When Mozart first arrived in Vienna it was at a time when the Emperor was anxious to promote German culture. Consequently, his first two Viennese operas (The Abduction from the Harem and The Impresario) were in the German language. But to become an opera composer of international fame, he would have to compose Italian operas. When Mozart finally obtained a commission to write an Italian opera he knew he needed just the right libretto. He apparently considered and rejected over 20 possibilities before he decided on The Marriage of Figaro.
Over the first three classes we will watch a full performance of this opera. I will provide some background on how and why he chose this story as well as some biographical information about the fascinating and colorful lives of the librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, and the author of the play on which the opera is based, Pierre Beaumarchais.
Since the Marriage of Figaro is a sequel to and earlier play, The Barber of Seville, and has the same characters and is a continuation of the story, we will need a little background in the first class on who the characters are and what happened in the first play.
Each production of an opera is an act of re-creation, an implicit collaboration between the original composer and librettist and the current-day director and conductor. For reasons I will discuss in class the three Da Ponte/Mozart operas have been given in a wide range of different styles. I have selected the performances we will see in class to showcase three different stylistic approaches.
The production we will see of The Marriage of Figaro was done at the Paris Opera in 2010. It is a revival of a famous production done by Giorgio Strehler. It is an elaborate, sumptuous, hyper-realistic, cinematic production done in full period costumes.
* * * * * * *
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO – Paris Opera, recorded September/October 2010
Count Almaviva – Ludovic Tézier
Countess Almaviva – Barbara Frittoli
Susanna – Ekaterina Siurina
Figaro – Luca Pisaroni
Cherubino – Karine Deshayes
Marcellina – Ann Murray
Bartolo – Robert Lloyd
Don Basilio – Robin Leggate
Antonio – Christian Tréguier
Barbarina – Maria Virginia Savastano
Condutor – Philippe Jordan
Chorus and Orchestra of the Paris National Opera
