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Beautifully Phrased
Los Angeles Opera's 'The Marriage of Figaro',
welcomed by MARIA NOCKIN
It had taken several years for Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais' play La Folle Journée ou le Mariage de Figaro to pass the censorship requirements, although it was frequently read in private homes. Knowing that, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, kept the political message of the play to a minimum in their opera. Thus, the sung version proved acceptable to the nobility even though the title character wins the dispute with his employer. The opera was premièred at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, a mere two years after the play was first seen. Having attended a performance of the brand new opera, Hungarian poet Ferenc Kazinczy asked: 'Where could words be found that describe such joy?'
Copyright © 2 October 2010
Maria Nockin,
Arizona USA
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