 
Three Hungarians
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The Marriage of Figaro
Oliver Kraft writes about Beaumarchais' scandalous play
as the basis for Mozart's opera
Beaumarchais entitled his play La folle journée (The Mad Day).
Madness is in everyone's minds. Above all it is in the frenzy of what
is unpredictable, the outburst of feelings that are constantly being disturbed
and transformed into the contrary. One rises early in the Palace of Aguas
Frescas. And one retires to one's bed very late on the night of a wedding.
During the daytime one surprise follows rash on the heels of another.
A nobleman who wanted to misuse his feudal rights chased after the object
of his desire in vain. (Jean Starobinski).
Prohibited by the censor, acclaimed by the public
Beaumarchais led a very adventurous life. Successful as a writer, inventor
and diplomat he was accused of murder, exiled and yet nevertheless was
one of France's most influential citizens. Therefore it is hardly surprising
that there is such an unusual and multi-faceted history behind how his
play La folle journée. Le mariage de Figaro came to be written
and the sort of reception it was given. Its reputation was already legendary
at the time when performances were prohibited by the censor, so legendary
in fact that the premiere - which was only allowed to take place in 1784,
three years after the play's completion - was one of the greatest successes
in the history of French theatre.
Mozart had had enough of opera seria
Initially Mozart did not have a libretto in mind that was surrounded
by scandal. He was primarily interested in working together with Da Ponte.
Already on 7 May 1783 he wrote to his father that Lorenzo Da Ponte had
promised to write him a libretto. At the end of the letter he wrote "...
and I would dearly love to try my hand at an Italian opera". Some
time had passed since Mozart's singspiel Die Entführung aus dem Serail
commissioned by Joseph II had been performed in Vienna. But at the time
no lasting success was to be achieved with a German singspiel. Mozart
hoped for greater acclaim with an Italian opera. We can only speculate
on the reasons why he suggested precisely the prohibited play by Beaumarchais
to his librettist.
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| Photo: Gérard Uféras, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, 1991 |
Mozart certainly wanted to write a buffo opera. He had already composed
several opera seria and although he had already been able to loosen the
rigidity of the dramatic concept of this genre in his Idomeneo, there
was no room for a real development. It is obvious that the Figaro subject
was excellently suited to an opera with wit and surprises. Furthermore
this model subject allowed Mozart to realise another of his intentions
first formulated in the letter already quoted and dated 7 May 1783. He
requested his father to contact the Salzburg court chaplain Varesco, the
librettist of Idomeneo: "... He could write me a new libretto for
seven characters (...) but the most essential thing is that the whole
thing is really funny. And then if it were possible, two equally good
roles for women - one should be more serious, the other of medium character
but as regards goodness both roles should be perfectly equal."
Even though at this point there was still no mention of Beaumarchais's
Figaro, Mozart already had an idea in mind. However, as Varesco's libretto
did not satisfy Mozart - their renewed collaboration produced only an
operatic fragment - the Figaro subject, adapted by the famous court poet
Da Ponte seemed to be able to fulfil Mozart's most important wishes: to
perform an opera at the court theatre, that is "really funny throughout"
and has two significant female roles - the countess as a serious role
and Susanna as a more light-hearted character and both women with an equal
portion of "goodness".
see:
When the Masks are Off - The Marriage
of Figaro: Mozart follows Beaumarchais
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Le Nozze di Figaro
sung in Italian with German
and English supertitles
Conductor Sylvain Cambreling
Director Christoph Martaler
Stage and costume design
Anna Viebrock
Lighting design Olaf Winter
Dramaturgy Stefanie Carp
Chorus master Donald Palumbo
Il Conte di Almaviva Peter Mattei
La Contessa di Almaviva Angela Denoke
Susanna Christiane Oelze
Figaro Lorenzo Regazzo
Cherubino Christine Schäfer
Bartolo Roland Bracht
Marcellina Helene Schneidermann
Basilio Guy Renard
Antonio Frédéric Caton
Barbarina Cassandre Berthon
Camerata Salzburg
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Kleines Festspielhaus
Premiere of the new production:
25 July 2001
28 July (at 3 p.m.), 2, 6, 11, 13, 16 and 18 August 2001
Performances start at 6 p.m. (unless otherwise stated)
Le Nozze di Figaro
Tickets for ATS 2,800,- are still available for the performance on 13
August 2001.
(Telephone: 0662/8045-579
Fax: 0662/8045-760)