Like his fictional Figaro, Beaumarchais was a jack-of-all-trades, a guy who tried a little of everything, constantly got himself in over his head, and somehow managed to come out on top nevertheless. The son of a middle-class watchmaker named “Caron”, Beaumarchais had the childhood nickname “fils Caron” (Son of Caron), which inspired the name of his greatest character.
Two of the greatest comic operas ever written, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, are based on plays by and about Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799). He falls to his knees and begs forgiveness and when the Countess grants it, everyone rejoices that a long day of madness and folly has ended at last in love. It backfires, and he’s the one who is humiliated. Then, when he thinks he’s caught the Countess making love with Figaro, he explodes with jealousy and tries to shame her in front of everyone. The Count, hoping to make love to Susanna, ends up wooing his own wife by mistake. Quartet from Act 2 Finale from Seattle Opera’s 2009 Marriage of FigaroĪt the end, everyone turns up in the garden at midnight, all trying to keep clandestine rendezvous with whomever they love. And any time anyone opens a window, closet door, or curtain in this house, out pops the hormone-addled androgynous teenager Cherubino, usually half-undressed. Bartolo to prevent Figaro’s wedding Susanna plots to avoid the Count, restore his love to his extremely patient Countess, and teach Figaro a lesson about who will wear the pants in their relationship. Figaro plots to foil and humiliate the Count the Count plots to avoid Figaro’s traps and sleep with Susanna Marcellina plots with Dr. Early that morning, Susanna tells Figaro that although the Count has renounced his droit de seigneur - the right to have sex with any woman on his lands on her wedding night - he has nevertheless tried to seduce her. The opera takes place over the course of one crazy day, the wedding-day of Figaro and Susanna. The castle of Aguas Frescas, outside of Seville, in the late eighteenth century. The Otherĭon Basilio is a scandal-monger, busybody, pander, and music teacher.ĭon Curzio is a humorless judge who works for Count Almaviva.Īntonio, a tipsy old gardener, is Susanna’s uncle and Barbarina’s father. Cherubino & BarbarinaĬherubino is a teenage page-boy in the Count’s castle (sung by a woman), is having a hard time dealing with puberty.īarbarina is a teenage peasant girl with a crush on Cherubino. The Marriage of Figaro at New Zealand Opera.
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