Who wrote the Libretto for The Marriage of Figaro?

The Marriage of Figaro (, ), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786. The opera's libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, "La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro" ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"), which was first performed in 1784. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity.

The Marriage of Figaro

The opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas.

Beaumarchais's earlier play "The Barber of Seville" had already made a successful transition to opera in a version by Paisiello. Beaumarchais's "Mariage de Figaro" was at first banned in Vienna; Emperor Joseph II stated that "since the piece contains much that is objectionable, I therefore expect that the Censor shall either reject it altogether, or at any rate have such alterations made in it that he shall be responsible for the performance of this play and for the impression it may make", after which the Austrian Censor duly forbade performing the German version of the play. Mozart's librettist managed to get official approval from the emperor for an operatic version which eventually achieved great success.

The opera was the first of three collaborations between Mozart and Da Ponte; their later collaborations were "Don Giovanni" and "Così fan tutte". It was Mozart who originally selected Beaumarchais's play and brought it to Da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in six weeks, rewriting it in poetic Italian and removing all of the original's political references. In particular, Da Ponte replaced Figaro's climactic speech against inherited nobility with an equally angry aria against unfaithful wives. Contrary to the popular myth, the libretto was approved by the Emperor before any music was written by Mozart.

The Imperial Italian opera company paid Mozart 450 florins for the work; this was three times his (low) yearly salary when he had worked as a court musician in Salzburg. Da Ponte was paid 200 florins.

"Figaro" premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, with a cast listed in the "Roles" section below. Mozart himself directed the first two performances, conducting seated at the keyboard, the custom of the day. Later performances were conducted by Joseph Weigl. The first production was given eight further performances, all in 1786.

Although the total of nine performances was nothing like the frequency of performance of Mozart's later success, "The Magic Flute", which for months was performed roughly every other day, the premiere is generally judged to have been a success. The applause of the audience on the first night resulted in five numbers being encored, seven on 8 May. Joseph II, who, in addition to his empire, was in charge of the Burgtheater, was concerned by the length of the performance and directed his aide as follows:

To prevent the excessive duration of operas, without however prejudicing the fame often sought by opera singers from the repetition of vocal pieces, I deem the enclosed notice to the public (that no piece for more than a single voice is to be repeated) to be the most reasonable expedient. You will therefore cause some posters to this effect to be printed.

The requested posters were printed up and posted in the Burgtheater in time for the third performance on 24 May.

The newspaper "Wiener Realzeitung" carried a review of the opera in its issue of 11 July 1786. It alludes to interference probably produced by paid hecklers, but praises the work warmly:
Mozart's music was generally admired by connoisseurs already at the first performance, if I except only those whose self-love and conceit will not allow them to find merit in anything not written by themselves.

The "public", however... did not really know on the first day where it stood. It heard many a "bravo" from unbiased connoisseurs, but obstreperous louts in the uppermost storey exerted their hired lungs with all their might to deafen singers and audience alike with their "St!" and "Pst"; and consequently opinions were divided at the end of the piece.

Apart from that, it is true that the first performance was none of the best, owing to the difficulties of the composition.

But now, after several performances, one would be subscribing either to the "cabal" or to "tastelessness" if one were to maintain that Herr "Mozart's" music is anything but a masterpiece of art.

It contains so many beauties, and such a wealth of ideas, as can be drawn only from the source of innate genius.

The Hungarian poet Ferenc Kazinczy was in the audience for a May performance, and later remembered the powerful impression the work made on him:
[Nancy] Storace [see below], the beautiful singer, enchanted eye, ear, and soul. – Mozart directed the orchestra, playing his fortepiano; the joy which this music causes is so far removed from all sensuality that one cannot speak of it. Where could words be found that are worthy to describe such joy?

Joseph Haydn appreciated the opera greatly, writing to a friend that he heard it in his dreams. In summer 1790 Haydn attempted to produce the work with his own company at Eszterháza, but was prevented from doing so by the death of his patron, Nikolaus Esterházy.

The Emperor requested a special performance at his palace theater in Laxenburg, which took place in June 1786.

The opera was produced in Prague starting in December 1786 by the Pasquale Bondini company. This production was a tremendous success; the newspaper "Prager Oberpostamtszeitung" called the work "a masterpiece", and said "no piece (for everyone here asserts) has ever caused such a sensation." Local music lovers paid for Mozart to visit Prague and hear the production; he listened on 17 January 1787, and conducted it himself on the 22nd. The success of the Prague production led to the commissioning of the next Mozart/Da Ponte opera, "Don Giovanni", premiered in Prague in 1787; see Mozart and Prague.

The work was not performed in Vienna during 1787 or 1788, but starting in 1789 there was a revival production. For this occasion Mozart replaced both arias of Susanna with new compositions, better suited to the voice of Adriana Ferrarese del Bene who took the role. To replace "" he wrote "" – "[come and fly] To the desire of [the one] who adores you" (K. 577) in July 1789, and to replace "" he wrote "" – "A joyous emotion", (K. 579), probably in mid-1790.

The voice types which appear in this table are those listed in the critical edition published in the "Neue Mozart-Ausgabe". In modern performance practice, Cherubino and Marcellina are usually assigned to mezzo-sopranos, and Figaro to a bass-baritone.

"The Marriage of Figaro" continues the plot of "The Barber of Seville" several years later, and recounts a single "day of madness" () in the palace of Count Almaviva near Seville, Spain. Rosina is now the Countess; Dr. Bartolo is seeking revenge against Figaro for thwarting his plans to marry Rosina himself; and Count Almaviva has degenerated from the romantic youth of "Barber" into a scheming, bullying, skirt-chasing baritone. Having gratefully given Figaro a job as head of his servant-staff, he is now persistently trying to exercise his "droit du seigneur" – his right to bed a servant girl on her wedding night – with Figaro's bride-to-be, Susanna, who is the Countess's maid. He keeps finding excuses to delay the civil part of the wedding of his two servants, which is arranged for this very day. Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess conspire to embarrass the Count and expose his scheming. He retaliates by trying to compel Figaro legally to marry a woman old enough to be his mother, but it turns out at the last minute that she really is his mother. Through Figaro's and Susanna's clever manipulations, the Count's love for his Countess is finally restored.

The overture is in the key of D major; the tempo marking is "presto"; i.e. very fast. The work is well known and often played independently as a concert piece.

"A partly furnished room, with a chair in the centre."

Figaro happily measures the space where the bridal bed will fit while Susanna tries on her wedding bonnet in front of a mirror (in the present day, a more traditional French floral wreath or a modern veil are often substituted, often in combination with a bonnet, so as to accommodate what Susanna happily describes as her wedding ). (Duet: "" – "Five, ten, twenty"). Figaro is quite pleased with their new room; Susanna far less so (Duettino: "" – "If the Countess should call you during the night"). She is bothered by its proximity to the Count's chambers: it seems he has been making advances toward her and plans on exercising his "droit du seigneur", the purported feudal right of a lord to bed a servant girl on her wedding night before her husband can sleep with her. The Count had the right abolished when he married Rosina, but he now wants to reinstate it. The Countess rings for Susanna and she rushes off to answer. Figaro, confident in his own resourcefulness, resolves to outwit the Count (Cavatina: "Se vuol ballare signor contino" – "If you want to dance, sir count").

Figaro departs, and Dr. Bartolo arrives with Marcellina, his old housekeeper. Figaro had previously borrowed a large sum of money from her, and, in lieu of collateral, had promised to marry her if unable to repay at the appointed time; she now intends to enforce that promise by suing him. Bartolo, seeking revenge against Figaro for having facilitated the union of the Count and Rosina (in "The Barber of Seville"), agrees to represent Marcellina pro bono, and assures her, in comical lawyer-speak, that he can win the case for her (aria: "" – "Vengeance").

Bartolo departs, Susanna returns, and Marcellina and Susanna exchange very politely delivered sarcastic insults (duet: "" – "After you, brilliant madam"). Susanna triumphs in the exchange by congratulating her rival on her impressive age. The older woman departs in a fury.
Cherubino then arrives and, after describing his emerging infatuation with all women, particularly with his "beautiful godmother" the Countess (aria: "" – "I don't know anymore what I am"), asks for Susanna's aid with the Count. It seems the Count is angry with Cherubino's amorous ways, having discovered him with the gardener's daughter, Barbarina, and plans to punish him. Cherubino wants Susanna to ask the Countess to intercede on his behalf. When the Count appears, Cherubino hides behind a chair, not wanting to be seen alone with Susanna. The Count uses the opportunity of finding Susanna alone to step up his demands for favours from her, including financial inducements to sell herself to him. As Basilio, the music teacher, arrives, the Count, not wanting to be caught alone with Susanna, hides behind the chair. Cherubino leaves that hiding place just in time, and jumps onto the chair while Susanna scrambles to cover him with a dress.

When Basilio starts to gossip about Cherubino's obvious attraction to the Countess, the Count angrily leaps from his hiding place (terzetto: "" – "What do I hear!"). He disparages the "absent" page's incessant flirting and describes how he caught him with Barbarina under the kitchen table. As he lifts the dress from the chair to illustrate how he lifted the tablecloth to expose Cherubino, he finds... the self same Cherubino! The count is furious, but is reminded that the page overheard the Count's advances on Susanna, something that the Count wants to keep from the Countess. The young man is ultimately saved from punishment by the entrance of the peasants of the Count's estate, a preemptive attempt by Figaro to commit the Count to a formal gesture symbolizing his promise that Susanna would enter into the marriage unsullied. The Count evades Figaro's plan by postponing the gesture. The Count says that he forgives Cherubino, but he dispatches him to his own regiment in Seville for army duty, effective immediately. Figaro gives Cherubino mocking advice about his new, harsh, military life from which all luxury, and especially women, will be totally excluded (aria: "Non più andrai" – "No more gallivanting").

"A handsome room with an alcove, a dressing room on the left, a door in the background (leading to the servants' quarters) and a window at the side."
The Countess laments her husband's infidelity (aria: "Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro" – "Grant, love, some comfort"). Susanna comes in to prepare the Countess for the day. She responds to the Countess's questions by telling her that the Count is not trying to seduce her; he is merely offering her a monetary contract in return for her affection. Figaro enters and explains his plan to distract the Count with anonymous letters warning him of adulterers. He has already sent one to the Count (via Basilio) that indicates that the Countess has a rendezvous of her own that evening. They hope that the Count will be too busy looking for imaginary adulterers to interfere with Figaro and Susanna's wedding. Figaro additionally advises the Countess to keep Cherubino around. She should dress him up as a girl and lure the Count into an illicit rendezvous where he can be caught red-handed. Figaro leaves.

Cherubino arrives, sent in by Figaro and eager to co-operate. Susanna urges him to sing the song he wrote for the Countess (aria: "Voi che sapete che cosa è amor" – "You ladies who know what love is, is it what I'm suffering from?"). After the song, the Countess, seeing Cherubino's military commission, notices that the Count was in such a hurry that he forgot to seal it with his signet ring (which would be necessary to make it an official document).

Susanna and the Countess then begin with their plan. Susanna takes off Cherubino's cloak, and she begins to comb his hair and teach him to behave and walk like a woman (aria of Susanna: "Venite, inginocchiatevi" – "Come, kneel down before me"). Then she leaves the room through a door at the back to get the dress for Cherubino, taking his cloak with her.

While the Countess and Cherubino are waiting for Susanna to come back, they suddenly hear the Count arriving. Cherubino hides in the closet. The Count demands to be allowed into the room and the Countess reluctantly unlocks the door. The Count enters and hears a noise from the closet. He tries to open it, but it is locked. The Countess tells him it is only Susanna, trying on her wedding dress. At this moment, Susanna re-enters unobserved, quickly realizes what's going on, and hides behind a couch (Trio: "Susanna, or via, sortite" – "Susanna, come out!"). The Count shouts for her to identify herself by her voice, but the Countess orders her to be silent. Furious and suspicious, the Count leaves, with the Countess, in search of tools to force the closet door open. As they leave, he locks all the bedroom doors to prevent the intruder from escaping. Cherubino and Susanna emerge from their hiding places, and Cherubino escapes by jumping through the window into the garden. Susanna then takes Cherubino's former place in the closet, vowing to make the Count look foolish (duet: "Aprite, presto, aprite" – "Open the door, quickly!").

The Count and Countess return. The Countess, thinking herself trapped, desperately admits that Cherubino is hidden in the closet. The enraged Count draws his sword, promising to kill Cherubino on the spot, but when the door is opened, they both find to their astonishment only Susanna (Finale: "Esci omai, garzon malnato" – "Come out of there, you ill-born boy!"). The Count demands an explanation; the Countess tells him it is a practical joke, to test his trust in her. Shamed by his jealousy, the Count begs for forgiveness. When the Count presses about the anonymous letter, Susanna and the Countess reveal that the letter was written by Figaro, and then delivered by Basilio. Figaro then arrives and tries to start the wedding festivities, but the Count berates him with questions about the anonymous note. Just as the Count is starting to run out of questions, Antonio the gardener arrives, complaining that a man has jumped out of the window and damaged his carnations while running away. Antonio adds that he tentatively identified the running man as Cherubino, but Figaro claims it was he himself who jumped out of the window, and pretends to have injured his foot while landing. Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess attempt to discredit Antonio as a chronic drunkard whose constant inebriation makes him unreliable and prone to fantasy, but Antonio brings forward a paper which, he says, was dropped by the escaping man. The Count orders Figaro to prove he was the jumper by identifying the paper (which is, in fact, Cherubino's appointment to the army). Figaro is at a loss, but Susanna and the Countess manage to signal the correct answers, and Figaro triumphantly identifies the document. His victory is, however, short-lived: Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio enter, bringing charges against Figaro and demanding that he honor his contract to marry Marcellina, since he cannot repay her loan. The Count happily postpones the wedding in order to investigate the charge.

"A rich hall, with two thrones, prepared for the wedding ceremony."

The Count mulls over the confusing situation. At the urging of the Countess, Susanna enters and gives a false promise to meet the Count later that night in the garden (duet: "Crudel! perchè finora" – "Cruel girl, why did you make me wait so long"). As Susanna leaves, the Count overhears her telling Figaro that he has already won the case. Realizing that he is being tricked (recitative and aria: "Hai già vinta la causa!... Vedrò, mentr'io sospiro" – "You've already won the case!"... "Shall I, while sighing, see"), he resolves to punish Figaro by forcing him to marry Marcellina.

Figaro's hearing follows, and the Count's judgment is that Figaro must marry Marcellina. Figaro argues that he cannot get married without his parents' permission, and that he does not know who his parents are, because he was stolen from them when he was a baby. The ensuing discussion reveals that Figaro is Rafaello, the long-lost illegitimate son of Bartolo and Marcellina. A touching scene of reconciliation occurs. During the celebrations, Susanna enters with a payment to release Figaro from his debt to Marcellina. Seeing Figaro and Marcellina in celebration together, Susanna mistakenly believes that Figaro now prefers Marcellina to her. She has a tantrum and slaps Figaro's face. Marcellina explains, and Susanna, realizing her mistake, joins the celebration. Bartolo, overcome with emotion, agrees to marry Marcellina that evening in a double wedding (sextet: "Riconosci in questo amplesso" – "Recognize in this embrace").

All leave, before Barbarina, Antonio's daughter, invites Cherubino back to her house so they can disguise him as a girl. The Countess, alone, ponders the loss of her happiness (aria: "Dove sono i bei momenti" – "Where are they, the beautiful moments"). Meanwhile, Antonio informs the Count that Cherubino is not in Seville, but in fact at his house. Susanna enters and updates her mistress regarding the plan to trap the Count. The Countess dictates a love letter for Susanna to send to the Count, which suggests that he meet her (Susanna) that night, "under the pines". The letter instructs the Count to return the pin which fastens the letter (duet: "Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto" – "On the breeze... What a gentle little zephyr").

A chorus of young peasants, among them Cherubino disguised as a girl, arrives to serenade the Countess. The Count arrives with Antonio and, discovering the page, is enraged. His anger is quickly dispelled by Barbarina, who publicly recalls that he had once offered to give her anything she wants in exchange for certain favors, and asks for Cherubino's hand in marriage. Thoroughly embarrassed, the Count allows Cherubino to stay.

The act closes with the double wedding, during the course of which Susanna delivers her letter to the Count (Finale: "Ecco la marcia" – "Here is the procession"). Figaro watches the Count prick his finger on the pin, and laughs, unaware that the love-note is an invitation for the Count to tryst with Figaro's own bride Susanna. As the curtain drops, the two newlywed couples rejoice.

"The garden, with two pavilions. Night."

Following the directions in the letter, the Count has sent the pin back to Susanna, giving it to Barbarina. However, Barbarina has lost it (aria: "L'ho perduta, me meschina" – "I have lost it, poor me"). Figaro and Marcellina see Barbarina, and Figaro asks her what she is doing. When he hears the pin is Susanna's, he is overcome with jealousy, especially as he recognises the pin to be the one that fastened the letter to the Count. Thinking that Susanna is meeting the Count behind his back, Figaro complains to his mother, and swears to be avenged on the Count and Susanna, and on all unfaithful wives. Marcellina urges caution, but Figaro will not listen. Figaro rushes off, and Marcellina resolves to inform Susanna of Figaro's intentions. Marcellina sings an aria lamenting that male and female wild beasts get along with each other, but rational humans can't (aria: "Il capro e la capretta" – "The billy-goat and the she-goat"). (This aria and Basilio's ensuing aria are usually omitted from performances due to their relative unimportance, both musically and dramatically; however, some recordings include them.)

Motivated by jealousy, Figaro tells Bartolo and Basilio to come to his aid when he gives the signal. Basilio comments on Figaro's foolishness and claims he was once as frivolous as Figaro was. He tells a tale of how he was given common sense by "Donna Flemma" ("Dame Prudence") and learned the importance of not crossing powerful people. (aria: "In quegli anni" – "In those years"). They exit, leaving Figaro alone. Figaro muses bitterly on the inconstancy of women (recitative and aria: "Tutto è disposto... Aprite un po' quegli occhi" – "Everything is ready... Open those eyes a little"). Susanna and the Countess arrive, each dressed in the other's clothes. Marcellina is with them, having informed Susanna of Figaro's suspicions and plans. After they discuss the plan, Marcellina and the Countess leave, and Susanna teases Figaro by singing a love song to her beloved within Figaro's hearing (aria: "Deh vieni, non tardar" – "Oh come, don't delay"). Figaro is hiding behind a bush and, thinking the song is for the Count, becomes increasingly jealous.

The Countess arrives in Susanna's dress. Cherubino shows up and starts teasing "Susanna" (really the Countess), endangering the plan. (Finale: "Pian pianin le andrò più presso" - "Softly, softly I'll approach her") The Count gets rid of him by striking out in the dark. His punch actually ends up hitting Figaro, but the point is made and Cherubino runs off.

The Count now begins making earnest love to "Susanna" (really the Countess), and gives her a jeweled ring. They go offstage together, where the Countess dodges him, hiding in the dark. Onstage, meanwhile, the real Susanna enters, wearing the Countess' clothes. Figaro mistakes her for the real Countess, and starts to tell her of the Count's intentions, but he suddenly recognizes his bride in disguise. He plays along with the joke by pretending to be in love with "my lady", and inviting her to make love right then and there. Susanna, fooled, loses her temper and slaps him many times. Figaro finally lets on that he has recognized Susanna's voice, and they make peace, resolving to conclude the comedy together ("Pace, pace, mio dolce tesoro" - "Peace, peace, my sweet treasure").

The Count, unable to find "Susanna", enters frustrated. Figaro gets his attention by loudly declaring his love for "the Countess" (really Susanna). The enraged Count calls for his people and for weapons: his servant is seducing his wife. (Ultima scena: "Gente, gente, all'armi, all'armi" – "Gentlemen, to arms!") Bartolo, Basilio and Antonio enter with torches as, one by one, the Count drags out Cherubino, Barbarina, Marcellina and the "Countess" from behind the pavilion.

All beg him to forgive Figaro and the "Countess", but he loudly refuses, repeating "no" at the top of his voice, until finally the real Countess re-enters and reveals her true identity. The Count, seeing the ring he had given her, realizes that the supposed Susanna he was trying to seduce was actually his wife. Ashamed and remorseful, he kneels and pleads for forgiveness himself ("Contessa perdono!" – "Countess, forgive me!"). The Countess, more kind than he ("Più docile io sono" – "I am more mild"), forgives her husband and all are contented. The opera ends in universal celebration.

"The Marriage of Figaro" is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings; the "recitativi secchi" are accompanied by a keyboard instrument, usually a fortepiano or a harpsichord, often joined by a cello. The instrumentation of the "recitativi secchi" is not given in the score, so it is up to the conductor and the performers. A typical performance usually lasts around 3 hours.

Two arias from act 4 are often omitted: one in which Marcellina regrets that people (unlike animals) abuse their mates (""), and one in which Don Basilio tells how he saved himself from several dangers in his youth, by using the skin of an ass for shelter and camouflage ("").

Mozart wrote two replacement arias for Susanna when the role was taken over by Adriana Ferrarese in the 1789 revival. The replacement arias, "Un moto di gioia" (replacing "Venite, inginocchiatevi" in act 2) and "Al desio di chi t'adora" (replacing "Deh vieni, non tardar" in act 4), in which the two clarinets are replaced with basset horns, are normally not used in modern performances. A notable exception was a series of performances at the Metropolitan Opera in 1998 with Cecilia Bartoli as Susanna.

Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote a preface to the first published version of the libretto, in which he boldly claimed that he and Mozart had created a new form of music drama:
In spite... of every effort... to be brief, the opera will not be one of the shortest to have appeared on our stage, for which we hope sufficient excuse will be found in the variety of threads from which the action of this play "[i.e. Beaumarchais's]" is woven, the vastness and grandeur of the same, the multiplicity of the musical numbers that had to be made in order not to leave the actors too long unemployed, to diminish the vexation and monotony of long recitatives, and to express with varied colours the various emotions that occur, but above all in our desire to offer as it were a new kind of spectacle to a public of so refined a taste and understanding.

Charles Rosen (in "The Classical Style") proposes to take Da Ponte's words quite seriously, noting the "richness of the ensemble writing", which carries forward the action in a far more dramatic way than recitatives would. Rosen also suggests that the musical language of the classical style was adapted by Mozart to convey the drama: many sections of the opera musically resemble sonata form; by movement through a sequence of keys, they build up and resolve musical tension, providing a natural musical reflection of the drama. As Rosen writes:
The synthesis of accelerating complexity and symmetrical resolution which was at the heart of Mozart's style enabled him to find a musical equivalent for the great stage works which were his dramatic models. "The Marriage of Figaro" in Mozart's version is the dramatic equal, and in many respects the superior, of Beaumarchais's work.

This is demonstrated in the closing numbers of all four acts: as the drama escalates, Mozart eschews "recitativi" altogether and opts for increasingly sophisticated writing, bringing his characters on stage, revelling in a complex weave of solo and ensemble singing in multiple combinations, and climaxing in seven- and eight-voice tutti for acts 2 and 4.

Mozart cleverly uses the sound of two horns playing together to represent cuckoldry, in the act 4 aria "". Verdi later used the same device in Ford's aria in "Falstaff".

Johannes Brahms said "In my opinion, each number in "Figaro" is a miracle; it is totally beyond me how anyone could create anything so perfect; nothing like it was ever done again, not even by Beethoven."

A musical phrase from the act 1 trio of "The Marriage of Figaro" (where Basilio sings "") was later reused, by Mozart, in the overture to his opera "Così fan tutte". Mozart also quotes Figaro's aria "Non più andrai" in the second act of his opera "Don Giovanni"; it is also used as a military march. Further, Mozart used it in 1791 in his Five Contredanses, K. 609, No. 1. Mozart reused the music of the "Agnus Dei" of his earlier ("Coronation Mass") for the Countess' ", in C major instead of the original F major. Mozart also reused the motif that begins his early bassoon concerto in another aria sung by the Countess, "Porgi, amor". Franz Liszt quoted the opera in his "Fantasy on Themes from Mozart's Figaro and Don Giovanni".

In 1819, Henry R. Bishop wrote an adaptation of the opera in English, translating from Beaumarchais's play and re-using some of Mozart's music, while adding some of his own.

In his 1991 opera, "The Ghosts of Versailles", which includes elements of Beaumarchais's third "Figaro" play ("La Mère coupable") and in which the main characters of "The Marriage of Figaro" also appear, John Corigliano quotes Mozart's opera, especially the overture, several times.Notes

Sources

The play formed the basis for an opera with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte and music by Mozart, also called "The Marriage of Figaro" (1786). In 1799, another opera based on the same play, "La pazza giornata, ovvero Il matrimonio di Figaro", was produced in Venice with libretto by Gaetano Rossi and music by Marcos Portugal.

The Marriage of Figaro (play)

The Marriage of Figaro ( ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro")) is a comedy in five acts, written in 1778 by Pierre Beaumarchais. This play is the second in the Figaro trilogy, preceded by "The Barber of Seville" and followed by "The Guilty Mother".

In the first play, "The Barber", the story begins with a simple love triangle in which a Spanish count has fallen in love with a girl called Rosine. He disguises himself to ensure that she will love him back for his character, not his wealth. But this is all foiled when Rosine's guardian, Doctor Bartholo, who wants her hand in marriage, confines her to the house. The Count runs into an ex-servant of his (now a barber), Figaro, and pressures him into setting up a meeting between the Count and Rosine. He succeeds and the lovers are married to end the first part of the trilogy.

"The Marriage" was written as a sequel to "The Barber". In his preface to the play, Beaumarchais says that Louis François, Prince of Conti had requested it. The play's denunciation of aristocratic privilege has been characterised as foreshadowing the French Revolution. The revolutionary leader Georges Danton said that the play "killed off the nobility"; in exile, Napoleon Bonaparte called it "the Revolution already put into action."

Thanks to the great popularity of its predecessor, "The Marriage of Figaro" opened to enormous success; it was said to have grossed 100,000 francs in the first twenty showings, and the theatre was so packed that three people were reportedly crushed to death in the opening-night crowd.

"The Marriage of Figaro" picks up three years following the end of "The Barber of Seville" as Figaro is engaged to be married to Suzanne; both characters are among the Count's staff in his dwelling. In the three years since Figaro helped forge the marriage of the Count and Rosine, the Count has already grown bored with his marriage and is taking notice of Suzanne. The Count looks to re-engage the act of primae noctis, in which he would consummate the marriage with the bride-to-be prior to Figaro's honeymoon.

The scholar and translator John Wood writes that the play was probably completed in more or less its existing form by 1778. It was accepted for production by the management of the Comédie Française in 1781, after which three years elapsed before it was publicly staged. Initially the text was approved, with minor changes, by the official censor, but at a private reading before the French court the play so shocked King Louis XVI that he forbade its public presentation. Beaumarchais revised the text, moving the action from France to Spain, and after further scrutiny by the censor the piece was played to an audience including members of the Royal Family in September 1783. The censors still refused to license the play for public performance, but the king personally authorised its production.

Under the title of "La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro", the play opened at the Théâtre Français on 27 April 1784 and ran for 68 consecutive performances, earning higher box-office receipts than any other French play of the eighteenth century. The author gave his share of the profits to charity.

The play was translated into English by Thomas Holcroft, and under the title of "The Follies of a Day – Or The Marriage of Figaro" it was produced at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London in late 1784 and early 1795. In France the play has held its place in the repertory, and leading companies have played it in the original language to audiences in Europe and America. In 1960 a Comédie Française production was filmed, under the direction of Jean Mayer, with Jean Piat as Figaro.

In the twentieth century the play continued to be staged in translation by foreign companies. In 1927 Constantin Stanislavski staged the work at the Moscow Art Theatre; in 1974 the British National Theatre company presented a version by John Wells, directed by Jonathan Miller.

Beaumarchais' comedy was adapted into "One Mad Day!" a "screwball comedy" in Three Acts by William James Royce. The play premiered at the Norton Clapp Theatre on 24 October 2008. In 1984 BBC Radio 3 broadcast a production of Beaumarchais' play in John Wells's translation; in December 2010 the same station transmitted a new version, adapted and directed by David Timson.

Beaumarchais wrote detailed notes on the characters, printed in the first published text of the play, issued in 1785. The author prescribed that Figaro must be played without any suggestion of caricature; the Count with great dignity yet with grace and affability; the Countess with restrained tenderness; Suzanne as intelligent and lively but without brazen gaiety; Chérubin as a charming young scamp, diffident only in the presence of the Countess. Chérubin is traditionally played as a trouser role by a woman. Beaumarchais said that in the original company, there were no boys available who were both the right age and who could understand all the subtleties of the role: most of the character's comic traits come from the view of an adult looking back on puberty with amusement.

The ridiculous character of Don Guzman was a jab at a judge, Louis Valentin Goëzman, whom Beaumarchais had—in vain—tried to bribe once, offering jewels to his wife and money to his secretary. Beaumarchais gained public acclaim for directly challenging the judge in a series of pamphlets collectively published as "Mémoires dans l'affaire Goëzman". Beaumarchais was hailed as a hero of the people with the public embarrassment he brought upon Goëzman.

Fanchette is around twelve years old. At the time, the age of consent throughout most of Europe was around that same age; hence, the revelation that she and the adult Count are sleeping together was not meant to be quite as shocking as it is often perceived these days.

The play is set at the castle of Aguas Frescas, three leagues from Seville.

The play begins in a room in the Count's castle—the bedroom to be shared by Figaro and Suzanne after their wedding, which is set to occur later that day. Suzanne reveals to Figaro her suspicion that the Count gave them this particular room because it is so close to his own, and that the Count has been pressing her to begin an affair with him. Figaro at once goes to work trying to find a solution to this problem. Then Dr. Bartholo and Marceline pass through, discussing a lawsuit they are to file against Figaro, who owes Marceline a good deal of money and has promised to marry her if he fails to repay the sum; his marriage to Suzanne will potentially void the contract. Bartholo relishes the news that Rosine is unhappy in her marriage, and they discuss the expectation that the Count will take Figaro's side in the lawsuit if Suzanne should submit to his advances. Marceline herself is in love with Figaro, and hopes to discourage Suzanne from this.

After a brief confrontation between Marceline and Suzanne, a young pageboy named Chérubin comes to tell Suzanne that he has been dismissed for being caught hiding in the bedroom of Fanchette. The conversation is interrupted by the entrance of the Count, and since Suzanne and Chérubin do not want to be caught alone in a bedroom together, Chérubin hides behind an armchair. When the Count enters, he propositions Suzanne (who continues to refuse to sleep with him). They are then interrupted by Bazile's entrance. Again, not wanting to be found in a bedroom with Suzanne, the Count hides behind the armchair. Chérubin is forced to throw himself on top of the armchair so the Count will not find him, and Suzanne covers him with a dress so Bazile cannot see him. Bazile stands in the doorway and begins to tell Suzanne all the latest gossip. When he mentions a rumour that there is a relationship between the Countess and Chérubin, the Count becomes outraged and stands up, revealing himself. The Count justifies his firing Chérubin to Bazile and the horrified Suzanne (now worried that Bazile will believe that she and the Count are having an affair). The Count re-enacts finding Chérubin behind the door in Fanchette's room by lifting the dress covering Chérubin, accidentally uncovering Chérubin's hiding spot for the second time. The Count is afraid that Chérubin will reveal the earlier conversation in which he was propositioning Suzanne, and so decides to send him away at once as a soldier. Figaro then enters with the Countess, who is still oblivious to her husband's plans. A troupe of wedding guests enters with him, intending to begin the wedding ceremony immediately. The Count is able to persuade them to hold it back a few more hours, giving himself more time to enact his plans.

The scene is the Countess's bedroom. Suzanne has just broken the news of the Count's action to the Countess, who is distraught. Figaro enters and tells them that he has set in motion a new plan to distract the Count from his intentions toward Suzanne by starting a false rumour that the Countess is having an affair and that her lover will appear at the wedding; this, he hopes, will motivate the Count to let the wedding go ahead. Suzanne and the Countess have doubts about the effectiveness of the plot; they decide to tell the Count that Suzanne has agreed to his proposal, and then to embarrass him by sending out Chérubin dressed in Suzanne's gown to meet him. They stop Chérubin from leaving and begin to dress him, but just when Suzanne steps out of the room, the Count comes in. Chérubin hides, half dressed, in the adjoining dressing room while the Count grows increasingly suspicious, especially after having just heard Figaro's rumour of the Countess's affair. He leaves to get tools to break open the dressing room door, giving Chérubin enough time to escape through the window and Suzanne time to take his place in the dressing room; when the Count opens the door, it appears that Suzanne was inside there all along. Just when it seems he calms down, the gardener Antonio runs in screaming that a half-dressed man just jumped from the Countess's window. The Count's fears are settled again once Figaro takes credit to being the jumper, claiming that he started the rumour of the Countess having an affair as a prank and that while he was waiting for Suzanne he became frightened of the Count's wrath, jumping out the window in terror. Just then Marceline, Bartholo and the judge Brid'oison come to inform Figaro that his trial is starting.

Figaro and the Count exchange a few words, until Suzanne, at the insistence of the Countess, goes to the Count and tells him that she has decided that she will begin an affair with him, and asks he meet her after the wedding. The Countess has actually promised to appear at the assignation in Suzanne's place. The Count is glad to hear that Suzanne has seemingly decided to go along with his advances, but his mood sours again once he hears her talking to Figaro and saying it was only done so they might win the case.

Court is then held, and after a few minor cases, Figaro's trial occurs. Much is made of the fact that Figaro has no middle or last name, and he explains that it is because he was kidnapped as a baby and doesn't know his real name. The Count rules in Marceline's favour, effectively forcing Figaro to marry her, when Marceline suddenly recognizes a birthmark (or scar or tattoo; the text is unclear) in the shape of a "spatule" (lobster) on Figaro's arm—he is her son, and Dr. Bartholo is his father. Just then Suzanne runs in with enough money to repay Marceline, given to her by the Countess. At this, the Count storms off in outrage.

Figaro is thrilled to have rediscovered his parents, but Suzanne's uncle, Antonio, insists that Suzanne cannot marry Figaro now, because he is illegitimate. Marceline and Bartholo are persuaded to marry in order to correct this problem.

Figaro and Suzanne talk before the wedding, and Figaro tells Suzanne that if the Count still thinks she is going to meet him in the garden later, she should just let him stand there waiting all night. Suzanne promises, but the Countess grows upset when she hears this news, thinking that Suzanne is in the Count's pocket and is wishing she had kept their rendezvous a secret. As she leaves, Suzanne falls to her knees, and agrees to go through with the plan to trick the Count. Together they write a note to him entitled "A New Song on the Breeze" (a reference to the Countess's old habit of communicating with the Count through sheet music dropped from her window), which tells him that she will meet him under the chestnut trees. The Countess lends Suzanne a pin from her dress to seal the letter, but as she does so, the ribbon from Chérubin falls out of the top of her dress. At that moment, Fanchette enters with Chérubin disguised as a girl, a shepherdess, and girls from the town to give the Countess flowers. As thanks, the Countess kisses Chérubin on the forehead. Antonio and the Count enter—Antonio knows Chérubin is disguised because they dressed him at his daughter's (Fanchette's) house. The Countess admits to hiding Chérubin in her room earlier and the Count is about to punish him. Fanchette suddenly admits that she and the Count have been having an affair, and that, since he has promised he will give her anything she desires, he must not punish Chérubin but give him to her as a husband. Later, the wedding is interrupted by Bazile, who had wished to marry Marceline himself; but once he learns that Figaro is her son he is so horrified that he abandons his plans. Later, Figaro witnesses the Count opening the letter from Suzanne, but thinks nothing of it. After the ceremony, he notices Fanchette looking upset, and discovers that the cause is her having lost the pin that was used to seal the letter, which the Count had told her to give back to Suzanne. Figaro nearly faints at the news, believing Suzanne's secret communication means that she has been unfaithful and, restraining tears, he announces to Marceline that he is going to seek vengeance on both the Count and Suzanne.

In the castle gardens beneath a grove of chestnut trees, Figaro has called together a group of men and instructs them to call together everyone they can find: he intends to have them all walk in on the Count and Suzanne "in flagrante delicto", humiliating the pair and also ensuring ease of obtaining a divorce. After a tirade against the aristocracy and the unhappy state of his life, Figaro hides nearby. The Countess and Suzanne then enter, each dressed in the other's clothes. They are aware that Figaro is watching, and Suzanne is upset that her husband would doubt her so much as to think she would ever really be unfaithful to him. Soon afterward the Count comes, and the disguised Countess goes off with him. Figaro is outraged, and goes to the woman he thinks is the Countess to complain; he realises that he is talking to his own wife Suzanne, who scolds him for his lack of confidence in her. Figaro agrees that he was being stupid, and they are quickly reconciled. Just then the Count comes out and sees what he thinks is his own wife kissing Figaro, and races to stop the scene. At this point, all the people who had been instructed to come on Figaro's orders arrive, and the real Countess reveals herself. The Count falls to his knees and begs her for forgiveness, which she grants. After all other loose ends are tied up, the cast breaks into song before the curtain falls.

One of the defining moments of the play—and Louis XVI's particular objection to the piece—is Figaro's long monologue in the fifth act, directly challenging the Count:

In 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed an opera, "Le Nozze di Figaro", based on "The Marriage of Figaro", with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte based on the play. Several composers including Paisiello in 1782 wrote operas based on "The Barber of Seville". Rossini's 1816 version is his most successful work and still often performed. In 1966, Darius Milhaud composed an opera, "La mère coupable", based on "The Guilty Mother".

Pierre Beaumarchais

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist, financier, and revolutionary (both French and American).

Born a provincial watchmaker's son, Beaumarchais rose in French society and became influential in the court of Louis XV as an inventor and music teacher. He made a number of important business and social contacts, played various roles as a diplomat and spy, and had earned a considerable fortune before a series of costly court battles jeopardized his reputation.

An early French supporter of American independence, Beaumarchais lobbied the French government on behalf of the American rebels during the American War of Independence. Beaumarchais oversaw covert aid from the French and Spanish governments to supply arms and financial assistance to the rebels in the years before France's formal entry into the war in 1778. He later struggled to recover money he had personally invested in the scheme. Beaumarchais was also a participant in the early stages of the French Revolution. He is probably best known, however, for his theatrical works, especially the three Figaro plays.

Beaumarchais was born Pierre-Augustin Caron in the Rue Saint-Denis, Paris on 24 January 1732. He was the only boy among the six surviving children of André-Charles Caron, a watchmaker from Meaux. The family had previously been Huguenots, but had converted to Roman Catholicism in the wake of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the increased persecution of Protestants that followed. The family was comfortably middle-class and Beaumarchais had a peaceful and happy childhood. As the only son, he was spoiled by his parents and sisters. He took an interest in music and played several instruments. Though born a Catholic, Beaumarchais retained a sympathy for Protestants and would campaign throughout his life for their civil rights. One of his sisters, Marie-Josèphe Caron, later became an artist; their cousin was the artist Suzanne Caron.

From the age of ten, Beaumarchais had some schooling at a "country school" where he learned some Latin. Two years later, Beaumarchais left school at twelve to work as an apprentice under his father and learn the art of watchmaking. He may have used his own experiences during these years as the inspiration for the character of Cherubin when he wrote the "Marriage of Figaro". He generally neglected his work, and at one point was evicted by his father, only to be later allowed back after apologising for his poor behaviour.

At the time, pocket watches were commonly unreliable for timekeeping and were worn more as fashion accessories. In response to this, Beaumarchais spent nearly a year researching improvements. In July 1753, at the age of twenty one, he invented an escapement for watches that allowed them to be made substantially more accurate and compact.

The first man to take an interest in this new invention was Jean-André Lepaute, the royal clockmaker in France, whose clocks could be found in the Palais du Luxembourg, Tuileries Palace, the Palais-Royal, and the Jardin des Plantes. Lepaute had been a mentor to Beaumarchais after discovering the boy's talent in a chance encounter in the Caron family's shop. He encouraged him as he worked on the new invention, earned his trust, and promptly stole the idea for himself, writing a letter to the French Academy of Sciences describing the "Lepaute system". Beaumarchais was outraged when he read in the September issue of "Le Mercure de France" that M. Lepaute had just invented the most wonderful mechanism for a more portable clock. and wrote a strongly-worded letter to that same newspaper defending the invention as his own and urging the French Academy of Sciences to see the proof for themselves. "In the interests of truth and my reputation," he says, "I cannot let such an infidelity go by in silence and must claim as mine the invention of this device." Lepaute defended himself with a statement by three Jesuits that claimed he had shown them such a mechanism in May 1753.

The following February, the Academy indeed ruled that the mechanism was his and not Lepaute's, catapulting him to stardom and relegating Lepaute to infamy, as ""l'affaire Lepaute"" had been the talk of Paris. Soon afterwards, he was asked by King Louis XV to create a watch mounted on a ring for his mistress Madame de Pompadour. Louis was so impressed by the result that he named Beaumarchais "Purveyor to the King", and the Caron family business became prosperous.

In 1755 Beaumarchais met Madeleine-Catherine Aubertin, a widow, and married her the following year. She helped Beaumarchais secure a royal office, and he gave up watchmaking. Shortly after his marriage, he adopted the name "Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais", which he derived from "le Bois Marchais", the name of a piece of land belonging to his new wife. He believed the name sounded grander and more aristocratic and adopted at the same time an elaborate coat of arms. His wife died less than a year later, which plunged him into financial problems, and he ran up large debts.

Beaumarchais' problems were eased when he was appointed to teach Louis XV's four daughters the harp. His role soon grew and he became a musical advisor for the royal family. In 1759, Caron met Joseph Paris Duverney, an older and wealthy entrepreneur. Beaumarchais assisted him in gaining the King's approval for the new military academy he was building, the École Royale Militaire, and in turn Duverney promised to help make him rich. The two became very close friends and collaborated on many business ventures. Assisted by Duverney, Beaumarchais acquired the title of Secretary-Councillor to the King in 1760–61, thereby gaining access to French nobility. This was followed by the purchase in 1763 of a second title, the office of Lieutenant General of Hunting, a position which oversaw the royal parks. Around this time, he became engaged to Pauline Le Breton, who came from a plantation-owning family from Saint-Domingue, but broke it off when he discovered she was not as wealthy as he had been led to believe.

In April 1764, Beaumarchais began a ten-month sojourn in Madrid, ostensibly to help his sister, Lisette, who had been abandoned by her fiancé, Clavijo, an official at the Ministry of War. While in Spain, he was mostly concerned with striking business deals for Duverney. They sought exclusive contracts for the newly acquired Spanish colony of Louisiana and attempted to gain the right to import slaves to the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Beaumarchais went to Madrid with a letter of introduction from the Duc de Choiseul, who was now his political patron. Hoping to secure Clavijo's support for his business deals by binding him by marriage, Beaumarchais initially shamed Clavijo into agreeing to marry Lisette, but when further details emerged about Clavijo's conduct, the marriage was called off.

Beaumarchais's business deals dragged on, and he spent much of his time soaking up the atmosphere of Spain, which would become a major influence on his later writings. Although he befriended important figures such as the foreign minister Grimaldi, his attempts to secure the contracts for Duverney eventually came to nothing and he went home in March 1765. Although Beaumarchais returned to France with little profit, he had managed to acquire new experience, musical ideas, and ideas for theatrical characters. Beaumarchais considered turning the affair into a play, but decided to leave it to others—including Goethe, who wrote "Clavigo" in 1774.

Beaumarchais hoped to be made consul to Spain, but his application was rejected. Instead he concentrated on developing his business affairs and began to show an interest in writing plays. He had already experimented in writing short farces for private audiences, but he now had ambitions to write for the theatre.

His name as a writer was established with his first dramatic play, "Eugénie", which premiered at the Comédie Française in 1767. This was followed in 1770 by another drama, "Les Deux amis".

Beaumarchais's Figaro plays are "Le Barbier de Séville", "Le Mariage de Figaro", and "La Mère coupable". Figaro and Count Almaviva, the two characters Beaumarchais most likely conceived in his travels in Spain, were (with Rosine, later the Countess Almaviva) the only ones present in all three plays. They are indicative of the change in social attitudes before, during, and after the French Revolution. Figaro and Almaviva first appeared in "Le Sacristain", which he wrote around 1765 and dubbed "an interlude, imitating the Spanish style." Naturally, this thinly veiled government criticism did not go without opposition. Upon first reading a manuscript of Beaumarchais's play, King Louis XVI stated that "this man mocks everything that must be respected in a government" and refused to let it be performed.
To a lesser degree, the Figaro plays are semi-autobiographical. Don Guzman Brid'oison ("Le Mariage") and Bégearss ("La Mère") were caricatures of two of Beaumarchais's real-life adversaries, Goezman and Bergasse. The page Chérubin ("Le Mariage") resembled the youthful Beaumarchais, who did contemplate suicide when his love was to marry another. Suzanne, the heroine of "Le Mariage" and "La Mère", was modelled after Beaumarchais's third wife, Marie-Thérèse de Willer-Mawlaz. Meanwhile, some of the Count monologues reflect on the playwright's remorse over his numerous sexual exploits.

"Le Barbier" premiered in Paris in 1775. An English translation premiered in London a year later, and that was followed by performances in other European countries.

The sequel, "Le Mariage", was initially passed by the censor in 1781, but was soon banned from being performed by Louis XVI after a private reading. Queen Marie-Antoinette lamented the ban, as did various influential members of her entourage. Nonetheless, the King was unhappy with the play's satire on the aristocracy and overruled the Queen's entreaties to allow its performance. Over the next three years, Beaumarchais gave many private readings of the play, as well as making revisions to try to pass the censor. The King finally relented and lifted the ban in 1784. The play premiered that year and was enormously popular even with aristocratic audiences. Mozart's opera based on the play, "Le Nozze di Figaro" premiered just two years later in Vienna. Beaumarchais's final play, "La Mère", premiered in 1792 in Paris.

In homage to the great French playwright Molière, Beaumarchais also dubbed "La Mère" "The Other "Tartuffe"". All three Figaro plays enjoyed great success, and are still frequently performed today in theatres and opera houses.

The death of Duverney on 17 July 1770 triggered a decade of turmoil for Beaumarchais. A few months earlier, the two had signed a statement cancelling all debts that Beaumarchais owed Duverney (about 75,000 pounds), and granting Beaumarchais the modest sum of 15,000 pounds. Duverney's sole heir, Count de la Blache, took Beaumarchais to court, claiming the signed statement was a forgery. Although the 1772 verdict favoured Beaumarchais, it was overturned on appeal the following year by a judge, a magistrate named Goezman, whom Beaumarchais tried in vain to bribe. At the same time, Beaumarchais was also involved in a dispute with the Duke de Chaulnes over the Duke's mistress, which resulted in Beaumarchais being thrown into jail from February to May 1773. La Blache took advantage of Beaumarchais' court absence and persuaded Goezman to order Beaumarchais to repay all his debts to Duverney, plus interest and all legal expenses.

To garner public support, Beaumarchais published a four-part pamphlet entitled "Mémoires contre Goezman". The action made Beaumarchais an instant celebrity, for the public at the time saw Beaumarchais as a champion for social justice and liberty. Goezman countered Beaumarchais's accusations by launching a lawsuit of his own. The verdict was equivocal. On 26 February 1774, both Beaumarchais and Mme. Goezman (who had taken the bribe from Beaumarchais) were sentenced to "blâme" meaning they were nominally deprived of their civil rights. Naturally, Beaumarchais followed few of the restrictions placed upon him. Magistrate Goezman was removed from his post. At the same time, Goezman's verdict in the La Blache case was overturned. The Goezman case was so sensational that the judges left the courtroom through a back door to avoid the large, angry mob waiting in front of the court house.

Before France officially entered the war in 1778, Beaumarchais played a major role in delivering French munitions, money and supplies to the American army. In order to secretly funnel aid to the rebels, he helped set up a fictitious business called Roderigue Hortalez and Company.

To restore his civil rights, Beaumarchais pledged his services to Louis XV. He traveled to London, Amsterdam and Vienna on various secret missions. His first mission was to travel to London to destroy a pamphlet, "Les mémoires secrets d'une femme publique", which Louis XV considered a libel of one of his mistresses, Madame du Barry. Beaumarchais was sent to London to persuade the French spy Chevalier D'Eon to return home, but while there he began gathering information on British politics and society. Britain's colonial situation was deteriorating and in 1775 fighting broke out between British troops and American rebels. Beaumarchais became a major source of information about the rebellion for the French government and sent a regular stream of reports with exaggerated rumours of the size of the success of the rebel forces blockading Boston.

Once back in France, Beaumarchais began work on a new operation. Louis XVI, who did not want to break openly with Britain, allowed Beaumarchais to found a commercial enterprise, Roderigue Hortalez and Company, supported by the French and Spanish crowns, that supplied the American rebels with weapons, munitions, clothes and provisions, all of which would never be paid for. This policy came to fruition in 1777 when John Burgoyne's army capitulated at Saratoga to a rebel force largely clothed and armed by the supplies Beaumarchais had been sending; it marked a personal triumph for him. Beaumarchais was injured in a carriage accident while racing into Paris with news of Saratoga.

Beaumarchais had dealt with Silas Deane, an acting member of the Committee of Secret Correspondence in the Second Continental Congress. For these services, the French Parliament reinstated Beaumarchais's civil rights in 1776. In 1778, Beaumarchais' hopes were fulfilled when the French government agreed to the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. France officially entered the American War of Independence soon after, followed by Spain in 1779 and the Dutch Republic in 1780.

Shortly after the death of Voltaire in 1778, Beaumarchais set out to publish Voltaire's complete works, many of which were banned in France. He bought the rights to most of Voltaire's many manuscripts from the publisher Charles-Joseph Panckouck in February 1779. To evade French censorship, he set up printing presses in Kehl, Germany. He bought the complete foundry of the famous English type designer John Baskerville from his widow and also purchased three paper mills. Seventy volumes were published between 1783 and 1790. While the venture proved a financial failure, Beaumarchais was instrumental in preserving many of Voltaire's later works which otherwise might have been lost.

It was not long before Beaumarchais crossed paths again with the French legal system. In 1787, he became acquainted with Mme. Korman, who was implicated and imprisoned in an adultery suit, which was filed by her husband to expropriate her dowry. The matter went to court, with Beaumarchais siding with Mme. Korman, and M. Korman assisted by a celebrity lawyer, Nicolas Bergasse. On 2 April 1790, M. Korman and Bergasse were found guilty of calumny (slander), but Beaumarchais's reputation was also tarnished.

Meanwhile, the French Revolution broke out. Beaumarchais was no longer quite the idol he had been a few years before, as he thought the excesses of the revolution were endangering liberty. He was financially successful, mainly from supplying drinking water to Paris, and had acquired ranks in the French nobility. In 1791, he took up a lavish residence across from where the Bastille once stood. He spent under a week in prison during August 1792 for criticising the government, and was released only three days before a massacre took place in the prison where he had been detained.

Nevertheless, he pledged his services to the new republic. He attempted to purchase 60,000 rifles for the French Revolutionary army from Holland, but was unable to complete the deal.

While he was out of the country, Beaumarchais was falsely declared an "émigré" (a loyalist of the old regime) by his enemies. He spent two and a half years in exile, mostly in Germany, before his name was removed from the list of proscribed émigrés. He returned to Paris in 1796, where he lived out the remainder of his life in relative peace. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris is named after him.

In 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed an opera, "Le Nozze di Figaro", based on "The Marriage of Figaro", with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte based on the play. Several composers including Paisiello in 1782 wrote operas based on "The Barber of Seville". Rossini's 1816 version is his most successful work and still often performed. In 1966, Darius Milhaud composed an opera, "La mère coupable", based on "The Guilty Mother".

Beaumarchais was also the librettist for Antonio Salieri's opera "Tarare", which premiered in Paris in 1787.

Beaumarchais married three times. His first wife was Madeleine-Catherine Franquet (née Aubertin), whom he married on 22 November 1756; she died under mysterious circumstances only 10 months later. He married Geneviève-Madeleine Lévêque (née Wattebled) in 1768. Again, the second Mme. de Beaumarchais died under mysterious circumstances two years later, though most scholars believed she actually suffered from tuberculosis. Before her death in 1770, she bore a son, Augustin, but he died in 1772. Beaumarchais lived with his lover, Marie-Thérèse de Willer-Mawlaz, for 12 years before she became his third wife in 1786. Together they had a daughter, Eugénie.

Beaumarchais was accused by his enemies of poisoning his first two wives in order to lay claim to their family inheritance. Beaumarchais, though having no shortage of lovers throughout his life, was known to care deeply for both his family and close friends. However, Beaumarchais also had a reputation of marrying for financial gain, and both Franquet and Lévêque had previously married into wealthy families. While there was insufficient evidence to support the accusations, whether or not the poisonings took place is still the subject of debate.

"" (You shall go no more) is an aria for bass from Mozart's 1786 opera "The Marriage of Figaro", K. 492. The Italian libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, "La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro" (1784). It is sung by Figaro at the end of the first act.

Non più andrai

At the end of the first act, Count Almaviva finds Cherubino hiding in Susanna's quarters. The Count was already suspicious that Cherubino had designs on his wife, Countess Rosina, and overall disapproves of his loose lifestyle. However, he cannot punish Cherubino, as he himself was only in Susanna's quarters to proposition her. The Count sends Cherubino away instead, to his regiment in Seville. In this aria, Figaro teases Cherubino about his Spartan military future, in stark contrast with the pleasant and flirtatious life he has enjoyed in the Count's palace.

The libretto of "Le Nozze di Figaro" was written by librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, who collaborated with Mozart on two other operas, "Così fan tutte" and "Don Giovanni".Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso,
notte e giorno d'intorno girando;
delle belle turbando il riposo
Narcisetto, Adoncino d'amor.

Non più avrai questi bei pennacchini,
quel cappello leggero e galante,
quella chioma, quell'aria brillante,
quel vermiglio donnesco color.

Tra guerrieri, poffar Bacco!
Gran mustacchi, stretto sacco.
Schioppo in spalla, sciabla al fianco,
collo dritto, muso franco,
un gran casco, o un gran turbante,
molto onor, poco contante!
Ed invece del fandango,
una marcia per il fango.

Per montagne, per valloni,
con le nevi e i sollioni.
Al concerto di tromboni,
di bombarde, di cannoni,
che le palle in tutti i tuoni
all'orecchio fan fischiar.
Cherubino alla vittoria:
alla gloria militar!

You shall go no more, lustful butterfly,
Day and night flitting to and fro;
Disturbing ladies in their sleep
Little Narcissus, Adonis of love.

No longer will you have these beautiful feathers,
That light, romantic cap,
That hair, that glowing countenance,
That rosy, womanly complexion.

Among soldiers, by Jove!
A big moustache, a little kit.
With a rifle on your shoulder, and a sabre on your flank,
Standing up straight, hard faced,
A big helmet, or a big turban,
Plenty of honour, little pay!
And instead of dancing the fandango,
A march through the mud.

Through mountains, through valleys,
With snow and with the sun beating down.
To the beat of the bugle,
Of bombs, of cannons,
Whose thunderous report
Makes your ears ring.
Cherubino, to victory:
To glory in battle!

The meter of the verse is anapestic trimeter for the first two stanzas, trochaic tetrameter for the remainder. The intricate rhyme scheme is [ABAC] [DEEC] [FF GG HH II] [JJJJJK LK], where the long series of -"oni" rhymes ([J]) supports the patter song describing the soldier's miseries.

The aria is set in C major, in common time () and is in the style of a military march. It is 114 bars long and takes about four minutes to perform. Its vocal range and tessitura covers C3 to E4. The melody often mimics the sound of a military bugle by concentrating on the natural harmonics (C–E–G–C). This effect is strengthened when horns are prominent several times in the orchestra. The final 14 bars are played entirely by the orchestra as the characters (in productions respecting the original stage direction "") march off the stage in military fashion.

The catchy tune and stirring military accompaniment have made this aria popular from the very beginning; indeed at the rehearsals of the premiere the performers burst spontaneously into bravos for the composer; for details see article on Francesco Benucci, who created the role. Mozart later quoted his own tune, played by a stage band as part of a medley sequence, in his opera "Don Giovanni" – evidently aware that the audience would instantly recognize it (the character Leporello, in "Don Giovanni's" Vienna premiere also sung by Benucci, ironically sings, "" – "Now that tune I know too well").

Harris calls "Non più andrai" "the most famous aria in the opera", continuing: "this is simply a great tune, a great comic piece... Mozart at his most playful and entertaining."

The march is currently the regimental slow march of the Coldstream Guards in the United Kingdom and the Governor General's Foot Guards in Canada.

Notes
Sources

The cavatina "" is an aria for baritone or bass from the first act of the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (1784). The Italian title means "If you want to dance".

Se vuol ballare

The song is sung by Figaro upon discovering the count's ploys to exercise his newly reasserted feudal, the "" to sleep with Figaro's wife Susanna before the consummation of their marriage. Figaro sings of how he will unravel the count's schemes and thwart him. Written a mere three years before the French Revolution, it can also be read as a political attack on the power-wielding nobility of the time.

Italian
Se vuol ballare, signor contino,
se vuol ballare, signor contino,
il chitarrino le suonerò
il chitarrino le suonerò, sì,
le suonerò, sì,
le suonerò.

Se vuol venire nella mia scuola
la capriola le insegnerò,
se vuol venire nella mia scuola
la capriola le insegnerò, sì,
le insegnerò, sì,
le insegnerò.

Saprò, saprò, saprò, saprò, saprò,
ma piano, piano, piano, piano, piano, piano,
meglio ogni arcano,
dissimulando scoprir potrò.

L'arte schermendo, l'arte adoprando,
di qua pungendo, di là scherzando,
tutte le macchine rovescierò, rovescierò.
tutte le macchine rovescierò, rovescierò.

Se vuol ballare, signor contino,
se vuol ballare, signor contino,
il chitarrino le suonerò,
il chitarrino le suonerò, sì,
le suonerò, sì,
le suonerò..
Literal translation
If you want to dance, my little count,
If you want to dance, my little count,
I'll play the little guitar for you,
I'll play the little guitar for you, yes,
I'll play for you, yes,
I'll play for you.

If you want to come to my school
I'll teach you the capriole,
If you want to come to my school
I'll teach you the capriole, yes,
Teach you, yes,
Teach you.

I'll know, I'll know, I'll know, I'll know, I'll know,
but slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly;
Sooner every dark secret
by dissembling I shall uncover.

Artfully fencing, artfully working,
stinging here, joking there,
all of your schemes I'll turn inside out.
all of your schemes I'll turn inside out.

If you want to dance, my little count,
If you want to dance, my little count,
I'll play the little guitar for you,
I'll play the little guitar for you, yes,
I'll play for you, yes,
I'll play for you.
Singable translation
So, little master, you're dressed to go dancing,
dressed in your best to go strutting and prancing.
I'll put an end to your fun pretty soon;
you may go dancing but I'll call the tune, yes,
I'll call the tune, yes,
I'll call the tune.

If you want dancing, I'll be your master;
faster and faster, dance till you drop.
If you want dancing, I'll be your master;
faster and faster, dance till you drop, yes,
dance till you drop, yes,
dance till you drop.

You'll see, you'll see,
be careful, Figaro, be careful!
Stay under cover,
then you'll discover what he's about.

I will be cunning, slyly deceiving,
cutting and running, ducking and weaving.
He may be clever but he's met his match.
I can undo any scheme he can hatch.

So, little master, you're dressed to go dancing,
dressed in your best to go strutting and prancing.
I'll put an end to your fun pretty soon;
you may go dancing but I'll call the tune, yes,
I'll call the tune, yes,
I'll call the tune.

Beethoven wrote a series of 12 variations for piano and violin, WoO 40, on the theme of "".

In Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", which premiered in 1786 with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the comic plot revolves around the successful efforts of the young bride and groom, Figaro and Susanna, to block the efforts of the unfaithful Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna. To achieve his aim, the frustrated Count threatens to reinstitute "droit du seigneur". It was based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais.

Droit du seigneur

Droit du seigneur (;, 'lord's right'), also known as jus primae noctis (;, 'right of the first night'), refers to a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on their wedding nights.

Some scholars believe the "right" might have existed in medieval Europe. Others say that it is a myth, and that all references to it are from later periods.

Similar customs have been recorded elsewhere.

The French expression "droit du seigneur" translates as "right of the lord", but native French prefer the terms "droit de jambage" (, from "jambe", 'leg') or "droit de cuissage" (, from "cuisse", 'thigh').

The term is often used synonymously with "jus primae noctis", Latin for "right of the first night".

In the "Epic of Gilgamesh", Gilgamesh is described as having practiced a similar custom: "He is king, he does whatever he wants... takes the girl from her mother and uses her, the warrior's daughter, the young man's bride."

Herodotus mentions a similar custom among the Adyrmachidae in ancient Libya: "They are also the only tribe with whom the custom obtains of bringing all women about to become brides before the king, that he may choose such as are agreeable to him."

When the plebians of the Etruscan city of Volsinii rebelled against the aristocrats in 280 BC, "They took their wives for themselves and placed the daughters of the nobles under the "jus primae noctis", while all their former masters on whom they could lay hands were tortured to death."

The medieval marriage fine or merchet has been interpreted as a payment for the "droit du seigneur" to be waived. Alternatively, it has been interpreted as compensation to the lord for the young women leaving his lands.

A similar payment to church authorities has also been interpreted as relating the "droit du seigneur". However, according to British scholar WD Howarth, the church at some times prohibited consummation of a marriage on the first night. The payment was for an indulgence from the church to waive this prohibition.

The life of Gerald of Aurillac written by Odo of Cluny (879-942) gives an account of the young nobleman demanding sex with one of his serfs, only to have the act averted by a miracle, sending Gerald on the road to sainthood. American historian Vern Bullough suggested that this illustrates that such behaviour was commonplace in the period, and that the "legend [of "droit du seigneur"] reflected the reality".

In the fourteenth-century French epic poem "Baudouin de Sebourc", a tyrannical lord claims the "jus primae noctis" unless he receives part of the bride's dowry.

The supposed right was abolished by Ferdinand II of Aragon in Article 9 of the "Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe" in 1486.

In 1527, Scottish historian Hector Boece wrote that the "right" had existed in Scotland until abolished by Malcolm III (r. 1058-93) under the influence of his wife, Margaret (later St Margaret of Scotland). The payment of merchet was instituted in its place. Boece attributed the law to a legendary King Ewen (Evenus) III. Modern French scholar Alain Boureau says that Boece probably invented King Ewen, but he was mythologising not polemicising.

Other Scottish scholars of his era quoted Boece with approval, including John Lesley (1578), George Buchanan (1582), and Habbakuk Bisset (1626). The historical existence of the custom in Scotland was also accepted in Scottish legal works such as James Balfour's "Practicks" (c 1579), John Skene's "De Verborum" (1597), and Thomas Craig's "Jus Feudale" (1603). English scholar Henry Spelman stated in his "Glossary" (1664) that the custom had existed in Scotland, but not in England. English jurist William Blackstone cited Boece's statement in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), while similarly noting that the custom had never existed in England. In 1776, Scottish jurist David Dalrymple disputed the existence of the custom, arguing Boece's account was purely legendary, but his position was often seen as based on Scottish patriotism. However, according to Scottish legal scholar David Maxwell Walker, there have been instances recorded of the "jus" being claimed up to the eighteenth century. Walker concluded that it is possible that the "jus" existed as a custom in Scotland, dependent on the attitude of the king, and survived longer in remote regions.

The right was mentioned in 1556 in the "Recueil d'arrêts notables des cours souveraines de France" of French lawyer and author Jean Papon. French writer Antoine du Verdier also commented on it in 1577.

In Shakespeare's play, "Henry VI, Part 2" (c 1591), the rebel Jack Cade proclaimed, "there shall not a maid be married, but she shall pay to me her maidenhead ere they have it". According to French scholar Alain Boureau, Cade was demanding the payment of merchet, not the right of first night, but others disagree.

The Spanish novel Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (1617) by Miguel de Cervantes contains an episode where a bride and groom escape a barbaric marriage custom in Ireland. According to British scholar WD Howarth, Cervantes was inspired by Peruvian marriage ceremonies and what is described is different from the classic version of the "droit du seigneur" as it involves multiple virgins. However, Cervantes' story was a source for the English play The Custom of the Country, written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger and published in 1647. The play has the classic version of the "right of first night" with money payment as an alternative. According to Howarth, this suggests that "droit du seigneur" was a familiar notion to people at that time, which he traces back to Boece.

The Jesuit hagiographical work Acta Sanctorum (Acts of the Saints), published from 1643 onwards, recorded the existence of "jus primae noctis" in its biographies of St Margaret and St Forannan.

English lexicographer Thomas Blount recorded the "right" as a medieval custom of some English manors in "Fragmenta Antiquitatis" in 1679.

French philosopher Montesquieu referred to the practice in The Spirit of the Laws (1748), saying that it had been enforced in France over three nights.
Voltaire mentioned the practice in his "Dictionnaire philosophique", published in 1764. He wrote the five-act comedy "Le droit du seigneur" or "L'écueil du sage" in 1762, although it was not performed until 1779, after his death. This play was the first time the term "droit du seigneur" was used. In eighteenth-century France, a number of writers made other claims about the supposed power of the overlords during the Ancien Régime, such as the "droit de ravage" (right of ravage; providing to the lord the right to devastate fields of his own domain), and the "droit de prélassement" (right of lounging; it was said that a lord had the right to disembowel his serfs to warm his feet in).

After their travels in Scotland in 1773, Samuel Johnson and James Boswell documented the custom of the payment of merchet, linking it with the "right of first night". They paralleled it with that custom of Borough English, suggesting that the English custom favored the youngest son because the paternity of the eldest son was doubtful.

In Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro", which premiered in 1786 with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the comic plot revolves around the successful efforts of the young bride and groom, Figaro and Susanna, to block the efforts of the unfaithful Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna. To achieve his aim, the frustrated Count threatens to reinstitute "droit du seigneur". It was based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais.

British writer Isaac D'Israeli stated the practice had been widespread across Europe in his best-selling book, "The Curiosities of Literature" (1823). Sir Walter Scott mentioned the custom in his historical Scottish novel, The Fair Maid of Perth (1828).

Scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave the historical basis of the "right of first night" a good deal of attention. Over time, the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Larousse encyclopedias dramatically changed their opinion on the topic. French writer Louis Veuillot, a champion of Catholicism, wrote a book in 1854 disputing its existence. After an exhaustive historical study, German jurist Karl Schmidt concluded in 1881 that it was a scholarly misconception. After Schmidt, many of those who believed in the existence of the custom based their opinions on anthropological studies of tribal societies, though according to WD Howarth this was a misguided argument because of the disparity between the tribal societies and medieval European society.

In "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" in 1884, socialist Friedrich Engels argued it was real and had an anthropological origin.

In 1930, Scottish legal scholar Hector McKechnie concluded, based on historical evidence, that the practice had existed in Scotland in early times.

Italian scholar Paolo Mantegazza, in his 1935 book "The Sexual Relations of Mankind", said that while not a law, it was most likely a binding custom.

As late as the nineteenth century, some Kurdish chieftains in Anatolia raped Armenian brides on their wedding night (part of what was then known as the "khafir" or "hafir" system).

In the Hawaiian Islands, marriage in the Western sense did not exist until the arrival of Christian missionaries; there was no word for husband or wife in the Hawaiian language. The privilege for chiefs was often observed, according to ""Sexual Behavior in Pre Contact Hawai‘i"" by Milton Diamond. A young girl's parents viewed the coupling with favor. If she were lucky, she might conceive his offspring and be allowed to keep it. When western ships arrived, young girls and wives eagerly coupled with sailors who, given their weapons and large ships, were thought to be gods.

The term has also been used to describe the sexual exploitation of slaves in the American colonies.

In modern times Zaire's president Mobutu Sese Seko appropriated the "droit de cuissage" when traveling around the country where local chiefs offered him virgins; this act was considered a great honor for the virgin's family.

Bibliography