Mozart’s Opera Marriage of Figaro

One of Mozart’s most popular operas, with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based upon the notorious play by Beaumarchais. The play had been banned in 1786 because it questioned the legitimacy and rationality of the aristocracy by making fun of it through the eyes of a common servant, Figaro. This version is a side-by-side Italian and English edition.

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Citation

Mozart’s Opera Marriage of Figaro, containing the Italian text, with an English translation, and the Music of all of the Principal Airs (Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1888).

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Related People

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (Author)

Beaumarchais wrote the play, The Marriage of Figaro, upon which Mozart’s opera is based. Beaumarchais was a watchmaker and a court musician, before he turned to writing plays. He is best known for having dared to publish Voltaire and writing two anti-aristocratic plays of his own - The Barber of Seville (1775) and The Marriage of Figaro (1781). During the American Revolution he acted on behalf of the French crown to supply guns and other weapons to the American side.
Johann Sebastian Bach (Author)

Bach has been called “the only true teacher of Mozart.” They met when Mozart was a child, and Bach tutored him in composition. Bach’s influence on Mozart included his settings of several of Bach’s sonatas.
Ludwig van Beethoven (Author)

Beethoven was greatly influenced by Mozart’s music, composing several variations on Mozart’s themes.

Critical Responses

Film

Amadeus (1984)

Milos Forman’s film, Amadeus, from Peter Schaeffer’s play of the same name fictionalizes the life of Mozart, particularly his relationship with rival composer Antonio Salieri.

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Article

The Fashions of Figaro

Christian Lacroix’s costumes for a production of Marriage of Figaro can be seen here.

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Connected Readings

Book

The Barber of Seville, or the Useless Precaution

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

Mozart was inspired to set another of Beaumarchais’s plays to music. You can read The Barber of Seville here. It explores similar themes of class conflict in a farcical way.

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Collection

French Revolution Collection

This collection of readings on the French Revolution is a helpful reminder of the context of Marriage of Figaro and its comic portrayal of the deadly serious class conflicts of the time.

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Video

Sir Thomas Allen directs Mozart The Marriage of Figaro

Watch and listen to a full performance of Marriage of Figaro from the Royal College of Music

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