\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
What is the storyline of t<\/b>he<\/em> Marriage of Figaro<\/b><\/em>?<\/b><\/b><\/h2>\n\n<div\/>\n<div>Based on the 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, <i>The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro<\/i>, the opera is about two servants \u2013 Figaro and his bride-to-be Susanna \u2013 who put their wits together to thwart their philandering employer Count\u00a0 Almaviva and teach him a lesson in fidelity.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div>The action begins with Figaro and Susanna fitting out the new room given to them by their master, the Count. Susanna explains that the Count\u2019s motivation behind the generous gift is it keep her nearby: he intends to seduce her, reinstating the abolished \u2018Droit du seigneur\u2019 that allowed a lord to bed a servant girl on her wedding night.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div>Enraged, Figaro vows to foil his plans, and, together with Susanna, the long-suffering Countess and the randy page boy Cherubino, they come up with a clever plan. The result, unfolding over just one day, is a lot of cross-dressing, hiding, mistaken identity and chaotic hilarity.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<h2><strong>What is the music like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div\/>\n<div>From the fizzing overture to Cherubino\u2019s serenade \u2018Tell me what love is\u2019 (\u2018Voi che sapete\u2019), The<em> Marriage of Figaro <\/em>is jam-packed with smash-hit tunes, many of which rank amongst the most famous and the most hummable in the history of classical music. The orchestration is inventive, the ensemble writing is highly sophisticated and there is a lot of imaginative scene-painting.\u00a0 But, for me, what really defines Mozart\u2019s writing is the depth of feeling that he communicates through the most understated of means, as in the finale, where the Count pleads with his wife for forgiveness: it\u2019s so melodically simple, and yet so moving.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<h2>Why was the<em> Marriage of Figaro<\/em> banned?<\/h2>\n<div\/>\n<div>Written in the years leading up to the <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/la-marseillaise-what-are-the-lyrics-to-the-french-national-anthem-and-when-were-they-written\/"\">French Revolution<\/a><\/strong>, <em>The Marriage of Figaro <\/em>horrified aristocrats with its focus on class tensions and the limitations of rank and privilege. That\u2019s why the original Beaumarchais play on which Mozart based his work was banned by the ruling authorities in France. And it\u2019s why Emperor Joseph II was cautious about allowing Mozart\u2019s opera to be performed in Vienna. In order to gain his approval, Da Ponte had to rid the play of its most inflammatory political references, famously replacing Figaro\u2019s climactic rant about inherited nobility with a similarly impassioned aria about unfaithful wives. His alterations were accepted, and the opera was premiered at the the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, with Mozart himself conducting.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<h2><strong>Was t<\/strong>he<em> Marriage of Figaro <\/em><strong>a success?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div\/>\n<div>Yes, although it was somewhat eclipsed by the popularity of another work: Mart\u00edn y Soler\u2019s\u00a0<em>Una cosa rara<\/em> (also set to a libretto by Da Ponte). It was really after <em>Figaro\u2019s<\/em> Prague premiere, a few months later, that the opera\u2019s popularity soared. \u2018The joy which this music causes is so far removed from all sensuality that one cannot speak of it,\u2019 wrote the Hungarian poet Ferenc Kazinczy while <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-essential-works-haydn\/"\">Haydn<\/a><\/strong> wrote that he heard the opera in his dreams. Composers throughout the next few centuries continued to look upon <em>Figaro\u00a0<\/em>as the pinnacle of operatic achievement, with <strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/top-10-brahms-works\/"\">Brahms<\/a><\/strong> amongst the most vocal enthusiasts: \u00a0\u2018Each number in <em>Figaro<\/em> is a miracle,\u2019 he said, \u2018it is totally beyond me how anyone could create anything so perfect.\u2019 It is still widely regarded to be the<strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/20-greatest-operas-all-time\/"\"> best opera of all time<\/a><\/strong>.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<h2><strong>But what makes <\/strong>the<em> Marriage of Figaro <\/em><strong>so special?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div\/>\n<div>With its clever libretto, its sophisticated music, its multi-layered characterisation and its universal themes of love, transgression, infidelity, rejection and forgiveness, <em>The Marriage of Figaro <\/em>reaches a level of humanity that eludes many tragedies. And that\u2019s despite being a comedy.<\/div>\n<div\/>\n<h3><strong><strong>Recommended recordings of <\/strong><\/strong><em>The Marriage of Figaro<\/em><\/h3>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/music\/player\/albums\/B01EXYXSUC\/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\" target=\""_blank"\">Yannick Nezet-Seguin with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/music\/player\/albums\/B001N23Z0G?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\" target=\""_blank"\">Karl B\u00f6hm with the Berlin Deutsche Oper Orchestra<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/music\/player\/albums\/B004LPXLH4?ref=sr_1_1&s=dmusic&keywords=figaro+mcnair&crid=1E4T3FTQ09SXV&sprefix=figaro+mcnair%2Cdigital-music%2C50&qid=1659430184&sr=1-1&tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\" target=\""_blank"\">Claudio Abbado with the Wiener Philharmoniker<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Mozart-Nozze-Figaro-Marriage-Glyndebourne\/dp\/B00004CYO6\/ref=sr_1_2?crid=W45PXW8XI95Y&keywords=figaro+glyndebourne&qid=1659430302&s=dvd&sprefix=figaro+glyndebourne%2Cdvd%2C44&sr=1-2&tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\" target=\""_blank"\">Bernard Haitink with the London Philharmonic (DVD of Glyndebourne Production)<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/>\n<div\/><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Hannah Nepilova Published: Tuesday, 02 August 2022 at 12:00 am Who wrote the Marriage of Figaro and when? \u00a0 The Marriage of Figaro, written in 1786,\u00a0was the first of three collaborations between the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Italian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte; their later two were Don Giovanni and\u00a0Cos\u00ec fan tutte. \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18152,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro.jpg",640,640,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro.jpg",640,640,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro.jpg",640,640,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro.jpg",640,640,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/a-guide-to-mozarts-marriage-of-figaro.jpg",640,640,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Hannah Nepilova Published: Tuesday, 02 August 2022 at 12:00 am Who wrote the Marriage of Figaro and when? \u00a0 The Marriage of Figaro, written in 1786,\u00a0was the first of three collaborations between the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Italian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte; their later two were Don Giovanni and\u00a0Cos\u00ec fan tutte. \u00a0…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}