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sofiabruno's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
lnatal's review
4.0
First produced at the Odéon in 1784 The Marriage of Figaro, the second play of Beaumarchais' trilogy was an instant success and ran for an unprecedented 116 performances. Written six years earlier the play had been subject to the rigorous demands of no fewer than six censors, appointed one after the other by Louis XVI, with the principal purpose of preventing such a seditious piece of work from ever reaching the stage.
settare's review
4.0
Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is without a doubt one of my favorite operas ever.
It is a comic opera, based on a 1781 play by Pierre Beaumarchais, a French playwright. Beaumarchais wrote three plays, or the Figaro Trilogy, which became very popular at the time and all of them were adapted into opera. These three plays (The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Capable Mother) are brilliant because they are indicative of the change in social attitudes before, during, and after the French Revolution. The Marriage of Figaro initially passed censors, but it was banned by Kind Louis XVI, because of its obvious satire and brilliant mockery of the aristocracy. This play makes a count (an aristocrat) look ridiculous as he is constantly played with and fooled by his wife and servants. This mockery of the upper class is why I personally (and millions of others) love this story so much. It is a simple story about humanity and forgiveness, with a lot of fun comedy and funny dialogues in between. It is both about the simplicity of day to day problems (of its time) and its comic complexity at the same time. I think Mozart made a genius choice to choose this story for his opera. The librettist of Mozart's opera is Lorenzo Da Ponte, a person who collaborated with Mozart on three operas, all of which I consider masterpieces.
Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto is amazingly funny (like his other works), it's poetic, witty, funny, and quite modern for its time. It's so modern that it always makes me wonder how the original eighteenth-century audience reacted to it.
The story is simple. Well not really all that simple, (with all the characters and their confusing dialogues all singing at the same time, I admit, it's complicated), But it's about normal people and real-life issues: there are no gods or demigods or heroes or legends, there are just normal people and their banal problems. The protagonist, Figaro, is a simple servant.
The story follows the plot of "The Barber of Seville". In "Barber", Figaro, a barber, helps the young count Almaviva rescue his beloved Rosina from her jealous and possessive guardian, Bartolo, and the happy couple elopes together. As a way of thanking him, the count Almaviva gives Figaro a job as his personal valet and the head of the household staff.
The story of "The Marriage of Figaro" starts years later, when Bartolo is seeking revenge, Rosina is the countess Almaviva, and the Count has degenerated from the romantic youth he once was to a scheming, bullying, cheating and womanizing cow who is trying to sleep with Figaro's fiancée, Susanna. The whole plot of "The Marriage of Figaro" happens in one chaotic day, as the count tries to scheme and postpone the wedding and seduce Susanna, and Figaro, Susanna and Countess Almaviva conspire to block the count's efforts, embarrass him and teach him a lesson in fidelity. A bunch of other characters come into play to make everything even more complicated. Now, as with all comic opera (or opera buffa, as they call it), half of the humor depends on the exact production and the actors and actresses and how they deliver the comedy. But, a lot of it is already written for them in the libretto, courtesy of signor Da Ponte and his wit. After a few rounds of carefully reading the synopsis and watching the opera many times (to wrap your head around who was who and what was happening), one can finally tackle the libretto word by word to appreciate the humor instilled in it. Much of the time, the characters are all singing at the same time, saying completely different lines, so it's not much help to follow subtitles to make sense of everything that's going on, and that's when the libretto comes to save the day. I have watched this opera so many times that I've lost count, and I have watched tens of different productions of it, appreciating each one in a different way. I never get tired of it. It truly is a brilliant and timeless piece, set to the ever-astonishing, delightful and sublime music of Mozart. It certainly is a gem of the operatic repertoire and a must-watch.
(And also its libretto is a must-read.)
It is a comic opera, based on a 1781 play by Pierre Beaumarchais, a French playwright. Beaumarchais wrote three plays, or the Figaro Trilogy, which became very popular at the time and all of them were adapted into opera. These three plays (The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro, and The Capable Mother) are brilliant because they are indicative of the change in social attitudes before, during, and after the French Revolution. The Marriage of Figaro initially passed censors, but it was banned by Kind Louis XVI, because of its obvious satire and brilliant mockery of the aristocracy. This play makes a count (an aristocrat) look ridiculous as he is constantly played with and fooled by his wife and servants. This mockery of the upper class is why I personally (and millions of others) love this story so much. It is a simple story about humanity and forgiveness, with a lot of fun comedy and funny dialogues in between. It is both about the simplicity of day to day problems (of its time) and its comic complexity at the same time. I think Mozart made a genius choice to choose this story for his opera. The librettist of Mozart's opera is Lorenzo Da Ponte, a person who collaborated with Mozart on three operas, all of which I consider masterpieces.
Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto is amazingly funny (like his other works), it's poetic, witty, funny, and quite modern for its time. It's so modern that it always makes me wonder how the original eighteenth-century audience reacted to it.
The story is simple. Well not really all that simple, (with all the characters and their confusing dialogues all singing at the same time, I admit, it's complicated), But it's about normal people and real-life issues: there are no gods or demigods or heroes or legends, there are just normal people and their banal problems. The protagonist, Figaro, is a simple servant.
The story follows the plot of "The Barber of Seville". In "Barber", Figaro, a barber, helps the young count Almaviva rescue his beloved Rosina from her jealous and possessive guardian, Bartolo, and the happy couple elopes together. As a way of thanking him, the count Almaviva gives Figaro a job as his personal valet and the head of the household staff.
The story of "The Marriage of Figaro" starts years later, when Bartolo is seeking revenge, Rosina is the countess Almaviva, and the Count has degenerated from the romantic youth he once was to a scheming, bullying, cheating and womanizing cow who is trying to sleep with Figaro's fiancée, Susanna. The whole plot of "The Marriage of Figaro" happens in one chaotic day, as the count tries to scheme and postpone the wedding and seduce Susanna, and Figaro, Susanna and Countess Almaviva conspire to block the count's efforts, embarrass him and teach him a lesson in fidelity. A bunch of other characters come into play to make everything even more complicated. Now, as with all comic opera (or opera buffa, as they call it), half of the humor depends on the exact production and the actors and actresses and how they deliver the comedy. But, a lot of it is already written for them in the libretto, courtesy of signor Da Ponte and his wit. After a few rounds of carefully reading the synopsis and watching the opera many times (to wrap your head around who was who and what was happening), one can finally tackle the libretto word by word to appreciate the humor instilled in it. Much of the time, the characters are all singing at the same time, saying completely different lines, so it's not much help to follow subtitles to make sense of everything that's going on, and that's when the libretto comes to save the day. I have watched this opera so many times that I've lost count, and I have watched tens of different productions of it, appreciating each one in a different way. I never get tired of it. It truly is a brilliant and timeless piece, set to the ever-astonishing, delightful and sublime music of Mozart. It certainly is a gem of the operatic repertoire and a must-watch.
(And also its libretto is a must-read.)
notagreatreader's review
4.0
This is a surprisingly fun and funny read. I especially liked the equality messages, calling out the double standards that women and men judged against.
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