex action, often unrealized at the first moment of hearing.

Mozart and DaPonte's biting polemics against the sophist thinking predominant in Europe, in the conjunction with the power of the musical-poetic "unity of effect", succeeded in creating a very paradoxical situation for many of the nobles in the 1786 audience, who found themselves both uplifted and insulted at the same time! The Story Right from the opening scene, having the courage to change and to reject the axioms of the society is placed before the audience. The curtain opens to Figaro, (Daniel Okulitch, bass baritone) servant and right-hand man to Count Almaviva, measuring to fit the bed in the new bedroom that he and Susanna have been given by the Count as a wedding gift. Susanna, (Ailyn Perez, soprano) servant to the Countess, enters happily singing about her lovely new bridal outfit, but immediately smells the rat that had eluded Figaro, and points out to her betrothed that the Count's intentions in placing their new bedroom in between the Count's and Countess's chambers would be very convenient for the Count, especially if Figaro is sent to London on business!

Figaro is aware of another plan to force him marry an older noblewoman, Marcellina in lieu of old debts he owes her and cannot pay, but this ruse by the Count is just too much! The Count had officially abolished the barbaric practice of the "right of the first night" (2) . However, he was plotting the seduction of Susanna, asserting his noble right to be above the law. Count Almaviva (Kyle Pformiller, baritone), is a nobleman who, some years earlier with Figaro's help, "broke the rules" to marry his own wife for true love, but now, bored with her, he seeks to share his royal pleasure elsewhere. The bridal couple realizes that in this feudal situation, they have only their wits and love as weapons, and must deploy them to outsmart the Count and his coterie, while bringing others into their plan to "win their cause." What subsequently unfolds are various conspiracies planned from all sides, which are launched, which fail, are reconfigured, all interwoven with divine music which heightens both the drama, and the often-ironic reactions to the conspiracies.

In a direct challenge to the bestial, oligarchic conception of man prevalent in European cities in the 1780s, what they pose is the necessary emotional development of a population, which is required to achieve a republican form of government, as that represented by the ideal of the American Revolution. The One and the Many Voices In this Michigan Opera Theater Production, the singers were all quite fine, and well matched in vocal color. Mozart always listened to each singer before he finished writing, so he had particular voices in mind for each role. But even without that advantage, the MOT did well. Special mention must be made of the delivery of especially the trios and the other ensemble pieces and finales, because all the different voices of the chorus and orchestra could be heard, individually, and as a unity, which is no easy task.

Okulitch's Figaro sang well and warmed into the part as the opera progressed, but the character he (or the director) created was too enraged throughout, rather than a Figaro who developed the capability to turn the tables on the Count - his master -- to defeat his vile intention, and have him "dance to his tune." Although he isn't quite as smart as he thinks himself to be, he and Susanna do find joy in uplifting others--both the other characters and the audience, in diametric opposition to the "Joy of Vengeance" expressed by Bartolo, the Count and their cabal. This must be transparent, or it dampens the irony at the end of the opera, where Susanna, in a flanking conspiracy with the Countess (Caitlin Lynch, soprano) turns the tables on an untrusting Figaro, who in turn, plays a trick on her, teaching and learning lessons of trust, lessons which are fundamental in the institution of marriage, and also the institution of self government. Perez's Susanna, Pformiller's Count and Lynch's Countess worked especially very well together, and with Okulitch's Figaro, they presented real Mozart.

Cherubino, (Stephanie Woodling, mezzo soprano) seemed to enjoy her role. Other commendations go to Don Basilio, (Torrence Blaisdell, tenor), Antonio the gardner, (Seth Carico, bass) and Barbarina (Kelly Holst, soprano) and the peasant girls. It was unfortunate that, for this production, the arias of Marcellina, (Kathleen Segar, mezzo soprano) and Basilio, were not included, though they performed crisply in the recitatives and ensembles. Conductor Jane Glover's rendering of their work was excellent, especially the way in which she brought out certain musical colors, like the winds against the strings, for example. In the few places the orchestra was less than perfect, the idea nevertheless prevailed. Overall, the performance was enjoyable, but could have been much better, had the issue of the emotional quality needed to rule, so clearly intended by Mozart and DaPonte, not been virtually swept under the rug in an attempt to keep the audience's attention with sensual effects.

Sense Certainty Vs Real Ideas Photo: John Grigaitis, Michigan Opera Theatre Kathleen Segar as Marcellina, Peter Strummer as Doctor Bartolo, Ying Huang as Susanna and Robert Gierlach as Figaro. (Shown here, in this scene from Act 3 are different cast members than the ones in this review, in the role of Figaro and Susanna. ) In this regard, it must be said, most emphatically, that petting onstage is never necessary to show lust, or love. Sensual effects blunt, rather than enhance, the impact of drama of the music itself, and this is the main complaint with this MOT production. Unnecessary activity and extra motion in many scenes, as when Marcellina throws her legal papers all over the stage for Dr. Bartolo (Peter Strummer, bass-baritone), to pick up, is a distraction which undercuts the power of the very polemical aria he sings.

The great buffo aria about the "Joy of Vengeance" develops one of the oligarchy's "dirty tricks" method of battle, but if not grasped in all its irony, then the musical and poetic idea is not clear in the mind when it is heard again, but as in a transformed way, later in the opera. Other extraneous additions to the staging, with extreme over-acting during arias, as well as the addition of a background scene where two peasant girls fight over the Count's affection in front of the all the characters in the chamber, have a similar dulling effect. We needed to really hear the wonderful aria by Figaro," Non piu andrai" without all the extraneous movements on the stage by other characters, to hear him tell Cherubino about the "glories of war," Were the audience able to concentrate on the ironies in this catchy aria, they might reflect a bit, just as in 1786, when many young men were fighting at the front. That the directors didn't trust our minds enough, and rather "worked the senses," is a characteristic problem we face in society today, and requires that we learn to think more like Mozart and DaPonte.

Economist Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., in his article "Music: Science or Fantasy?" (3) identified that paradoxes, though seen with the eye or heard in the ear, are solved in the mind, and that this uniquely human quality of discovery separates us absolutely from the beasts. "...Each of our senses presents us with a certain, specific kind of image of the concurrent experience of the same event actually experienced by two or more senses, in terms which are qualitatively in contradiction to all among the other particular modes of sense-perception as such. Therefore, truth is that which must be recognized as not the image of reality as presented as the evidence of any type of sense-perception as such. Truth lies not in perception as such, but in ironical forms of changes within the whole of the lapsed physical space-time of that which we must discover, experimentally, is to be perceived as a relevant quality of change in state.

It is the existence of a qualitative change of state, especially an inducible change of qualitative state, which reflects the kind of quality of experience to which the conception of perceptions must be subjugated." The challenge for performances today is to master the unity of effect and deliver the IDEA intended by the composers in the most beautiful way possible. For the thinkers, musicians, poets and policy makers in 1786, the burning issue was the "inalienable rights of man", as identified in the Declaration of Independence, as it is for us today. The condition of our own adolescent society can be compared to Cherubino's situation, the Count's young hormonal page, whose path to his adulthood is not yet determined: he can follow either the example of nobility of Susanna and Figaro, or the "nobility" of the Count. Which concept of the "nobility of man," will prevail - that of the creative, loving, sovereign individual in a free society, or that of those of "noble birth" in the financial elites, who say that man is just a beast?

In our modern video-killer culture, with the Dick Cheney policies of torture, permanent war, and the danger of a New Dark Age, the same question of the future of society is posed to us. We can learn some lessons of statecraft, as well as much about the science of music from "The Marriage of Figaro", making it thus a very important opera for our time. footnotes [1] Mozart and American Rev. FIDELIO ARTICLE by David Shavin Fidelio Magazine, Winter, 1992 ... [2] One of the most most brutal practices of the nobility was the “droit de seigneur,” or “right of the first night” where an oligarch would sleep with a newly-wedded bride on his domains before permitting the bridegroom to do so. [3] Music and Statecraft: How Space Is Organized, by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

The Marriage of Figaro The Marriage of Figaro Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes (1767) Apollo et Hyacinthus (1767) Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770) Ascanio in Alba (1771) Il sogno di Scipione (1772) Lucio Silla (1772) Thamos, König in Ägypten (1779) Zaide (1780) Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) L'oca del Cairo (1783) The Marriage of Figaro (1786) Don Giovanni (1787) The Magic Flute (1791) Le nozze di Figaro ossia la folle giornata (Trans: The Marriage [lit. Wedding] of Figaro or the Day of Madness), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, Le mariage de Figaro ( 1784 ).

Although the play by Beaumarchais was at first banned in Vienna because of its satirization of the aristocracy, the opera became one of Mozart's most successful works. It is now regarded as a cornerstone of the standard operatic repertoire, and Opera America claims it to be the sixth most performed opera in North America. The overture is especially famous and is often played as a concert piece. History The opera was the first of several celebrated collaborations between Mozart and da Ponte; they went on to create Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. It was Mozart who brought a copy of Beaumarchais's play to da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in 6 weeks, translating the story into Italian poetry and removing all political references. Contrary to the popular myth, the libretto was approved by the Emperor, Joseph II, before any music was written by Mozart. Figaro premiered at the Burgtheater, Vienna , on May 1, 1786 to enormous popularity, though it was only allowed a run of 9 performances.

The Emperor is known to have made a law regarding the number of encores that could be sung at performances of Figaro, for the audience was demanding so many that the already lengthy 4 hour opera was commonly running nearly twice as long thanks to the number of song repetitions. For a Vienna revival production in 1789, W.A. Mozart replaced both arias of Susanna with new compositions, better suited to the then singer of Susanna, Adriana Ferrarese del Bene. For Venite inginocchiatevi he wrote in August 1789 Un moto di gioia (K. 579), and for Deh vieni he wrote in July 1789 the concert aria Al desio di chi t'adora (K. 577). Music A phrase from The Marriage of Figaro, with the words "Cosi fan tutte le belle", was later reused in the overture to Così fan tutte. The music of Figaro's Act One finale aria, Non più andrai, is used as the regimental slow march of the Coldstream Guards of the British Army and is quoted in the second act of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni.

Mozart "recycled" the music of the Agnus Dei of his "Krönungsmesse" KV317 ( Coronation Mass), for the Countess' Dove sono, in C major instead of the original F major). The same motif was used in his early bassoon concerto. The opera is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two Timpani drums, two sections of violins, violas, cellos, and basses.

Roles Count Almaviva ( baritone, unfaithful to his wife Rosina (the countess); chasing after Susanna) Rosina, Countess Almaviva ( lyric soprano, distraught because of the Count's unfaithfulness) Figaro ( bass-baritone or basso, former Barber of Seville, now the Count's valet) Susanna ( light-lyric soprano; Figaro's future wife, in service under the Countess) Cherubino ( mezzo soprano — a breeches role, the Count's young page, in love with every woman in the castle, especially the Countess) Marcellina (mezzo soprano, an old spinster, with a contract to marry Figaro) Bartolo ( basso, vengeful toward Figaro for foiling his former plans to marry Rosina, his ward) Basilio ( tenor, master of music and intrigue) Don Curzio (tenor, a judge) Antonio (basso, the gardener) Barbarina ( soprano or mezzo-soprano, Antonio's daughter in love with Cherubino) Synopsis The Marriage of Figaro is a "sequel", so as to speak, to The Barber of

 Seville, and recounts a single "mad" day in the palace of the Count Almaviva.

Rosina is now the Countess; her husband, the Count is seeking the favors of Susanna who is to be wed to her love, Figaro, the Count's valet. When the Count detects the interest of the young page, Cherubino, in the Countess, he tries to get rid of Cherubino by giving him an officer's commission in his own regiment. Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess conspire to embarrass the Count and expose his infidelity. Meanwhile Figaro is caught up in a dispute with Bartolo and Marcellina, which ends when he is revealed to be their son. At night, all find themselves on the palace grounds, where a comic series of cases of mistaken identity results in the Count's humiliation and then forgiveness by the Countess. Act I Figaro is happily measuring the space where the bridal bed will fit. Susanna is trying on her wedding bonnet in front of the mirror. In the present day, a more traditional French floral wreath or a modern veil are often substituted. (Duet: Cinque, dieci, venti, trenta — "Five, ten, twenty, thirty.") Figaro is quite pleased with their new room, but Susanna is less so.

She is bothered by its proximity to the Count's chambers: it seems he has been making advances toward her and plans on exercising his " droit de seigneur", the purported feudal right of a lord to bed a servant girl on her wedding night before her husband can sleep with her. (The Count abolished the right when he married Rosina and now desires to resurrect it.) Figaro is livid and plans revenge on the Count (aria: Se vuol ballare, signor contino — "If you want to dance, sir count"). Figaro departs, and Dr. Bartolo arrives with Marcellina, his old housekeeper. Bartolo has been hired as counsel for Marcellina: Figaro had promised to marry her in exchange for the cancellation of a debt, and she intends to make him keep his promise. Bartolo, still irked at Figaro for having facilitated the union of the Count and Rosina (in The Barber of Seville), promises to help Marcellina (aria: La vendetta — "Vengeance").

Bartolo departs, Susanna returns, and Marcellina and Susanna share an exchange of polite insults (duet: Via, resti servita, madama brillante — "After you, madame"). The older woman departs. Cherubino then arrives and, after describing his love for women, particularly the Countess (aria: Non so più cosa son — "I don't know anymore what I am"), asks Susanna's aid with the Count. It seems the Count is unhappy with Cherubino's amorous ways, having discovered Cherubino with the gardener's daughter, Barbarina, and plans to punish him. Cherubino wants Susanna to ask the Countess to intercede on his behalf. When the Count appears, Cherubino hides behind a chair, not wanting to be seen alone with Susanna. The Count uses the opportunity of finding Susanna by herself to personally step up his demands for favours from Susanna, including offering Susanna financial inducements to sell herself to him. Then Basilio, the slimy music teacher, arrives. The Count, also not wanting to be caught alone with Susanna, hides behind the chair.

Cherubino leaves that hiding place just in time and jumps onto the chair, and Susanna covers him with a dress. So now the Count is behind the chair, and Cherubino is on the chair covered by a dress. When Basilio starts to gossip about Cherubino's obvious attraction to the Countess, the Count leaps from his hiding place in anger. The Count lifts the dress from the chair to illustrate how he found Cherubino under a table in Barberina's room — and again finds Cherubino! Cherubino is only saved from punishment by the entrance of the peasants — the entrance of the peasants being an early attempt by Figaro to commit the Count to a formal gesture symbolising the promise of Susanna's entering into the marriage unsullied. The Count evades Figaro's plan by postponing the gesture. Cherubino is compelled to depart to the army in Seville, and Figaro gives him advice about his new, female-less life (aria: Non piú andrai — "No more gallivanting"). Act II In the Countess's bedroom, the Countess laments her husband's infidelity.

(aria: Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro — "Grant, love, some comfort"). Susanna comes into the room to prepare the Countess for the day. Susanna has evidently updated the Countess on the latest with regard to the Count's overtures to her, since she answers the Countess's question about the update with the response that the Countess is now fully informed, but adding that the Count is not trying to seduce her (he wouldn't lower himself to seduce such as her — he intended it to be a cash transaction). Figaro then arrives and hatches a plan to trick the Count: Susanna will give him a note indicating she wants to meet him that night in the garden; Cherubino will be waiting there, dressed as a woman; and the Countess will arrive and catch him red-handed. Furthermore, Figaro has already sent a letter to the Count (via Basilio) that indicates the Countess has a rendezvous that evening of her own. Susanna lets Cherubino into the room and locks the door, because the Countess is worried about the jealous Count's reaction if he found Cherubino in the room.

Susanna urges him to sing the song he wrote in honour of the Countess (aria: Voi, che sapete che cosa é amor — "You ladies who know what love is, see if I have it in my heart"). After the song, they proceed to attire him in women's clothes (aria of Susanna: Venite inginocchiatevi — "Come, kneel down before me"). During this time, the Countess sees Cherubino's commission, and notes that the Count was obviously in such a hurry that he forgot to seal it with his signet ring (which was necessary to make it an official document). Susanna returns to her room for some clothing in which to dress Cherubino. While the Countess and Cherubino are waiting for Susanna's return, they suddenly hear the Count arriving, so Cherubino flees into the next room— a closet. The Count demands entrance into the room, and, when Cherubino is hidden, the Countess unlocks the door. When the Count enters, angry at the information in the note that he has received, he hears noise from said room and tries to open it. It is locked.

The Countess pretends it is only Susanna, trying on a wedding dress. During this time, Susanna re-enters the Countess's bedroom with the clothing, unobserved by either the Count and Countess, and conceals herself after she realises what is wrong (Susanna knows that to reveal herself to the Count will only result in the worst possible consequences to the Countess). The Count, furious and suspicious, leaves with the Countess to find a way to get the door open. He locks all the bedroom doors as he leaves, so that the intruder cannot escape. Susanna emerges from her hiding place, and frees Cherubino, who jumps down from the window. Susanna then takes his place in the closet. (duet: Aprite, presto, aprite — "Open the door, quickly!"). The Count and Countess return. The Countess finally admits it is Cherubino hidden in the closet, but when the closet is opened, they both find to their astonishment only Susanna. The Countess claims that she told the Count that Cherubino was in the closet to test the Count. Shamed by his jealousy, the Count begs for forgiveness.

When the Count presses about the letter accusing the Countess of infidelity, Susanna and the Countess reveal that the letter was written by Figaro, and then delivered through Basilio. Figaro then arrives and tries to commence the wedding festivities. The Count stops him and asks who wrote the anonymous note given to him by Basilio. Figaro manages to evade the question, only to have Antonio, the gardener, arrive, complaining about a man jumping out of the window into Antonio's plants. Antonio is also carrying a letter which, he says, has been dropped by a man who escaped through the window. Figaro claims it was he who jumped out the window; the document, however, is Cherubino's appointment to the military. Figaro gets out of this scrape by saying Cherubino gave it to him because it still needed the Count's seal (the Countess and Susanna having been able to pass the information on to Figaro in secret). Marcellina, Bartolo and Basilio now appear, and the former brings her charge against Figaro. The Count secretly rejoices at their arrival. The wedding is postponed in order that the Count may investigate.

Act III At the wedding hall, the Count mulls over the situation, confused by the preceding occurrences. At the urging of the Countess, Susanna enters and agrees to meet him later that night (duet: Crudel, perché finora — "Cruel girl, why until now have you allowed me to languish") — it is the intention of the Countess to meet the Count in Susanna's place, disguised as Susanna. As Susanna departs, she is overheard saying to Figaro that he has already won the case. The Count, overhearing this, realizes he is being tricked (aria: Hai giá vinta la causa — "You've already won the case?"). He is determined to make Figaro pay by forcing him to marry Marcellina. Figaro's trial follows, and the judgment is that Figaro must marry Marcellina. Figaro appeals to the Count, but the Count supports the judgment. When Figaro declares himself of noble birth, and that he was stolen from his parents when he was a baby, the subsequent discussion reveals that Figaro is the long-lost illegitimate son of Bartolo and Marcellina. A touching scene of reconciliation occurs.

Because a mother cannot marry her son, Figaro is let off the hook. During the celebrations, Susanna enters with a payment to release Figaro from his debt to Marcellina. Seeing Figaro and Marcellina in celebration, Susanna mistakenly believes that Figaro is happily reconciled to marriage with Marcellina. With some difficulty, Susanna is convinced of the truth of the situation, and joins the celebration. Bartolo, overcome with emotion, agrees to marry Marcellina that evening in a double wedding (sextet: Riconosci in questo amplesso una madre — "Recognize a mother in this hug"). All leave, and the next scene sees the Countess, alone, pondering what happened to her happiness (aria: Dove sono i bei momenti — "Where are they, the beautiful moments"). Susanna enters and updates her regarding the plan to trap the Count. The Countess dictates a love letter for Susanna to give to the Count, which suggests that he meet her that night, "under the pines." The Count is instructed to return the pin which fastens the letter. (duet: Che soave zeffiretto — "What a gentle breeze").

A chorus of young peasants, among them Cherubino disguised as a girl, arrives to serenade the Countess. The Count arrives with Antonio, and, discovering the page, is enraged. His anger is quickly diffused by Barbarina (a peasant girl, Antonio's daughter), who reminds him of a promise he made to her: "Barbarina, if you will love me, I will give you anything you want." What she wants, it seems, is Cherubino's hand in marriage. Thoroughly embarrassed, the Count allows Cherubino to stay. The act closes with the double wedding, during the course of which Susanna delivers her letter to the Count. Figaro sees the note with the pin in it, assumes it is from another of the Count's trysts, and laughs to himself. As the curtain drops, the two newlywed couples rejoice. Act IV Following the directions in the letter, the Count has sent the pin back to Susanna, giving it to Barbarina. Unfortunately, Barbarina has lost it (aria: L'ho perduta, me meschina — "I lost it, poor me"). Figaro and Marcellina see Barbarina, and Figaro asks her what she is doing.

When he hears the pin is Susanna's, he is overcome with jealousy, especially as he recognises the pin as being the one that fastened the letter which the Count received. Thinking that Susanna is meeting the Count behind his back, Figaro complains to his mother, and swears to be avenged on the Count and Susanna. Marcellina urges caution, but Figaro will not listen. Figaro rushes off, and Marcellina resolves to inform Susanna of Figaro's intentions. Actuated by jealousy, Figaro tells Bartolo and Basilio to come to his aid when he gives the signal. After commenting on the situation, they depart, and, left alone, Figaro muses on the inconstancy of women (aria: Aprite un po quegli occhi — "Open your eyes"). Susanna and the Countess arrive, dressed in each other's clothes. Marcellina is with them, having informed Susanna of Figaro's suspicions and plans. After they discuss the plan, Marcellina and the Countess leave, and Susanna deliberately sings a love song to her beloved within Figaro's hearing (aria: Deh, vieni, non tardar — "Oh come, don't delay").

Figaro is hiding behind a bush and, thinking the song is for the Count, becomes increasingly jealous (which is Susanna's intention). The Countess arrives in Susanna's dress. Unfortunately Cherubino has also arrived, and, thinking the Countess to be Susanna, tries to kiss the supposed Susanna, but is prevented by the interference of the Count. The Count is pursuing the supposed Susanna (really the Countess), who eludes him; they both run off when they detect Figaro nearby. Then the real Susanna arrives in the Countess' clothes. Figaro starts to tell her of the Count's intentions, but suddenly recognizes his bride. He plays along with the joke by paying deference to her as the Countess; Susanna, not knowing that Figaro knows it is she, becomes jealous: she thinks Figaro is making a pass at the Countess and promptly rewards him with slaps. Figaro finally lets on that he recognized Susanna's voice, and they make peace. When the Count appears, Figaro, playacting, declares his love for the supposed Countess and sinks on his knees at her feet. The enraged Count calls for his people and for arms: his servant is seducing his wife.

Bartolo, Basilio and Antonio arrive with torches, as the Count drags out, one by one, Cherubino, Barbarina, Marcellina and the "Countess" from behind the pavilion. During the Count's tirade, as he refuses to forgive Figaro and the supposed Countess, the real Countess appears and reveals her true identity; the Count realizes he has been trapped (the supposed Susanna he was trying to seduce was actually his wife), and he simply kneels and asks for forgiveness (Contessa, perdono — "Countess, forgive me"). The Countess, more kind than he (Piú docile io sono — "I am more kind"), forgives her husband and all are contented. They celebrate as the curtain falls. Retrieved from " " This Wikipedia Selection was sponsored by a UK Children's Charity , SOS Children UK , and consists of a hand selection from the English Wikipedia articles with only minor deletions (see for details of authors and sources). The articles are available under the

Question: First premiered in 1786, who wrote the music for the opera, "The Marriage of Figaro"?
Answer: MOZART