He is a personage as perceptively drawn as any in the drama. Some commentators have likened him to the young Don Juan, but he is more human. A better, more pertinent parallel would be with the young Almaviva himself: why should that plausible specimen of woman-chasing manhood be reduced to paroxysms of jealous rage and neurotic self-doubt if not because he sees, in Cherubino, the next generation of specialist charmer treading on his heels?
Mozart never made such mistakes, never sacrificed a character. They are trying to moderate their quarrel. With the thudding anxiety and tension, there remains a desperate desire to observe the forms of politeness as far as possible. It is music which suits the drama of husband and wife telling each other in identical words to be careful, because the scandal will be embarrassing. Apart from all the subtleties in his illumination of personal feeling through the vocal line, Mozart the dramatist has ample further means of characterization at his command, without ever having to resort to any such crude device as the Wagnerian Leitmotif was to provide.
He has a plan. The Countess is devastated that her husband is chasing other women, including her servant Susanna. Figaro has a plan to save the day. He has sent the Count an anonymous letter to say that the Countess will be meeting a lover this evening.
He asks Susanna to lure the Count into the garden after the wedding. The Countess agrees to the plan. Cherubino hides and then escapes by jumping out of the window.
The Countess relents and explains the plan to her husband, saying that Figaro wrote the letter. Figaro denies everything. Born in Salzburg, Austria in , Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin at age 5, he performed before European royalty. He taught his son and daughter music and insisted on perfection. His children met his expectations. Young Wolfgang composed his first piece of music at age 5 and excelled on harpsichord and the violin.
He would soon go on to play the piano, organ and viola. At 17, he became a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in , he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. For a time, he lived with friends at the home of Fridolin Weber.
He married Constanze Weber in They had six children, though only two survived infancy. Mozart became enthralled with the work of Bach and Handel and this, in turn, resulted in several compositions in the Baroque style. With substantial income from concerts and publishing, he and Constanze lived lavishly. From to , Mozart performed in large rooms in apartment buildings and ballrooms of expensive restaurants. During this time, he also began to keep a.
Even though his operas in general met much opposition in that city, this one was so popular that the Emperor had to issue an edict stating that only the arias could be encored, not the ensembles, otherwise the performance would last the whole night. Previous to this, Mozart had dabbled both in Singspiel —a lighter style of music drama, with spoken dialog—and Italian opera seria. Opera buffa, or Italian comic opera, was still a relatively new genre when Mozart took it on board.
It had grown out of the comedic intermezzi that had typically been staged in-between acts of a larger, serious opera often in front of the curtain, or with very simple sets , and had reached a high point in the middle of the 18 th century. Opera buffa usually distinguished itself from opera seria by having only two acts instead of three , by indulging in a greater proportion of comedic content that would appeal to the common mindset rather than elevated stories of kings and gods , and by making a bass instead of a castrato one of the principal characters.
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