I decided to watch the Marriage of Figaro for my opera of choice. The performance starts off with really engaging music that is very uplifting which then proceeds to bring us into the first scene of the opera. We meet Figaro and his fiancé Susanna who are talking about their upcoming wedding and setting up their future room together close to the Count and the Countess. What comes to light as the scene progresses is that the Count is trying to woo and sleep with Susanna. There was actually some sort of law that allowed the masters to sleep with their servants soon to be wives and Figaro is obviously very upset with this news.
A plot twist then enters with Dr. Bartolo and Marcellina. She at one point was supposed to marry Figaro and is still extremely upset about it. She is plotting with Dr. Bartolo to break up the engagement and wedding so that Figaro marries Marcellina.
In the edition that I watched which was created in 1980, there is a young page by the name of Cherubino. He is in love with the Countess. In this version a woman plays him but she wears men's clothing. To make matters worse, Cherubino has to hide when the Count walks in. He is trying to seduce Susanna but she is turned off by it. Cherubino has been getting into a lot of trouble throughout the castle because he has been getting caught messing around with the women. The Count discovers Cherubino hiding under a cloth and immediately the Count thinks that there's something going on with Susanna and Cherubino.
Figaro comes up with a brilliant plan to bring a bunch of the Count's subjects into the castle to express their gratitude that the Count has abolished the law of him essentially getting to sleep with the bride before her husband. The Count comes up with a plan to try to break up the wedding and goes to find Marcellina.
In the beginning of act 2 the Countess finds out that her husband is trying to sleep with Susanna. Figaro knows of the Count's plan to break up with wedding and so he uses Basilio to get the Count an anonymous note that tells him that his wife is being unfaithful. Susanna plans a set up because the Count had asked her to meet him in the garden. She dresses up Cherubino as her and has him go to the garden to meet the Count.
The Count interrogates the Countess to find out who she was talking to and he comes to the conclusion that it's her lover in the closet. When she goes to let the person out of the closet the Countess and Count are both surprised that it is Susanna. Susanna had helped Cherubino to sneak out of the closet. There is much confusion and the act ends with the Count deciding to rule on the case of Figaro and Marcellina in which it is claimed that Figaro agreed to marry her for a loan.
Since Cherubino is gone at this point, the Countess decides that she will pretend to be Susanna and will meet the Count in the garden.
There is a lot of hiding in this Opera and so many scenes when people overhear others. We find out that Marcellina is actually Figaro's mother!!
In the last act, everything comes to a conclusion. Susanna and the Countess switch places to cause confusion. But in the very end, the real Countess reveals herself and the Count begs for her forgiveness which she ends up granting.
I actually really enjoyed this opera. To be honest, I've never watched an opera before and I never particularly liked opera singing. This was really cool! It was good to have subtitles obviously so that I could understand it! I think that the singing helped to add emotion and it helped to constantly progress the scenes!
Really enjoyed this and glad this was an assignment!
No comments:
Post a Comment