The Marriage of Figaro: A Student Study Guide

STUDENT STUDY GUIDE

A NEW BLO PRODUCTION

MOZART

Esther Nelson Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director David Angus Music Director John Conklin Artistic Advisor

April 26, 2017

Dear Educator, Boston Lyric Opera is pleased to invite high school and college students to attend Final Dress Rehearsals throughout our 40th Anniversary Season. We look forward to seeing you and your students at John Hancock Hall for BLO's production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

The experience of seeing and hearing live, professional opera is second to none. And we encourage you to explore the world of the opera in your classroom as well. We are proud to offer this study guide to support your discussions and preparations for The Marriage of Figaro. We’ve included special insights into this particular production as well as the opera’s history with connections to Social Studies and English Language Arts.

Boston Lyric Opera’s mission is to build curiosity, enthusiasm, and support for opera. This study guide is one way in which we support the incredible work of educators like you, who are inspired by this beautiful art form and introduce it to your students. As we continue to develop additional study guides this season, we want your feedback. Please tell us about how you use this guide and how it can best serve your needs by emailing education@blo.org.

If you’re interested in additional opera education opportunities with Boston Lyric Opera, please visit blo.org/education to discover more about our programs.

We look forward to seeing you at the theatre!

Sincerely,

Rebecca Ann S. Kirk Manager of Education Programs

TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY OF OPERA: AN OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO SYNOPSIS.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 A 1780s BLOCKBUSTER.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 CREATIVE COLLABORATION: A MEETING OF MINDS........................................................................................................................................... 15 THE ROOTS OF COMEDY...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 WHY IS MOZART SO FAMOUS… STILL?....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17 1950S FIGARO............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 LISTEN UP!.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 RESOURCES.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 24

THE HISTORY OF OPERA Toccata from L’Orfeo. Claudio Monteverdi Favola in musica. Reprint of the First Edition of the Score, Venice 1609, via Wikimedia Commons

People have been telling stories through music for millennia throughout the world. Opera is an art form with roots in Western Europe dating back hundreds of years. Here is a brief timeline of its lineage.

RENAISSANCE 1573 The Florentine Camerata was founded in Italy, devoted to reviving ancient Greek musical traditions, including sung drama.

1598 Jacopo Peri, a member of the Camerata, composed the world’s first opera – Dafne, reviving the classic myth.

1607 Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) wrote the first opera to become popular, Orfeo, making him the premier opera composer of his day and bridging the gap between Renaissance and Baroque music. His works are still performed today.

BAROQUE

1600-1750

1637 The first public opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, was built in Venice, Italy.

1673 Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) Italian-born composer, brought opera to the French court, creating a unique style, tragédie en musique, that better suited the French language. Blurring the lines between recitative and aria, he created fast-paced dramas to suit the tastes of French aristocrats.

1689 Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) simple and elegant chamber opera, Dido and Aeneas, premiered at Josias Priest’s boarding school for girls in London.

1712 George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a German-born composer, moved to London, where he found immense success writing intricate and highly ornamented Italian opera seria (serious opera). Ornamentation refers to stylized, fast-moving notes, usually improvised by the singer to make a musical line more interesting and to showcase their vocal talent.

Dido and Aeneas, 1747, Pompeo Batoni, via Wikimedia Commons

1730-1820

CLASSICAL

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1750s A reform movement, led by composer Christoph Gluck (1714-1787), rejected the flashy ornamented style of the Baroque in favor of simplicity refined to enhance the drama.

1767 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote his first opera at age 11, beginning his 25-year opera career. Mozart mastered, then innovated in several operatic forms. He wrote operas serias, including La Clemenza di Tito, and operas buffas (comedic operas) like Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).

He then combined the two genres in Don Giovanni, calling it dramma giocoso.

Mozart also innovated on the form of Singspiel (German sung play), featuring spoken dialogue, as in Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

1805 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) although a prolific composer, wrote only one opera, Fidelio. The extremes of musical expression in Beethoven’s music pushed the boundaries in the late Classical period and inspired generations of Romantic composers.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

1790-1910

Giuseppe Verdi

Giacomo Puccini

Richard Wagner

ROMANTIC — THE GOLDEN AGE OF OPERA 1816 Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) composed Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), becoming the most prodigious opera composer in Italy by age 24. He wrote 39 operas in 20 years. This new style created by Rossini and his contemporaries, including Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini, would, a century later, be referred to as bel canto (beautiful singing). Bel canto compositions were inspired by the nuanced vocal capabilities of the human voice and its expressive potential. Composers employed a strategic use of register, the push and pull of tempo (rubato), extremely smooth and connected phrases (legato), and vocal glides (portamento).

1842 Inspired by the risqué popular entertainment of French vaudeville, Hervé created the first operetta, a short comedic musical drama with spoken dialogue. Responding to popular trends, this new form stood in contrast to the increasingly serious and dramatic works at the grand Parisian opera house.

Opéra comique as a genre was often not comic, rather realistic or humanistic.

Grand Opera, on the contrary, was exaggerated and melodramatic.

1853 Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) completed La Traviata, a story of love, loss, and the struggle of average people, in the increasingly popular realistic style of verismo. Verdi enjoyed immense acclaim during his lifetime, while expanding opera to include larger orchestras, extravagant sets and costumes, and more highly trained voices.

A scene from a 19th-century version of the play The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais. Its origins in the commedia dell’arte are shown in this picture which portrays Figaro dressed in the costume and mask of Harlequin. 1884, via Wikimedia Commons

1865 Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) Tristan und Isolde was the beginning of musical modernism, pushing the use of traditional harmony to its extreme.

His massively ambitious, lengthy operas, often based in German folklore, sought to synthesize music, theater, poetry, and visuals in what he called a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The most famous of these was an epic four-opera drama, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him 26 years to write and was completed in 1874.

1871 Influenced by French operetta, English librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) began their 25-year partnership, which produced 14 comic operettas including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Their works helped inspire the genre of American musical theater.

1874 Johann Strauss II, influenced largely by his father, with whom he shared a name and talent, composed Die Fledermaus, popularizing Viennese musical traditions, namely the waltz, and shaping operetta.

1896 Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) La Bohème captivated audiences with its intensely beautiful music, realism, and raw emotion. Puccini enjoyed huge acclaim during his lifetime for his works.

Mikado theatre poster, Edinburgh, 1885, via Wikimedia Commons

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Hammerstein and Kern

Leonard Bernstein

Scott Joplin

20TH CENTURY 1911 Scott Joplin, “The King of Ragtime,” wrote his only opera, Treemonisha, which was not performed until 1972. The work combined the European late-Romantic operatic style with African American folk songs, spirituals, and dances. The libretto, also by Joplin, was written at a time when literacy among African Americans in the southern United States was rare.

20TH CENTURY

1922 Alban Berg (1885-1935) composed the first completely atonal opera, Wozzeck, dealing with uncomfortable themes of militarism and social exploitation. Wozzeck is in the style of 12-tone music or Serialism. This new compositional style, developed in Vienna by composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), placed equal importance on each of the 12 pitches in a scale, removing the sense of the music being in a particular key.

1927 American musical theater, commonly referred to as Broadway, was taken more seriously after Jerome Kern’s (1885-1945) Show Boat, words by Oscar Hammerstein, tackled issues of racial segregation and the ban on interracial marriage in Mississippi.

1935 American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937), who was influenced by African American music and culture, debuted his opera, Porgy and Bess, in Boston, MA, with an all-African American cast of classically trained singers.

1945 British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) gained international recognition with his opera Peter Grimes. Britten, along with Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), was one of the first British opera composers to gain fame in nearly 300 years.

1957 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), known for synthesizing musical genres, brought together the best of American musical theater, opera, and ballet in West Side Story—a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in a contemporary setting.

Porgy and Bess by the New York Harlem Theatre, 2009

1987 John Adams (b. 1947) composed one of the great minimalist operas, Nixon in China, the story of Nixon’s 1972 meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Musical Minimalism strips music down to its essential elements, usually featuring a great deal of repetition with slight variations.

TODAY Still a vibrant and evolving art form, opera attracts contemporary composers such as Dominick Argento (b. 1927), Philip Glass (b. 1937), Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960), Thomas Adès (b. 1971), and many others. These composers continue to be influenced by present and historical musical forms in creating new operas that explore current issues or reimagine ancient tales.

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So Young Park as Queen of the Night Photo: Eric Antoniou.

THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA WHY DO OPERA SINGERS SOUND LIKE THAT? Opera is unique among forms of singing in that singers are trained to be able to sing without amplification, in large theaters, over an entire orchestra, and still be heard and understood! This is what sets the art form of opera apart from similar forms such as musical theater. To become a professional opera singer, it takes years of intense physical training and constant practice—not unlike that of a ballet dancer—to stay in shape. Additionally, while ballet dancers can dance through pain and illness, poor health, especially respiratory issues and even allergies, can be severely debilitating for a professional opera singer. Let’s peek into some of the science of this art form.

HOW THE VOICE WORKS Singing requires different parts of the body to work together: the lungs, the vocal cords, the vocal tract, and the articulators (lips, teeth, and tongue). The lungs create a flow of air over the vocal cords, which vibrate. That vibration is amplified by the vocal tract and broken up into words by consonants produced by the articulators.

Breath: Any good singer will tell you that good breath support is essential to produce quality sound. Breath is like the gas that goes into your car.

Without it, nothing runs. In order to sing long phrases of music with clarity and volume, opera singers access their full lung capacity by keeping the torso elongated and releasing the lower abdomen and diaphragm muscles, which allows air to enter into the lower lobes of the lungs. This is why we associate a certain posture with opera singers. In the past, many operas were staged with singers standing in one place to deliver an entire aria or scene, with minimal activity. Modern productions, however, often demand a much greater range of movement and agility onstage, requiring performers to be physically fit, and disproving the stereotype of the “fat lady sings.”

Vibration: If you run your fingers along your throat you will feel a little lump just underneath your chin. That is your “Adam’s Apple,” and right behind it, housed in the larynx (voice-box), are your vocal cords. When air from the lungs crosses over the vocal cords it creates an area of low pressure (google The Bernoulli Effect), which brings the cords together and makes them vibrate. This vibration produces a buzz. The vocal chords can be lengthened or shortened by muscles in the larynx, or by increasing the speed of air flow. This change in the length and thickness of the vocal cords is what allows singers to create different pitches. Higher pitches require long, thin cords, while low pitches require short, thick ones. Professional singers take great pains to protect the delicate anatomy of their vocal cords with hydration and rest, as the tiniest scarring or inflammation can have noticeable effects on the quality of sound produced.

Resonance: Without the resonating chambers in the head, the buzzing of the vocal cords would sound very unpleasant. The vocal tract, a term encompassing the mouth cavity, and the back of the throat, down to the larynx, shapes the buzzing of the vocal cords like a sculptor shapes clay. Shape your mouth in an ee vowel (as in eat), then sharply inhale a few times. The cool sensation you feel at the top and back of your mouth is your soft palate. The soft palate can raise or lower to change the shape of the vocal tract. Opera singers always strive to sing with a raised soft palate, which allows for the greatest amplification of the sound produced by the vocal cords. Different vowel sounds are produced by raising or lowering the tongue. Say the vowels: ee, eh, ah, oh, oo and notice how each vowel requires a slightly lower tongue placement. This area of vocal training is particularly difficult because none of the anatomy is visible from the outside!

Articulation: The lips, teeth, and tongue are all used to create consonant sounds, which separate words into syllables and make language intelligible. Consonants must be clear and audible for the singer to be understood.

Because opera singers do not sing with amplification, their articulation must be particularly good. The challenge lies in producing crisp, rapid consonants without interrupting the connection of the vowels (through the controlled exhale of breath) within the musical phrase.

Perfecting every element of this complex singing system requires years of training, and is essential for the demands of the art form. An opera singer must be capable of singing for hours at a time, over the top of an orchestra, in large opera houses, while acting and delivering an artistic interpretation of the music. It is complete and total engagement of mental, physical, and emotional control and expression.

Therefore think of opera singers as the Olympic athletes of the stage, sit back, and marvel at what the human body is capable of!

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Contralto

Somewhat equivalent to the lower female alto role in a chorus, mezzosopranos (mezzo translates as “middle”) are known for their full and expressive qualities. While they don’t sing frequencies quite as high as sopranos, their ranges do overlap, and it is a “darker” tone that sets them apart. One of the most famous mezzo-soprano lead roles is Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen.

Occasionally women have an even lower range that overlaps with the highest male voice. This voice type is rare, and they often play male characters, referred to in opera as trouser roles.

Tenor

The highest male voice; tenors often sing the role of the hero.

One of the most famous tenor roles is Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliet. Occasionally men have cultivated very high voices singing in a range similar to a mezzo-soprano, but using their falsetto. Called the Countertenor, this voice type is often found in Baroque music. Countertenors replaced castrati in the heroic lead roles of Baroque opera after the practice of castration was deemed unethical.

A middle-range male voice, baritones can range from sweet and mild in tone, to darker dramatic and full tones.

A famous baritone role is Rigoletto in Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Baritones who are most comfortable in a slightly lower range are known as Bass-Baritones, a hybrid of the two lowest voice types.

Baritone Bass

Mezzo-Soprano

Opera singers are cast into roles based on their tessitura (the range of notes they can sing comfortably). There are many descriptors that accompany the basic voice types, but here are some of the most common ones:

The lowest male voice, basses often fall into two main categories: basso buffo, which is a comic character who often sings in lower laughing-like tones, and basso profundo, which is as low as the human voice can sing!

Doctor Bartolo is an example of a bass role in The Barber of Seville by Rossini.

Bass

C

The highest female voice; some sopranos are designated as coloratura as they specialize in being able to sing very fast moving notes that are very high in frequency and light in tone, often referred to as “color notes.”

One of the most famous coloratura roles is The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Soprano

DIFFERENT VOICE TYPES

D

Baritone

E

F

G

A

Tenor Contralto

B

110 HZ

C

D

E

Mezzo-Soprano

F

G

A

Soprano

B

C

220 HZ

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

440 HZ

D

E

F

G

A

B

C

D

880 HZ

Each of the voice types (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass) also tends to be sub-characterized by whether it is more Lyric or Dramatic in tone. Lyric singers tend toward smooth lines in their music, sensitively expressed interpretation, and flexible agility. Dramatic singers have qualities that are attributed to darker, fuller, richer note qualities expressed powerfully and robustly with strong emotion. While its easiest to understand operatic voice types through these designations and descriptions, one of the most exciting things about listening to a singer perform is that each individual’s voice is essentially unique, thus each singer will interpret a role in an opera in a different way.

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E

F

THE PHYSICS OF OPERA SINGERS What is it about opera singers that allows them to be heard above the orchestra? It’s not that they simply sing louder. The qualities of sound have to do with the relationship between the frequency (pitch) of a sound, represented in a unit of measurement called hertz, and its amplitude, measured in decibels, which the ear perceives as loudness. Only artificially produced sounds, however, create a pure frequency and amplitude (these are the only kind that can break glass). The sound produced by a violin, a drum, a voice, or even smacking your hand on a table, produces a fundamental frequency as well as secondary, tertiary, etc. frequencies known as overtones, or as musicians call them, harmonics.

For instance, the orchestra tunes to a concert “A” pitch before a performance. Concert “A” has a frequency of about 440 hertz, but that is not the only pitch you will hear. Progressively softer pitches above that fundamental pitch are produced in multiples of 440 at 880hz, 1320hz, 1760hz, etc. Each different instrument in the orchestra, because of its shape, construction, and mode in which it produces sound, produces different harmonics. This is what makes a violin, for example, have a different color (or timbre) from a trumpet. Generally, the harmonics of the instruments in the orchestra fade around 2500hz.

Overtones produced by a human voice—whether speaking, yelling, or singing—are referred to as formants.

As the demands of opera stars increased, vocal teachers discovered that by manipulating the empty space within the vocal tract, they could emphasize higher frequencies within the overtone series—frequencies above 2500 hz. This technique allowed singers to perform without hurting their vocal chords, as they are not actually singing at a higher fundamental decibel level than the orchestra. Swedish voice scientist, Johann Sundberg, observed this phenomenon when he recorded the world-famous tenor Jussi Bjoerling in 1970. His research showed multiple peaks in decibel level, with the strongest frequency (overtone) falling between 2500 and 3000 hertz. This frequency, known as the singer’s formant, is the “sweet spot” for singers so that we hear their voices soaring over the orchestra into the opera house night after night.

Listen Up!

Prof. Tecumseh Fitch, evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Vienna, explains the difference between a fundamental frequency and formant frequency in the human voice. For an opera singer, the lower two formants (peaks on a graph) determine the specific vowel sound. The third formant and above add overtones that are specific to each particular singer’s voice, like a fingerprint. When two people sing the same note simultaneously, the high overtones allow your ear to distinguish two voices.

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Boston Opera House

A RESONANT PLACE The final piece of the puzzle in creating the perfect operatic sound is the opera house or theater itself. Designing the perfect acoustic space can be an almost impossible task, one which requires tremendous knowledge of science, engineering, and architecture, as well as an artistic sensibility. The goal of the acoustician is to make sure that everyone in the audience can clearly understand the music being produced onstage, no matter where they are sitting. A perfectly designed opera house or concert hall (for non-amplified sound) functions almost like gigantic musical instrument.

Reverberation is one key aspect in making a singer’s words intelligible or an orchestra’s melodies clear. Imagine the sound your voice would make in the shower or a cave. The echo you hear is reverberation caused by the large, hard, smooth surfaces. Too much reverberation (bouncing sound waves) can make words difficult to understand. Resonant vowel sounds overlap as they bounce off of hard surfaces and cover up quieter consonant sounds. In these environments, sound carries a long way but becomes unclear or, as it is sometimes called, wet–as if the sound were underwater. Acousticians can mitigate these effects by covering smooth surfaces with textured materials like fabric, perforated metal, or diffusers, which absorb and disperse sound. These tools, however, must be used carefully, as too much absorption can make a space dry–meaning the sound onstage will not carry at all and the performers may have trouble even hearing themselves. Imagine singing into a pillow or under a blanket.

The shape of the room itself also contributes to the way the audience perceives the music. Most large performance spaces are shaped like a bell–small where the stage is, and growing larger and more spread out in every dimension as one moves farther away.

This shape helps to create a clear path for the sound to reach every seat. In designing concert halls or opera houses, big decisions must be made about the construction of the building based on acoustical needs. Even with the best planning, the perfect acoustic is not guaranteed, but professionals are constantly learning and adapting new scientific knowledge to enhance the audience’s experience.

Boston Symphony Hall, opened in 1900, with acoustical design by Harvard physicist Wallace Clement Sabine, was the first concert hall to be designed with scientific acoustic principles in mind. Each seat was mathematically designed and placed for maximum acoustical perfection.

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THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO SYNOPSIS But first, a brief synopsis of The Barber of Seville (the prequel): The young Count Almaviva wishes to woo Dr. Bartolo’s ward, Rosina. However, Bartolo plans to marry Rosina himself once she is of age. Figaro arrives and the Count desperately asks his help.

Figaro suggests he disguise himself so as to gain entry into Bartolo’s home, and the Count handsomely rewards him for his idea.

Meanwhile, Figaro encourages Rosina to write to the disguised Count. In a hurried scuffle, letters are secretly exchanged and Dr. Bartolo grows suspicious. The Count arrives again, this time disguised as a substitute singing teacher. Figaro arrives to give Dr. Bartolo a shave, to which he agrees only if his shave happens right in the music room so that he can chaperone Rosina. Just then, Basilio, the real music teacher arrives! Bartolo orders that he will marry Rosina that very day and begins making plans. The Count and Figaro sneak into Rosina’s chambers and Almaviva reveals his true identity as they fall into each other’s arms. Figaro urges them to escape, but Basilio arrives. Figaro bribes Basilio to marry Almaviva and Rosina on the spot. Bartolo barges in, but it is too late—the young couple are wed. Three years later…

Act 1 Figaro happily measures the space where his bridal bed will fit, pleased with their new room. Susanna, his betrothed, is bothered by its proximity to the Count’s chambers, as he has been making advances toward her and threatening to exercise his right of a lord to sleep with a servant on her wedding night before her husband. Figaro is livid and plans to outwit the Count.

Dr. Bartolo arrives with his former housekeeper Marcellina. Marcellina has hired Bartolo as legal counsel, since Figaro had once promised to marry her if he should default on a loan she had made to him. She now intends to enforce their agreement.

The impetuous teenager Cherubino, finding every woman he meets irresistible, was recently discovered by his boss (the Count) while making out with the gardener’s daughter, Barbarina. Cherubino now asks Susanna to request that the Countess intercede on his behalf. When the Count appears, Cherubino hides, not wanting to be seen alone with Susanna—potentially caught with yet another woman! The Count, thinking Susanna is alone, propositions her. Basilio, the music teacher, suddenly arrives and the Count hides. Cherubino leaves his hiding place just in time, and Susanna quickly covers him with a dress. Basilio starts to gossip about Cherubino’s flirtations with the Countess and the Count angrily leaps from his hiding place. He rants about Cherubino’s incessant flirting, describing how he caught him with Barbarina. As he lifts the dress from the chair to illustrate how he discovered the lovers, he exposes the hiding Cherubino! Furious, the Count realizes that Cherubino has overheard his advances on Susanna and decides to send him into military service.

CHARACTERS Count Almaviva bass Countess Rosina Almaviva soprano Susanna, the Countess’s maid

soprano

Figaro, personal valet to the Count

bass

Cherubino, the Count’s page

mezzo-soprano

Marcellina, Doctor Bartolo’s former housekeeper

soprano

Doctor Bartolo, lawyer, and Rosina’s former guardian

bass

Don Basilio, priest and music teacher

tenor

Don Curzio, judge tenor Barbarina, Antonio’s daughter soprano Antonio, the Count’s gardener

bass Costume design for the Countess by Gail Astrid Buckley for BLO’s production of The Marriage of Figaro

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Playbill of an actress dressing in breeches

by John Colley, 1779

Act 2 Susanna prepares the Countess for the day and finds her vexed over her husband’s lustful flirtations. Figaro arrives to explain his plan to fool the Count with anonymous letters describing mystery men who are after his wife, in order to make him jealous and distract him from Susanna. He advises the Countess to dress Cherubino as a girl and use him as bait to catch the Count in his follies.

Cherubino arrives to meet with the Countess explaining he’s been sent by the Count to report for military duty. The Countess discovers that the Count did not sign the document, thus making it void, and Cherubino agrees to help the Countess with her plan.

Suddenly they hear the Count, so Cherubino hides in a closet.

The Count hears a noise from the closet, and the Countess explains it is Susanna trying on her wedding dress. Furious and suspicious, the Count leaves, taking the Countess with him. Cherubino and Susanna emerge from their hiding places, Cherubino jumps through the window into the garden, and Susanna climbs in the closet.

As they return, the Countess admits that Cherubino is hidden in the closet, but they both find Susanna to their astonishment. The Countess quickly exclaims it was a test of the Count’s trust. Figaro arrives to start the wedding festivities, but the Count berates him with questions about the anonymous letter about his wife’s infidelity. Then Antonio the gardener arrives, complaining that a man has jumped out of the window and ruined his plants. The Count immediately suspects the lustful Cherubino, but Figaro claims it was he who jumped out of the window, suddenly feigning a foot injury. The Count is still skeptical, and Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess manage to keep up the ruse. Suddenly, Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio burst in to charge Figaro with his unpaid debt and demand he marry Marcellina.

Act 3 The Count rules that Figaro must honor his agreement, thus paying his debt or marrying Marcellina. Figaro insists he cannot marry without his parents’ permission, from whom he was separated at birth, thus having no idea who they are. Upon display of a unique birthmark, Marcellina realizes that Figaro is her long-lost son and Bartolo is the father! In the midst of a touching reunion, Susanna arrives with payment to settle Figaro’s debts, sees Figaro in an embrace with Marcellina and assumes he’s changed his mind about marrying her. Momentary anger gives way to relief and laughter as she is apprised of the situation.

Bartolo proposes to Marcellina in a burst of joy.

Meanwhile, Susanna and the Countess continue their plot to trap the Count in his dalliances. They plan to invite him to a secret rendezvous with Susanna in the garden at night. They write a letter to invite the Count and require he return Susanna’s pin, which they fasten to the letter, to signal his confirmation.

A scene from the play The Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais. Its origins in the commedia dell'arte are shown in this picture which portrays Figaro dressed in the costume and mask of Harlequin, 1884 12

The Sequel! The Marriage of Figaro is the second in a trilogy of plays by Beaumarchais. The first, The Barber of Seville, was also made into an opera (a few times, but most notably by Rossini, 30 years later). However, the plays were wildly popular. Therefore, audiences knew the characters well when they came to see this opera. This familiarity is not unlike the trilogies of our day including Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

Antonio betrays Cherubino’s whereabouts, telling the Count that Cherubino has not reported to the military but is at his house with his daughter Barbarina. When a chorus of young peasants, among them Cherubino disguised as a girl, arrives to serenade the Countess, the Count catches Cherubino, ready to punish him. Barbarina vouches for Cherubino by declaring her love and asking for his hand in marriage. The Count, embarrassed and relieved that Cherubino will be settled down, blesses the union. Everyone celebrates the double wedding of Bartolo and Marcellina and Cherubino and Barbarina. During the festivities Susanna slips the letter to the Count. As he opens it, Figaro notices the pin.

to suddenly be madly in love with “the Countess.” Frustrated, the Count returns having lost “Susanna” in the garden and catches Figaro with “the Countess,” which only enrages him further.

Everyone comes out from hiding and the Count realizes he was fooled by his own wife. All is forgiven and Figaro and Susanna may finally wed.

Act 4 The Count gives Barbarina the pin to return to Susanna signaling his acceptance, however Barbarina has misplaced it! In her distress, she confesses to Figaro who immediately assumes that Susanna is wooing the Count behind his back.

Figaro complains to Marcellina who, unable to temper his jealousy, goes to warn Susanna of Figaro’s potential impulsive actions that might foil their scheme.

Meanwhile, Figaro enlists the help of Bartolo and Basilio to catch Susanna. Figaro hides and watches as Susanna—knowing her betrothed is within earshot—sings of how she cannot wait for her love to arrive. Figaro’s jealousy grows hot as he believes she is singing about the Count. The Countess arrives dressed as Susanna and the two switch places. The Count, thrilled with a chance to be alone with “Susanna,” leads her to a dark corner of the garden where they can be more discreet, but she ducks away and hides from him. Susanna, dressed as the Countess, returns to find Figaro who describes to her the scene he just witnessed entreating her to help him disrupt the affair between his beloved and her husband. However, he soon realizes he is actually speaking with his beloved in disguise and decides to toy with her, switching his tact, and playing along by pretending A Note on Timing The full title of Beaumarchais’ play is La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro, which translates to “The Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro.” It reminds us that the entire action of the plot unfolds in one day!

Scene from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro; Cherubino hides behind Susanna's chair as the Count arrives. Anonymous watercolor, 19th century

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Pierre Agustin Carron de Beaumarchais, 1755

A 1780S BLOCKBUSTER Pierre-Augustin Caron was a clever Frenchman who lived during a revolutionary time.

A talented watchmaker, he married into wealth, twice, as his first two wives each died shortly into their marriages. After his first marriage he added “de Beaumarchais” to the end of his name as he believed it sounded more aristocratic. He endeared himself to the French court, soon gave up watchmaking, served as a musical advisor, and later Secretary-Councilor to the royal family.

Beaumarchais was a keen observer of the class struggles playing out between the working-class, aristocrats, and nobility. He was well aware of how these grievances were influencing revolutionary uprisings across the Western world. America was in the throes of a revolution and the French people were increasingly agitated, suggesting a revolution in Paris was also looming. As a middle-class man who had worked his way up to aristocracy, Beaumarchais both understood the ruling classes and sympathized with the middle and working classes. Some of his first publications recounting personal court battles garnered him an instant revolutionary celebrity, yet he was able to walk between worlds using his good favor with the King to both retain status and notoriety as well as work around the censors. Capitalizing on this, he began to write plays for the Comédie Française in Paris.

Pants Role! You’ll notice that the role of Cherubino is sung by a mezzo-soprano.

Often teen boy characters are sung by women in opera, as boys typically have higher voices then men and this is one way to portray youth. Early in opera history, in the Baroque period, composers wrote for castrati—male singers who altered their physiology so that their voices did not change and remained high and clear throughout their lifetime.

As that custom fell out of fashion, composers wrote these young boy characters to be sung by women instead.

Some of the most well-known pants roles in opera include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier.

This was not exclusive to opera; in fact Beaumarchais’ original play called for the part of Cherubino to be cast by a woman.

In the case of this farce, it provides extra comedic intrigue to watch a woman, dressed as a boy, disguised as a woman!

La liberté Guidant le peuple

by Euène Delacroix, 1830

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Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, 1851

The first play of Beaumarchais’ trilogy, The Barber of Seville, premiered in 1775, as a farcical love story set in Spain, and after a few revisions, became wildly popular.

Beaumarchais soon followed it with a sequel, Le Mariage de Figaro in 1778, that initially passed the censors, yet was halted as soon as King Louis XVI saw through the thinly veiled comedy revealing the criticism of the aristocracy. Beaumarchais continued to facilitate private staged readings of the play until the King relented in 1784 and allowed it to be performed publicly, when it was met with glowing critical acclaim, even among the aristocracy!

It quickly became even more popular than Barber— the hottest ticket of the year (not unlike the musical Hamilton today), making equivalent to $120k in the first month in ticket sales. The play was translated into English the same year and debuted at Covent Garden. Later it was evaluated to have been the highest grossing play in the entire 18th century!

Soprano Geraldine Farrar as Cherubino, 1909

Posthumous portrait of Mozart, painted

by Barbara Kraft at the request of Joseph Sonnleithner in 1819, long after Mozart died

CREATIVE COLLABORATION: A MEETING OF MINDS Mozart, who had seen the success of composer Giovanni Paisiello’s adaptation of The Barber of Seville, and had recently been commissioned by the Viennese court theater to write an opera buffa, so he decided to adapt Beaumarchais' latest success, it's sequel: The Marriage of Figaro.. Despite its popularity in France and England, Austrian Emperor Joseph II banned performances of the play, as he had heard of the populist “chaos” it had caused in France from his sister, Queen Marie Antoinette. Imperial court poet, Lorenzo Da Ponte, used his position to convince the Viennese censors to trust his translation of the play into a libretto as many of the more questionable (revolution1775 inciting) scenes were dramatically toned down. This enabled Mozart to capitalize on the popularity Outbreak of the American of the play debuting his Italian opera, Le Nozze di Figaro, in Vienna in 1786—only two years after Revolutionary War & Beaumarchais’ play opened. The opera met with equal acclaim and has endured these two-hundred-plus Beaumarchais’ The Barber of years. To this day, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is one of the top ten operas performed world-wide.

Seville premieres 1776 The Declaration of Independence in the USA 1783 The USA gains its independence 1784 Beaumarchais’ play Le Mariage de Figaro premieres in Paris 1786 Mozart’s operatic version, Le Nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna 1787 United States Constitution is signed and Mozart & Da Ponte’s second collaboration, Don Giovanni, premieres 1789 Start of the French Revolution and the Fall of the Bastille 1790 Mozart and Da Ponte’s final collaboration, Così Fan Tutte, premieres in Vienna 1791 Mozart dies 1792 Beaumarchais’ third play in the Figaro trilogy, La Mère Coupable, premieres in Paris

Although the wunderkind Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had written nearly 20 operas, and almost 500 compositions, by the time he was 30, The Marriage of Figaro represented the beginning of his collaboration with Italian librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, and the creation of some of Mozart’s best loved operas. Da Ponte was many things—a Jew who became a Catholic priest, and then a father of two children; also a poet, librettist, grocer, distiller, teacher, bookseller, and later the first Italian professor in the United States—but above all he was a man of letters, gifted with the ability to spin words. Although he primarily wrote in Italian, Da Ponte spoke and read many languages including French, German, and English.

Da Ponte and Mozart’s paths crossed at a time when each was in a position to use his unique talents to assist the other in his career.

Da Ponte had recently moved to Vienna after being banished from Venice for living in a brothel while he was an ordained priest, and was attempting to reinvent himself as a full-time poet. Nearly ten years his junior, Mozart had just returned to Austria after traveling around Europe performing and searching for steady work. He was beginning to make more connections with the Viennese court, while also asserting himself as a full-time independent composer, rather than a composer for the church. After the success of The Marriage of Figaro, the two went on to collaborate on Don Giovanni (1787), and later Così Fan Tutte (1790). Though their collaboration only lasted less than five years, each propelled the other professionally in a significant way, collaborating on what became masterpieces in the operatic cannon.

The score title page of Le Nozze di Figaro, 1786

Mozart only lived a year and a half longer, manically composing nearly 40 more compositions including two additional operas: La Clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflöte (aka The Magic Flute) before his death in December of 1791. Da Ponte sought new employment at the death of Emperor Joseph II in 1790, and moved to London working odd jobs for a few years before debt and bankruptcy forced him to immigrate to America where he eventually became a professor at Columbia University. He remained a huge advocate for and patron of opera in New York City until his death in 1838. Today, Mozart is the second most performed opera composer in the world.

Portrait (engraving) of Lorenzo da Ponte 15 (1749-1838), early 19th century

THE ROOTS OF COMEDY The Marriage of Figaro was inspired by the well-established opera buffa style, yet was more subtle and sophisticated than the opera buffa that preceded it. Opera buffa emerged in the beginning of the 18th century as a response to opera seria. Italian opera seria was “high brow” with intricate sophisticated musical patterning and flowery poetic language that followed a strict form and convention with storylines involving mythical, royal, and supernatural themes. Opera seria was written almost exclusively for court theaters to entertain nobility, royalty, and aristocrats. Opera buffa was created in contrast to opera seria in order to bring opera to the common people. Opera buffa stories were inspired by popular culture and used every-day language. At first, they were short one-act operas and gradually became more full-length evening affairs. Composers paid more attention to how the music told the story and wove the elements of theater more tightly into the music by using recitative in a new way: as a clear way to propel the storyline. With this new spoken-sung text, audiences could better understand the plot and felt more invested in the story.

Opera buffa was inspired by commedia dell’arte, a very old comedic theatrical form with roots in 14th century Italy. Traveling troupes would perform in the streets and squares throughout the Italy; it was convention even then for women to play women’s roles (unlike Shakespearian theater in England during the same time). These comedic stories consisted of stock characters—The Servant, The Master, The Lovers, Older Wealthy Man, and The Beautiful Maid—engaging in witty, cleverly timed banter with every-day themes and bawdy language. Commedia dell’arte was also very physical, using exaggerated pantomime, acrobatic feats, and staged brawls. With these distinct attributes, audiences could understand and appreciate exactly what was happening even if they didn’t speak the same local Italian dialect.

French, German, Italian, oh my!

Beaumarchais wrote Le Mariage de Figaro in French but set the story in Spain; then Mozart, whose native language was German, collaborated in Austria with Da Ponte who adapted the play into a libretto, Le Nozze di Figaro, in Italian. Whew! During the time period, Italian was seen as “the language of opera,” thus even in Vienna, “proper opera” was most often written in Italian. Native Italian, Da Ponte held positions as staff librettist at the opera house in Vienna as well as court poet.

Those financing the commission may have voiced their preferences as well, as it was not uncommon for them to make funds available contingent on certain artistic constraints like language. Although Beaumarchais’ play was translated into English and performed in London within a year, opera (still) has a tradition of being performed in its original language (perhaps in part in order to keep the integrity of musical phrasing with word emphasis, vowel alignment, and matching notes with syllables). It wasn’t until much later that Mozart’s opera was translated into different languages.

By the time The Marriage of Figaro was written, both convention and form of opera buffa and commedia dell’arte were ingrained in the culture. Since Da Ponte came from the Italian tradition, but was adapting a French play, he was able to subtly integrate some of Beaumarchais’ revolutionary undertones into the libretto, deepen the genuine emotions in the piece, while also still keeping the overall opera a light-hearted farce with a happy ending. The result was simultaneously brand new and deeply familiar to audiences, likely contributing to the opera’s instant fame and time-tested endurance.

DISCUSS: What kinds of contemporary theater, film, tv, or musicals are influenced by the commedia dell’arte form?

16 The Rehearsal, or A Scene from the Commedia dell'Arte by Michelangelo Cerquozzi 1630

WHY IS MOZART SO FAMOUS… STILL? When you think of opera and classical music almost everyone can name Mozart. Why is this the case? After all, he wrote music for the church and rich people over 200 years ago. It is widely known that Mozart was a brilliant musician, a child prodigy in fact, and his father capitalized on his talent so that he quickly became a celebrity.

Mozart also lived a short life, a star that burned bright and hot, extinguishing at the age of thirty-five. Although Mozart’s music was widely consumed during his lifetime among aristocrats, nobility, and the church, he was also criticized for writing music that was too complicated for the average listener. And while his music soon fell out of fashion after his death, it remained a strong favorite among musical scholars, musicians and the academic elite who continued to study and perform it. In fact, the intricacy in both the compositional forms as well as the emotional expression of his music continue to fascinate scholars, thus associating Mozart with genius. Successful, even famous composers who succeeded him including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Haydn were among those who studied, even idolized Mozart through the legacy of his compositions.

In the 20th century, a selection of Mozart’s compositions became embedded in popular culture, through the increasing ease of creating and distributing recordings; and later, through their use in advertisements, television, and film (namely, Amadeus). Suddenly, through the portrayal of contemporary artists, most people today have an image—a creative interpretation of what the man, Mozart, may have been like. This now strongly informs our current understanding of his music through the lens of our contemporary culture. Yet even as musicologists cringe at these popular appropriations (think Baby Mozart music for infants), they have also brought audiences into theaters and concert halls to enjoy the world’s finest symphony orchestras performing Mozart’s works—which we now all recognize as masterpieces.

Poster for the film Amadeus, 1984

And yet, perhaps one of the real reasons Mozart is still so famous, is that over the course of centuries, a mystique has been cultivated about him and his work. Not unlike other “greats” who have left works of genius behind—Leonardo da Vinci for example—scholars, musicians, and “average joes” alike pause in awe and wonder. Mozart’s music continues to intrigue us, portraying provocative emotions including violence, sensuality, humor, jealousy, and sadness, so that even if his music has become mainstream, cliché even, we return to it time after time.

DISCUSS: Why do you think Mozart is still so famous?

Recordings of Mozart’s music marketed to parents to help promote cognitive development referred to as “The Mozart Effect.”

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Three powerful women (one playing a man!): Caroline Carvalho as Chérubin, Delphine Ugalde as Suzanne, Caroline DuprezVandenheuvel as La Comtesse, in Les Noces de Figaro (1858) a French adaptation of the opera Le Nozze di Figaro,

REVOLUTIONARY ART Does art have the power to influence social and political life? Beaumarchais’ trilogy, and especially The Marriage of Figaro, was highly political, as comedy often is. Beaumarchais, Mozart, and Da Ponte all lived during a revolutionary time when the Western world was going through tremendous change that now defines the modern era. We now refer to this period of tremendous innovation as The Enlightenment. An explosion of science and philosophy led the way bringing freedom of thought, the scientific method, and evidence-based reasoning to the forefront of every aspect of human life. Along with this came more widespread reading, writing, and dissemination of information; thus knowledge was no longer limited to elite scholars, religious leaders, and nobility. And still, amidst all of this social upheaval, citizens struggled with age-old divisions of power and privilege—social class and gender equality—issues we still struggle with today.

The precision—in both text and music—with which The Marriage of Figaro is so cleverly, subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) critical of the status quo of social, class, and gender hierarchies of the time is what makes it a masterpiece. Through many twists, ruses, mistaken identities, and other comic devices, the characters with more power (aristocrats and men) are portrayed as fragile, foolish, humble, and rash, while the characters with less power (servants and women) are portrayed as emotionally strong, clever, and witty—thus putting them on more equal footing. In a battle of the sexes, women of different social classes are depicted banding together to fool their men and teach them a lesson. It is no wonder that the men in power (King Louis XVI of France and Emperor Joseph II of Austria) initially banned both the play and the opera! It also follows that the play and the opera not only prevailed, but were met with huge acclaim by the populous, as Figaro comically illustrates the social battles that many experienced daily.

Both revolutionary leaders and the nobility claimed (for better or worse!) that the success of The Marriage of Figaro helped to catalyze the French Revolution, depicting Susanna, Figaro, and even the Countess defying their respective masters. Beaumarchais was not at all blind to the social subversion of his play, yet its success certainly took on a life of its own—surviving to this day. Only three years after Mozart’s opera premiered, the Bastille was stormed marking the beginning of the French Revolution.

For the purposes of (hi)story, we often recount the beginnings of revolutions as a single spark, a catalyst beginning a cascade of events, when in fact it is more often many little changes happening at once that eventually cause major upheaval. A quick Google search about The Enlightenment reveals just how many individuals across the Western world are attributed to the innovations that took place during this time. So did one play begin the French Revolution? Probably not. But it definitely made a significant impact and has left a lasting influence.

DISCUSS: Do you think that we are in a similar revolutionary time today? How do the arts play a role? Can art influence social and political change? What power do the arts and artists have to influence society?

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Benjamin Franklin was founding father of the United States of America. He was also a diplomat, an inventor, and great thinker of the day. Painting by Benjamin West, 1816

1950s FIGARO Boston Lyric Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro places Almaviva and Figaro squarely in the idyllic glamour of the 1950s Europe. With designs inspired by the iconic American film, Sabrina, BLO’s production gives allusions to grand mansions with indoor tennis courts and fancy race cars. The set presents a ground plan—a work in progress— the ideal dream upon which the action unfolds as characters make plans, change plans, and foil plans.

Comedienne Lucille Ball embodied both the iconic ideals of the 1950s while also using her comedy to challenge perceptions of feminism and push boundaries.

A more recent time period, the 1950s provides a relatable environment for this comedy to play out. The picture-perfect iconography of 1950s paints the image of idealized family life, wealth, and success—and yet we know all-too-well that tensions simmered beneath the surface, hinting at a social revolution to come in the 1960s led by second-wave feminism.

In his play, Beaumarchais critiques the standard belief of his day—that women are flighty, untrustworthy, and inconsistent—asserting that women are in fact faithful, intelligent, and witty, and it is the men who are inconsistent and confused. Both of these views of women played out in the 1950s as women were stereotyped and gaslighted (think: Marilyn Monroe as a “dumb blond”) while also playing very important decision-making roles in and outside the domestic sphere—and often without credit.

Setting the story in the 1950s —and viewing it through 21st century eyes—illuminates Beaumarchais’ patriarchal biases, in spite of his revolutionary views. Contemporary scholars point out that in Beaumarchais’ world, the folly of the Count is the fault of the Countess, as it is her duty alone to retain her husband’s fidelity. They argue that although the women “win” in the end, they remain confined to society’s double standard—one that arguably still exists today.

So while Beaumarchais wove a revolutionary thread through the text of his play, and Mozart brought the intimate emotions of each character to life through the brilliance of his score, it is not difficult to see how this masterpiece has withstood the test of time as much more than merely a period relic. Whether set in the 1780s, 1950s, or 2010s, scholars and audiences alike connect with the characters finding them authentic and relatable, despite their faults. It is no wonder this 200-year-old opera buffa still draws audiences today.

DISCUSS: Since The Marriage of Figaro is over 200 years old, it has been set in many different places and time periods across the centuries. Where and when would you set this opera? Justify your artistic choices.

Sabrina film poster (1954) Susanna’s wedding dress costume design by Gail Astrid Buckley for BLO’s production of The Marriage of Figaro

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LISTEN UP! Overture The overture to Le Nozze di Figaro is both a complete introduction to the opera as well as a piece that stands on its own—and is often performed that way. It is one of the most well-known selections of the opera. Where might you have heard it before? Listen to the strings in particular.

What does the tempo and dynamics communicate in regard to what the opera might be about?

Listen Up!

Act I: Figaro’s Aria “Non più andrai” In this aria, Figaro teases Cherubino for being banished to military service, telling him his life will change greatly. He will no longer have women to flirt with and he will have to “toughen up” to endure the hardships of military life. The aria is written in the style of a military march. Listen for the horns toward the end in particular. How does the vocal line contrast with the orchestra?

Listen Up!

Act II: Finale: “Voi signor, che giusto siete” Most of the opera is in the key of D Major, while this finale is a half-step higher in E flat major. Scholars have noted that Mozart has done this with several other of his operas too, making the Act II Finale the “heart” of each work. What does the change in key do to the mood of this piece? What does it convey to you?

Also, Mozart writes seven distinct vocal lines—individual themes that overlap and intertwine. Mozart invented this technique as he was a master at illustrating the nuance of each character’s emotional state all playing out at the same time on stage. What other composers since Mozart have imitated his technique to write overlapping unique vocal lines? Perhaps you might recognize this popular piece of musical theater that uses a similar, but simpler technique: One Day More

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Listen Up!

Act III: Countess & Susanna’s Duet: “Sull’aria” One of the most famous opera duets, the Countess dictates a letter to Susanna as part of their plot to catch the Count in his dalliances. This is the moment where the conspiring between women solidifies their friendship, despite their difference in social class. The libretto is simple and poetic, yet the music conveys much subtext. What do you hear in the “subtext” of the music about the relationship between Susanna and the Countess?

Listen Up!

Act IV: Figaro’s Recitative & Aria: “Tutto è disposto” Listen to the juxtaposition of the recitative and the aria.

The recitative is more narrative, while the aria is a moment of emotional expression. What emotion(s) is Figaro expressing at this point? What elements of the music help you to know that?

Listen Up!

Act IV: Susanna’s Aria “Deh, vieni” In this aria, sung by Susanna alone in the garden, she sings about how she cannot wait to see her beloved. She also knows that Figaro is hiding nearby and listening to her words, and that he thinks (mistakenly) she is singing about the Count. Listen to how the music conveys the double entendre of meaning, which leads to the folly of mistaken identities and unfounded jealousy. How does Mozart use the vocal line and orchestral accompaniment to portray both true feelings and flirtatious acting at once in this aria?

Listen Up!

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RESOURCES GENERAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR LISTENING • What instruments are playing?

• How fast is the music? Are there sudden changes in speed? Is the rhythm steady or unsteady?

• Key/Mode: Is it major or minor? (Does it sound bright, happy, sad, urgent, dangerous?)

• Dynamics/Volume: Is the music loud or soft? Are there sudden changes in volume (either in the voice or orchestra)?

• What is the shape of the melodic line? Does the voice move smoothly or does it make frequent or erratic jumps? Do the vocal lines move noticeably downward or upward?

• Does the type of voice singing (baritone, soprano, tenor, mezzo, etc.) have an effect on you as a listener?

• Do the melodies end as you would expect or do they surprise you?

• How does the music make you feel? What effect do the above factors have on you as a listener?

• What is the orchestra doing in contrast to the voice? How do they interact?

• What kinds of images, settings, or emotions come to mind? Does it remind you of anything you have experienced in your own life?

• Do particularly emphatic notes (low, high, held, etc.) correspond to dramatic moments?

• What type of character fits this music? Romantic? Comic? Serious? Etc.

Note: There is much scholarship about Mozart and his works along with Beaumarchais and his works. Visit your local library, or do a quick google search to learn more. Here are a few used in support of the Study Guide.

La Nozze di Figaro Score

La Nozze di Figaro Libretto

OTHER STUDY GUIDES Canada’s National Arts Centre

Opera Land

Classic FM

Pacific Opera Victoria

Glyndebourne Opera

The Princeton Festival

The Guardian

Skylight Opera Theater

Madison Opera

Toledo Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Guild

Vancouver Opera

Minnesota Opera

Virginia Opera

WEBSITES The Mozart Project

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VIDEO The Marriage of Figaro – Full performance, Metropolitan Opera, 1985 Overture – English Baroque Soloists “Cinque, Dieci, Venti” – Anna Netrebko and Ildebrando D‟Arcangelo “Se vuol ballare” – Bryn Terfel “Voi che sapete” – Frederica von Stade “Dove sono” – Kiri Te Kanawa “Sull‟aria” – Renee Fleming and Cecilia Bartoli Where Mozart composed The Marriage of Figaro

BOOKS AND ARTICLES Acocella, J. (2007, January 8). Nights at the Opera. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 3, 2017, from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/01/08/nights-at-the-opera Andrews, R. (2001). From Beaumarchais to Da Ponte: A New View of the Sexual Politics of 'Figaro' Music & Letters, 82(2), 214-233.

Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3526059 Billington, M. (2006, January 5). How to Stage a Revolution. The Guardian. Retrieved April 3, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jan/06/classicalmusicandopera Brown, B. A. (1986). Beaumarchais, Mozart and the Vaudeville: Two Examples from 'The Marriage of Figaro' The Musical Times, 127(1718), 261. doi:10.2307/965457 Central Intellegence Agency. (2007, May 08). Beaumarchais and the American Revolution. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol14no1/html/v14i1a01p_0001.htm Coda: The Magazine of Boston Lyric Opera. (2017, March 5). Retrieved April 3, 2017, from https://issuu.com/bostonlyricopera/docs/coda_spring17_low_res_final Dudley, S. (1999, December) The First French Production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. The Opera Journal, vol. XXXII(4).

Dudley, S. (n.d.). The Revolutionary Figaro. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://artsites.ucsc.edu/faculty/dudley/figaro.historical.html Holden, A. (2006, January 6). The Phoenix. The Guardian. Retrieved April 3, 2017, from http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jan/07/classicalmusicandopera.mozart Madison Opera. (2009, January 07). The Real Mozart. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://madisonopera.blogspot.com/2009/01/real-mozart.html Madison Opera. (2009, February 27). The Real Mozart, Part 2. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://madisonopera.blogspot.com/2009/02/real-mozart-part-2.html Myers, J. (2017, March 7). Figaro, the Wily Servant: Mozart, Rossini, and Beyond. Lecture presented by Boston Lyric Opera for Beacon Hill Seminars, Boston.

Operabase. (n.d.). Opera statistics 2015/16. Retrieved April 03, 2017, from http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en Taruskin, R. (1990, September 9). Why Mozart Has Become an Icon for Today. The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/09/arts/music-why-mozart-has-become-an-icon-for-today.html?pagewanted=all Wakin, D. J. (2010, August 24). After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda. The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/arts/music/25death.html 23

NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA You will see a full dress rehearsal–an insider’s look into the final moments of preparation before an opera premieres. The singers will be in full costume and makeup, the opera will be fully staged, and a full orchestra will accompany the singers, who may choose to “mark,” or not sing in full voice, in order to save their voices for the performances. A final dress rehearsal is often a complete run-through, but there is a chance the director or conductor will ask to repeat a scene or section of music. This is the last opportunity the performers have to rehearse with the orchestra before opening night, and they therefore need this valuable time to work. The following will help you better enjoy your experience of a night at the opera: • Arrive on time! Latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks in the performance and often not until intermission.

• Dress in what you are comfortable in so that you may enjoy the performance. For some, that means dressing up in a suit or gown, for others, jeans and a polo shirt fit the bill. Generally “dressy-casual” is what people wear. Live theater is usually a little more formal than a movie theater. Please do not take off your shoes or put your feet on the seat in front of you.

• Respect your fellow opera lovers by not leaning forward in your seat so as to block the person’s view behind you, and by turning off (not on vibrate) cell phones and other electronic devices that could make noise during the performance. Lit screens are also very distracting to your neighbors, so please keep your phone out of sight until the house lights come up.

• Taking photos or making audio or video recordings is strictly forbidden.

• Do not chew gum, eat, drink, or talk while the rehearsal is in session. If you must visit the restroom during the performance, please exit quickly and quietly.

• At the very beginning of the opera, the concertmaster of the orchestra will ask the oboist to play the note “A.” You will hear all the other musicians in the orchestra tune their instruments to match the oboe’s “A.” • After all the instruments are tuned, the conductor will arrive. Be sure to applaud!

• Feel free to applaud or shout Bravo! at the end of an aria or chorus piece if you liked it. The end of a piece can be identified by a pause in the music. Singers love an appreciative audience!

• It’s OK to laugh when something is funny!

• When translating songs and poetry in particular, much can be lost due to a change in rhythm, inflection and rhyme of words.

For this reason, opera is usually performed in its original language. In order to help audiences enjoy the music and follow every twist and turn of the plot, English supertitles are projected.

• Sit back, relax and let the action on stage pull you in. As an audience member, you are essential to the art form of opera—without you, there is no show!

HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE OPERA!

Boston Opera House

• Listen for subtleties in the music. The tempo, volume, and complexity of the music and singing depict the feelings or actions of the characters. Also, notice repeated words or phrases; they are usually significant.