#Opera Buffa

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La Finta Semplice

LA FINTA SEMPLICE

UDANA NAIWNOŚĆ

Udana naiwność - La Finta Semplice - Poradnik po operze na Moje Quo Vadis "Udana naiwność" oznaczona w katalogu Opera Wolfganga Amadeusza Mozarta KV 51 (46a) to trzyaktowa opera buffa, której libretto stworzył Marco Coltellini. Utwór powstał na zamówienie cesarza Józefa II w 1768 roku. Libretto jest oparte na wcześniejszym tekście autorstwa Carlo Goldoniego. Premiera miała miejsce 1 maja 1769 r. w Salzburgu. Udana naiwność - przewodnik po operze Postaw mi kawę na buycoffee.to autopromocja La finta semplice - wprowadzenie Fabuła opery rozgrywa się w fikcyjnej wiosce toskańskiej i przedstawia romantyczne perypetie dwóch par kochanków, którymi zręcznie manipuluje sprytna służąca Ninetta. Dzięki serii komicznych nieporozumień oraz pomyłek tożsamości, Mozart w mistrzowski sposób łączy elementy farsy z sentymentalizmem, kreując zniuansowany obraz relacji międzyludzkich.   Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, jeden z najwybitniejszych kompozytorów w historii muzyki, zrewolucjonizował wiele gatunków muzycznych, w tym operę. Jego dzieła wciąż fascynują zarówno krytyków, jak i miłośników sztuki na całym świecie, a jednym z najwcześniejszych i najbardziej interesujących przykładów jego talentu jest "La finta semplice". Ta opera, skomponowana w czasach, gdy Mozart miał zaledwie dwanaście lat, stanowi niezwykle ważny krok w jego wczesnej karierze i ukazuje złożoność jego uzdolnień kompozytorskich.    Warto przyjrzeć się genezie powstania "La finta semplice", ponieważ odzwierciedla ona nie tylko młodzieńczy zapał Mozarta, ale także realia epoki, w której żył. Kiedy Mozart był dzieckiem, jego rodzina podróżowała po Europie, dając koncerty i odwiedzając różne dwory. Te doświadczenia miały ogromny wpływ na rozwój jego stylu. Po przyjęciu zamówienia na operę od wiedeńskiego teatru dworskiego w 1768 roku, młody kompozytor miał szansę na stworzenie dzieła, które mogłoby dotrzeć do szerokiego grona odbiorców. Niestety, polityczne intrygi oraz zazdrość rywalizujących kompozytorów w tamtym czasie spowodowały, że premiera opery została odwołana. To z pewnością musiało być dla niego niełatwe do zniesienia, ale młody geniusz nie poddał się; "La finta semplice" miała swoją premierę ostatecznie w 1769 roku w Salzburgu, co można traktować jako jego debiut operowy. Udana Naiwność - cała opera Opera Wolfganga Amadeusza Mozarta - kv 51 Tematyka opery wprowadza nas w świat, gdzie miłość i oszustwo splatają się w zabawnym, a jednocześnie refleksyjnym dialogu. Akcja rozgrywa się w małej toskańskiej wiosce, w której sprytna służąca Ninetta manipuluje losami dwóch par kochanków, tworząc sytuacje pełne komicznych nieporozumień. Ta motywacja pokazuje, jak bardzo ludzkie uczucia mogą być skomplikowane, a jednocześnie wprowadza w atmosferę błahości i zabawy. Mozart umiejętnie łączy elementy farsy z głębszymi refleksjami na temat natury miłości oraz relacji międzyludzkich. Kiedy słuchamy muzyki, czujemy euforię, smutek, a nawet bezradność postaci, co czyni tę operę nie tylko zabawną, ale także poruszającą.     W musicalowych strukturach "La finta semplice", Mozart zademonstrował już w młodym wieku swoje niezwykłe umiejętności kompozytorskie i talent do kreowania emocjonujących numerów. W operze pojawiają się liryczne arie, w których postacie wyrażają swoje uczucia oraz zawirowania dramatyczne, a także złożone fragmenty zespołowe, które tworzą bogaty i wielowarstwowy dźwięk. To właśnie te sekcje pokazują, jak dobrze Mozart radził sobie nie tylko z melodią, ale także z harmonią i rytmem, co jest niezbędne w operowej formie.   Pomimo że opera Wolfganga Amadeusza Mozarta "La finta semplice" KV 51 nie zdobyła początkowego uznania, z biegiem lat opera zyskała na popularności, co potwierdzają różne wznowienia i adaptacje. Owocowało to nie tylko zwiększeniem jej obecności w repertuarach teatrów operowych, ale także inspiracją dla kolejnych pokoleń kompozytorów oraz artystów. Z czasem słuchacze zaczęli dostrzegać nie tylko wartość muzyczną dzieła, ale także jego długofalowe znaczenie w kontekście rozwoju opery jako formy sztuki. Krytycy chwalili operę za jej intrygujące harmonie oraz umiejętność operowania pejoratywnymi elementami w sposób lekki i przystępny. Kiedy analizujemy konkretne fragmenty muzyczne, widzimy, jak Mozart posługiwał się różnych technikami kompozytorskimi, grając ze swoimi słuchaczami na emocjach. Jego zdolność do tworzenia melodii, które pozostają w pamięci, a jednocześnie do połączenia ich w skomplikowane struktury, stawia go w czołówce kompozytorów swojej epoki.   Opera "La finta semplice" KV 51 tworzy wyjątkową okazję do analizy rozwoju artystycznego Mozarta. Muzyczne idee, które pojawiają się w tym dziele, zapowiadają późniejsze triumfy kompozytora. Widzimy jak z jednej strony młodzieńcza erudycja i brawura, a z drugiej dojrzałe pojmowanie struktury muzycznej i dramatycznej, łączy się w genialny sposób, tworząc unikalny styl, który stał się jego znakiem rozpoznawczym.    Nie tylko sama muzyka, ale również libretto opery zasługuje na uwagę. Współpraca Mozarta z tekstami Davida Poppera skutkowała powstaniem zaskakujących dialogów i zabawnych sytuacji, które bawią publiczność od pokoleń. Jego umiejętność ukazywania emocji i interakcji w niezwykle trafny sposób sprawia, że widzowie mogą się zidentyfikować z bohaterami, co wzmaga ich zaangażowanie w fabułę.   La finta semplice pozostaje do dzisiaj interesującym tematem dla badaczy i muzyków, którzy starają się zrozumieć, jak dziecięcy talent Mozarta przekształcił się w opanowane muzyczne kunszt w jego dojrzałej twórczości. Z jednej strony można dostrzegać pewne niedociągnięcia wynikające z młodej formacji artysty, ale z drugiej, jego geniusz wyraźnie przebija się w spójności i emocjonalnej głębi całej opery.   Podczas gdy współczesny świat nadal czerpie z bogatego dorobku Mozarta, "La finta semplice" KV 51 pozostaje dziełem, które można interpretować na wiele sposobów. Publiczność nieprzerwanie odnajduje w niej nową energię i świeżość, co pokazuje, że jego talent był naprawdę ponadczasowy. Każde przedstawienie tej opery wprowadza nowe pokolenia widzów w świat wyrafinowanej muzyki, który mimo upływu lat, nie traci na atrakcyjności.    W konsekwencji "La finta semplice" jest nie tylko świadectwem talentu młodego Mozarta, ale także kluczem do zrozumienia jego późniejszej twórczości. Ta wczesna opera stanowi pomost między wczesnym, a dojrzałym okresem jego kariery, ujawniając, w jaki sposób wrodzony talent i ciężka praca doprowadziły do stworzenia nieśmiertelnych dzieł, które wciąż poruszają serca i umysły ludzi na całym świecie. Dziś, mając w pamięci krąg jego twórczości, "La finta semplice" pozostaje niezwykłym przykładem bogactwa muzycznego dziedzictwa Mozarta, będąc jednocześnie świadectwem jego geniuszu w pełnej okazałości.

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Być jak Zawisza, Zadania wykonywać bez zbędnej zwłoki, Szanować czas, używać głowy i serca...Przez ostatnie 8 lat (prawie 8 lat), byłem razem z demokratami by przyczyniać się do normalności w naszym kraju). Dziś kiedy Polska staje się znów częścią europejskiej rodziny państw demokratycznych, mogę powrócić do tego co kocham najbardziej czyli swoich muzycznych Pasji. By wreszcie móc pogłębiać swoją wiedzę o muzyce i dzielić się nią... >> INNE STRONY Read the full article

[opera-ghosts]

With this antique postcard from 1909 I wish you a good Sunday. This was from a serie of cards that remember to Opera witch are premiered in Milano. Here we have Gaetano Donizetti with his great success “L’elisir d’amore” first performance was May 12. 1832 at the Teatro alla Canobbiana Milano.

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Festival dell'Opera Buffa Napoletana

Festival dell’Opera Buffa Napoletana

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Portrait de Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, by Jean-Marc Nattier

Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the American Revolutionary War  and had also supplied arms to American revolutionaries.

One of his recruits was Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (9 August 1754 – 14 June 1825), an architect and engineer who designed the Washington National Mall. L’Enfant was dismissed and replaced by Andrew Ellicott (24 January 1754 – 28 August 1820) who criticized L’Enfant Plan and Pierre-Charles L’Enfant. In 1902, the McMillan Commission did away with Andrew Ellicott’s revisions. The Washington Mall was redesigned using L’Enfant Plan.

The Figaro Trilogy

The Barber of Seville (1773; 1775)

The Marriage of Figaro (written in 1778, performed in 1784, published in 1785)

The Guilty Mother (1791; 1966[opera])

The Marriage of Figaro as the centrepiece of Beaumarchais’ “Figaro trilogy” 

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (K 492) (1786)

    Le Mariage de Figaro, 1784

Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart, 1786

The Marriage of Figaro (1784)

At an early point in his life, Beaumarchais did recruit men willing to join the Americans in their struggle for independence, but he is known mainly as the author of the Figaro trilogy, which consists of three plays: The Barber of Seville (1775), The Marriage of Figaro  (1784), and The Guilty Mother (1791).

A problematical comedy

the second instalment in the Figaro trilogy

Accepted for production in 1778 (Comédie-Française)

Vilification of French aristocracy: condemned by Louis XVI

Revised: change of location

Performed in France in 1784

Published in France in 1785

  The Marriage of Figaro is the second instalment in Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy, but constitutes the centrepiece of Beaumarchais’ trilogy. It was written in 1778 and accepted for production by the Comédie-Française in 1781. However, as first written, it vilified French aristocracy and so shocked Louis XVI that he banned the production of the play.

The play was problematical because Count Almaviva, who marries Rosina in The Barber of Seville, or the Futile Precaution (1778), wants to consummate Figaro’s marriage to Susanna, Figaro’s bride. Beaumarchais revised the play and moved the action to Spain. Ironically, Count Almaviva wanted to avail himself of a right he had abolished: “the feudal droit du seigneur, the right of the lord of the manor to sleep with his servant’s bride on her wedding night.”[I]  

The Marriage of Figaro is a comedy inspired by the commedia dell’arte. Given the conventions of comedy, the Count’s plans will therefore be foiled. The innmorati will be helped not only by clever zanni and other servants, but also by Rosina, Almaviva’s wife, whose marriage to the Count, a philanderer, did not end altogether “well.” The play also features a redeeming discovery. The Count wants Figaro to marry Marcellina, Bartolo’s housekeeper, but it turns out that Figaro is the love child of Marcellina and Bartolo. One does not marry one’s mother. Bartolo therefore proposes marriage to Marcellina. There will be two weddings, which is not uncommon in comedy.

Zanni

The Marriage of Figaro’s Cherubino,[II] a character reminiscent of Cupid, the mythological god of desire, could be called a zanni. He is forever in love and gets into trouble. However, he also provides comic relief as do zanni in the commedia dell’arte. Zanni are stand-up comics. In Passion Plays, comic interludes were inserted between the acts. The same stratagem can also be used inside comedy. Some “comic” is always at the ready not only to “fill in,” but also to support zanni (servants, one of whom is clever, but the second, clumsy).

As part of the props, we have incriminating letters and, in the case of the Barber of Seville, the Count, disguised as Lindoro, a name borrowed from the commedia dell’arte, we have musicians serenading Rosina. Guitars are inextricably linked with the commedia dell’arte. They are a prop that Watteau and Picasso, Picasso especially, depicted abundantly.

Moreover, to fool the Count, the Countess dresses as Susanna, Figaro’s bride-to-be, while Susanna dresses as the Countess. Therefore, when the Count court Susanna, he is in fact courting his wife. He reveas his plans to seduce Susanna, but find Rosina attractive. It is quite normal in comedies for the Alazṓn , the Count to undo himself, except that comedy is kind. Cross-dressing is also a frequent device in the comic text and it is rooted in the topsy-turvy world of the Roman Saturnalia, not to mention the last days of l’ancien régime. 

Beaumarchais and the Revolution  

After Beaumarchais relocated The Marriage of Figaro, “[t]he feudal droit du seigneur” became a distant right and wrong. Louis XVI lifted the ban on the production of The Marriage of Figaro and the play was performed by the Comédiens français ordinaires du Roi, on Tuesday, 27 April 1784, and the text was published in 1785. Yet the play remained problematical. Although The Marriage of Figaro is a Shakespearean “all’s well that ends well,” the conventional ending, or dénouement, of comedies, in the Marriage of Figaro, this ending seems a little theatrical.

First, the Barber of Seville‘s Rosina has married a philanderer. Second, Georges Danton  commented that Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro had “killed off the nobility.” (See The Marriage of Figaro, play, Wikipedia). Jesus of Nazareth might have said “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 1:5-7) Georges Danton voted in favour of the execution of Louis XVI. (See Georges Danton, Wikipedia.)

Mozart’s Le nozze de Figaro (1786)

Beaumarchais or Pierre de Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro was made famous by Mozart‘s (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) Nozze di Figaro, a four-act opera buffa, or comic opera composed in 1785 on a libretto (the text) by Lorenzo da Ponte (10 March 1749 – 17 August 1838). Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) premiered in Vienna at the Burgtheater, on 1 May 1786. It has remained a favourite opera often associated with Mozart only, not Pierre de Beaumarchais.

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Barber of Seville (1775)

The Barber of Seville; or, the Useless Precaution[III] was performed and published in 1775 as Le Barbier de Séville; ou, la précaution inutile. It is the first play in Beaumarchais Figaro’ trilogy. The play was written in 1773, but it was not performed until 23 February 1775, when it premiered at the Comédie-Française in the Tuileries. Although I have prepared a point by point description of the plot of The Barber of Seville, I am quoting Britannica’s summary. Simply add the name Lindoro, a guitar, and a few suspicious letters. The Count first dresses as a poor student named Lindoro.

“Rosine (known as Rosina in the opera), the ward of Dr. Bartholo, is kept locked in her room by Bartholo because he plans to marry her, though she despises him. Young Count Almaviva loves her from afar and uses various disguises, including one as Alonzo, a substitute music teacher, in his attempts to win her. Bartholo’s roguish barber Figaro is part of the plot against him. Indeed, it is Figaro who steals the key to Rosine’s room for Almaviva. Unfortunately, Almaviva is in his disguise as Alonzo when he meets Rosine. Though in love with “Alonzo,” Rosine is convinced by the suspicious Bartholo that Alonzo intends to steal her away and sell her to a wicked count. Disappointed, she agrees to wed Bartholo that very night. All of Figaro’s ingenuity is required to substitute Count Almaviva for Bartholo at the wedding ceremony.”[IV]

  Portrait of Gioachino Rossini in 1820, International Museum and Library of Music, Bologna (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816)

In 1816, Le Barbier de Séville; ou, la précaution inutile (four acts)[V] was made into a two-act opera by Giaochino Rossini on a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The Barber of Seville, or the Futile Precaution or Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L’inutile precauzione premiered on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, in Rome.

Beaumarchais’ Guilty Mother (1792)

The Guilty Mother, subtitled The other Tartuffe (La Mère coupable ou l’autre Tartuffe), a play in five acts, is the final part of the Figaro trilogy. Tartuffe is a play by Molière. The character Tartuffe feigns devotion. The Guilty Mother was completed in 1791, but not performed until 1792 at the Théâtre du Marais. The French Revolution had gained impetus, which made it necessary for Beaumarchais to take away his title from Count Almaviva. The Guilty Mother   will be discussed in a later post.

Marius Milhaud‘s The Guilty mother or La Mère coupable (1966)

The Guilty Mother or The other Tartuffe was set to music: an opera in three acts (Op. 412), by Marius Milhaud, to a libretto by Madeleine Milhaud. It is the final instalment in Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy and was first performed at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, on 13 June 1966. (See La Mère coupable [The Guilty mother], Wikipedia.)

Jean-Antoine Watteau‘s Italian comedy.

  Mezzetin, Jean-Antoine Watteau

The Italian Comedy, Watteau

La Surprise, Watteau

The Love Song, Watteau

The Rebirth of Brighella and the Birth of Figaro

Figaro is heir to the commedia dell’arte‘s Brighella, a zanni. He joins Pedrolino-Pierrot, Harlequin, Scapino, and other zanni. In fact, Figaro himself joins the rank of the zanni. As portrayed above, he looks like Harlequin, but he may disguised as Harlequin. Figaro is an iconic figure in France. To be precise, Figaro is an institution: a newspaper, founded in 1826 and published in Paris. Le Figaro is the second-largest paper in France. It takes its motto from Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy:

“Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n’est point d’éloge flatteur.”

(“Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise.”)

  Brighella, Maurice Sand

Scapino, Maurice Sand

RELATED ARTICLES

Beaumarchais’ Trilogy: The Guilty Mother (18 July 2014)

Picasso in Paris (9 July 2014)

Picasso’s Harlequin (3 July 2014)

Arlecchino, Arlequin, Harlequin (30 June 2014)

Leo Rauth’s “fin de siècle” Harlequin (27 June 2014)

Pantalone: la Commedia dell’arte (20 June 2014)

Designing Washington, DC (cont’d) (25 May 2014)

Designing Washington, DC: Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (23 May 2014)

Notes

The Commedia dell’arte

Bartolo is a dottore

Lindoro is one of the names innamorati used in the commedia dell’arte

Figaro is a Brighella (a zanni in the commedia dell’arte, who helps the innamorati overcome obstacles to their marriage)

The guitar is an essential prop

Letters are used all the time: false, anonymous, incriminating…

  Sources and Resources

  The Marriage of Figaro is an Online Library of Liberty, full text EN

Le Mariage de Figaro is a Gutenberg Project [EBook #20577] FR

Male innamorati are called: Arsenio, Aurielo, Cinthio, Fabrizio, Flavio, Fedelindo, Florindo, Leandro, Lelio, Lindoro, Mario, Ortensio, Ottavio, Sireno, often the son of Pantalone, Silvio, Tristano

Female innamorati are called: Angelica, Aurelia, Beatrice, Bianchetta, Celia, Clarice, Clori, Cinzio, Emilia, Eularia, Flaminia, Florinda, Filesia, Filli, often the daughter of Pantalone, Isabella, Lavinia, Lidia, Orazio, Ortensia, Silvia, Turchetta, Vittoria 

Brighella

Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (comédie italienne), 1860

Flûte de Brighella, Enrico Brunelleschi (Photo credit: Christie’s) (This image cannot be enlarged.)

____________________

[I] Watteau depicted Mezzetino, a zanni, playing the guitar. The guitar is also a major motif in Picasso’s art.

[II] See Commedia dell’arte, Wikipedia, under Subjects.

  [III] “The Barber of Seville.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52863/The-Barber-of-Seville>.

The Count also calls himself Lindoro.

  [IV] Op. cit.

  [V] Op. cit.

  Love to everyone 💕

This post was published several years ago, but it is related to our current posts.

  Gioachino Rossini : The Barber Of Seville – Overture 

    Figaro

  © Micheline Walker

13 July 2014

WordPress

     )

  The “Figaro Trilogy” revisited Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the…

[pleasuresoftheduke]

Don Pasquale | Gaetano Donizetti 

[upennmanuscripts]

Ms. Codex 437 - [Opera buffa]

Do you want to read an anonymous 18th-century play in verse in five acts? Well, if you can read Italian, you might find a strange play without name, title, or attribution. As you can see from the first page, among the characters there are soldiers, virgins, and members of a family.

If you are curious about it, see here the facsimile (or check additional information here). 

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FABRIANO / ROSSINI AL "GENTILE": DOMENICA A TEATRO "IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA"

FABRIANO / ROSSINI AL “GENTILE”: DOMENICA A TEATRO “IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA”

FABRIANO, 8 novembre 2018 – Domenica 11 novembre al Teatro Gentile di Fabriano va in scena “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, opera buffa in due atti di Gioachino Rossini con l’Orchestra Raffaello diretta da Stefano Bartolucci, regia di Roberto Ripesi, proposta come fuori abbonamento nella stagione promossa dal Comune di Fabriano con l’AMAT.

“Il barbiere di Siviglia”su libretto di Cesare Sterbini è…

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Gioacchino Rossini - Overture: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Recorded 1974)                                     (The Barber of Seville) Conductor: Sir Neville Marriner Orchestra: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields from: "Rossini: Complete Overtures" (1974 - 1980 Compilation)

Premiered on February 20, 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome

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Even more frantic gestures for an opera buffa

Timbrels tamped like a panting bride— whose chemical ecstasy composed in the olfactory kiss to nostril flares with devotion like the florid opening of a vase to its bouquet.

Admitting it’s my fault I enjoy lay-up drills and disco bowling in the parlor, of course Granny’s crystal gets steadily smashed— shards generously and repeatedly ground into the pastoral rug.

There is no excuse worth mentioning. We can’t help but Pandora like Victorian armoires our bullish body containers, tend our structural altars wildfired with old flames that insist on the game.

If you’ve asked for a penny I won’t farthing to explain I imagined what our stubborn chin grins would debate of Thrasymachus. I just want you to keepsake this empty amphora when you can.

And wherever its origins—the reckless maenads drunk on the parabolic curve of Keatsian desire, or the week I pedal-metaled from Baltimore to San Francisco in vintage hellcat form, unsmudged ruby lipstick mouth spitting out bullets through the broken crank window, effulgent dread with clumped nausea-rot ignited to smite the incandescent shame pressurizing the bones and the body-guts to coal; and, somewhere in the backseat, the dim-witted sway of failures kumbaya’d with the dull hunger of regret, their coltish manes streaming and tangling into their mouths like laughter.

I think I’ve had it in my right hand since then; it’s quite heavy, and I have never dropped it once.

Do you lap your tongue to philtrum in considering the responsibilities of the city-state? Justice would be recognition of its own incapacity. Air particles taste the vessel’s curve, light pulses back extraneous colors and leaves the red clay, sebaceous oils coat and smear into the absorbent surface.

Maybe this ovum is a citadel— I was asking you again if gravity really did hurt you that much. I wasn’t searching for anything in particular, I may have trodden on my own feet.

[opera-ghosts]

Exactly 112 years ago the Opera “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss premiered.

In America, this work was first at the The Metropolitan Opera in December 1913. Here is an original evening slip of the fifth performance with the Cast of this US premiere series.

The MET pictures show this production.

[pleasuresoftheduke]

The Marriage of Figaro | Glyndebourne Festival Opera (1973)

[lmmusicandthevoice]

Carmen en la cultura popular / Carmen in pop culture

Carmen es una de las óperas más populares de todos los tiempos. Aún si no eres seguidor de este género es seguro que hayas escuchado algunas de sus melodías. Desde la famosa Habanera hasta El Toreador, éstas han sido mostradas en diferentes versiones incluyendo anuncios comerciales, series y películas. En el fin de semana podrán ver algunos de estos ejemplos. Su trama, poco común en este género, hicieron de esta ópera una muy controversial en su época. El exotismo, su protagonista femme fatale y la violencia con que termina la obra hacen que sea muy particular y que todavía hoy resuene con la audiencia y continúe siendo muy popular. Abajo hay varios enlaces con más información y ejemplos. ¡Disfrútenlos!

Carmen is one of the most popular operas of all time. Even if you don’t particularly follow opera, chances are you have heard some of its melodies. From the famous Habanera to El Toreador, these have been features in different versions including commercials, series and movies. This weekend I will show some examples of that. Its story, which is not common in this genre, made this opera a very controversial one in its time. The featured exoticism, the femme fatale protagonist and the violence with which it ends, make it a very particular work and one that is still popular because it still resonates with the audience. Below there is more information and examples. Enjoy!

Referencias y otros enlaces / References and other links:

http://www.seattleoperablog.com/2011/10/carmen-in-pop-culture.html

http://www.npr.org/2010/03/19/124785673/bizets-pop-culture-carmen

http://www.noladefender.com/content/carmen-how-you-already-know-opera

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/NYCO/carmen/exoticism.html

[mebwalkerlove]

  Portrait de Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, by Jean-Marc Nattier

Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the American Revolutionary War and had also supplied arms to American revolutionaries.

One of his recruits was Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (9 August 1754 – 14 June 1825), an architect and engineer who designed the Washington National Mall. L’Enfant was dismissed and replaced by Andrew Ellicott (24 January 1754 – 28 August 1820) who criticized L’Enfant Plan and Pierre-Charles L’Enfant. In 1902, the McMillan Commission did away with Andrew Ellicott’s revisions. The Washington Mall was redesigned using L’Enfant Plan.

The Figaro Trilogy

The Barber of Seville (1773; 1775)

The Marriage of Figaro (written in 1778, performed in 1784, published in 1785)

The Guilty Mother (1791; 1966[opera])

The Marriage of Figaro as the centrepiece of Beaumarchais’ “Figaro trilogy” 

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (K 492) (1786)

    Le Mariage de Figaro, 1784

Le nozze de Figaro, Mozart 1786

The Marriage of Figaro (1784)

At an early point in his life, Beaumarchais did recruit men willing to join the Americans in their struggle for independence, but he is known mainly as the author of Figaro trilogy, which consists of three plays: The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro (1785), and The Guilty Mother (1791).

A problematical comedy

the second instalment in the Figaro trilogy

Accepted for production in 1778 (Comédie-Française)

Vilification of French aristocracy: condemned by Louis XVI

Revised: change of location

Performed in France in 1784

Published in France in 1785

  The Marriage of Figaro is the second instalment of Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy, but constitutes the centrepiece of Beaumarchais’ trilogy. It was written in 1778 and accepted for production by the Comédie-Française in 1781. However, as first written, it vilified French aristocracy and so shocked Louis XVI that Louis banned the production of the play. The play was problematical because Count Almaviva, who marries Rosina in The Barber of Seville, or the Futile Precaution (1778), wants to consummate Figaro’s marriage to Susanna, Figaro’s bride. Beaumarchais revised the play and moved the action to Spain. Ironically, Count Almaviva wanted to avail himself of a right he had abolished: “the feudal droit du seigneur, the right of the lord of the manor to sleep with his servant’s bride on her wedding night.”[I]  

The Marriage of Figaro is a comedy inspired by the commedia dell’arte. Given the conventions of comedy, the Count’s plants will therefore be foiled. The innmorati will be helped not only by clever zanni and other servants, but also by Rosina, Almaviva’s wife, whose marriage to the Count, a philanderer, did not “end well.” The play also features a redeeming discovery. The Count wants Figaro to marry Marcellina, Bartolo’s housekeeper, but it turns out that Figaro is the love child of Marcellina and Bartolo. One does not marry one’s mother. Bartolo therefore proposes marriage to Marcellina. There will be two weddings, which is not uncommon in comedy.

Lazzi

Cherubino, a character reminiscent of Cupid, the mythological god of desire, could be called a lazzi. He is forever in love and gets into trouble. However, he also provides comic relief as do lazzi in the commedia dell’arte. Lazzi are stand-up comics. In Passion Plays, comic interludes were inserted between the acts. The same stratagem can also be used inside comedy. Some “comic” is always at the ready not only to fill in but also to support zanni (servants, one of whom is clever, but the second, clumsy).

As part of the props, we have incriminating letters and, in the case of the Barber of Seville, the Count, disguised as Lindoro, a name borrowed from the commedia dell’arte, hires musicians to serenade Rosina. Guitars are inextricably linked with the commedia dell’arte. They are a prop that Watteau and Picasso, especially, depicted abundantly.

Moreover, to fool the Count, the Countess dresses as Susanna, Figaro’s bride-to-be, while Susanna dresses as the Countess. Therefore, when the Count courts Susanna, he in fact courts his wife and reveals his plans to seduce Susanna. It is quite normal in comedies for the alazôn, the Count, to undo himself. Cross-dressing is a frequent device in comedies. It is rooted in the topsy-turvy world of the Roman Saturnalia, not to mention the last days of l’ancien régime.  

Louis XVI & The Marriage of Figaro   

Beaumarchais’ five-act play was written in 1778 and accepted for production by the Comédie-Française in 1781. However, as first written, it vilified French aristocracy and so shocked Louis XVI that Louis banned the production of the play. Beaumarchais had to revise the offensive text and moved the action to Spain. “[T]he feudal droit du seigneur” thereby became a distant right. Louis XVI lifted the ban on the production of The Marriage of Figaro and the play was performed by the Comédiens français ordinaires du Roi, on Tuesday, 27 April 1784 and the text was published in 1785.

Although The Marriage of Figaro is a Shakespearean “all’s well that ends well,” the conventional ending or dénouement of all comedies, all is not well. First, the Barber of Seville‘s Rosina has married a philanderer. Second, Georges Danton commented that Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro had “killed off the nobility.” (See The Marriage of Figaro, play, Wikipedia). Jesus of Nazareth might have said “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 1:5-7)  Georges Danton voted in favour of the death of Louis XVI. (See Georges Danton, Wikipedia.)

Mozart’s Le nozze de Figaro (1786)

Beaumarchais or Pierre de Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro was made famous by Mozart‘s (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) Nozze di Figaro, a four-act opera buffa, or comic opera, composed in 1785 on a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (10 March 1749 – 17 August 1838). Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) premiered in Vienna at the Burgtheater, on 1 May 1786. It has remained a favourite opera often associated with Mozart only, not Pierre de Beaumarchais.

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Barber of Seville (1775)

The Barber of Seville; or, the Useless Precaution was performed and published in 1775 as Le Barbier de Séville; ou, la précaution inutile. It is the first of Beaumarchais Figaro’ trilogy. The play was written in 1773, but it was not performed until 23 February 1775, when it premiered at the Comédie-Française in the Tuileries. Although I have prepared a point by point description of the plot of The Barber of Seville, I am quoting Britannica’s summary. Simply add the name Lindoro, a guitar, and a few suspicious letters. The Count first dresses as a poor student named Lindoro.

“Rosine (known as Rosina in the opera), the ward of Dr. Bartholo, is kept locked in her room by Bartholo because he plans to marry her, though she despises him. Young Count Almaviva loves her from afar and uses various disguises, including one as Alonzo, a substitute music teacher, in his attempts to win her. Bartholo’s roguish barber Figaro is part of the plot against him. Indeed, it is Figaro who steals the key to Rosine’s room for Almaviva. Unfortunately, Almaviva is in his disguise as Alonzo when he meets Rosine. Though in love with “Alonzo,” Rosine is convinced by the suspicious Bartholo that Alonzo intends to steal her away and sell her to a wicked count. Disappointed, she agrees to wed Bartholo that very night. All of Figaro’s ingenuity is required to substitute Count Almaviva for Bartholo at the wedding ceremony.”[II]

    Portrait of Gioachino Rossini in 1820, International Museum and Library of Music, Bologna (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia(1816)

In 1816, Le Barbier de Séville; ou, la précaution inutile (four acts) was made into a two-act opera by Giaochino Rossini on a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The Barber of Seville, or the Futile Precaution or Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L’inutile precauzione premiered on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, in Rome.

Beaumarchais’ Guilty Mother (1792)

The Guilty Mother, subtitled The other Tartuffe (La Mère coupable ou l’autre Tartuffe), a play in five acts, is the final part of the Figaro trilogy. Tartuffe is a play by Molière. Tartuffe feigns devotion. The Guilty Mother was completed in 1791, but not performed until 1792 at the Théâtre du Marais. It was performed during the French Revolution which made it necessary for Beaumarchais to take away his title from Count Almaviva.

Marius Milhaud‘s The Guilty mother or La Mère coupable (1966)

The Guilty Mother or The other Tartuffe was set to music, is an opera in three acts (Op. 412), by Marius Milhaud, to a libretto by Madeleine Milhaud. It is the final instalment of Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy and was first performed that the Grand Théâtre de Genève, on 13 June 1966. (See La Mère coupable [The Guilty mother], Wikipedia.)

Jean-Antoine Watteau’s Italian comedy.

Mezzetin, Jean-Antoine Watteau

The Italian Comedy, Watteau

La Surprise, Watteau

The Love Song, Watteau

The Rebirth of Brighella and the Birth of Figaro

Figaro is heir to the commedia dell’arte‘s Brighella, a zanni. He joins Pedrolino-Pierrot, Harlequin, Scapino, and other zanni. In fact, Figaro himself joins the rank of the zanni. As portrayed above, he looks like Harlequin, but he may disguised as Harlequin. Figaro is an iconic figure in France where it is an institution: a newspaper, founded in 1826 and pubished in Paris. Le Figaro is the second-largest paper in France. It takes its motto from Beaumarchais Figaro trilogy.

“Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n’est point d’éloge flatteur” (“Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise”)

Brighella, Maurice Sand

Scapino, Maurice Sand

RELATED ARTICLES

Picasso in Paris

Picasso’s Harlequin

Arlecchino, Arlequin, Harlequin

Leo Rauth “fin de siècle” Harlequin

Pantalone: la Commedia dell’arte

Notes

The Commedia dell’arte

Bartolo is a Dottore

Lindoro is one of the names innamorati used in the commedia dell’arte

Figaro is a Brighella (a zanni in the commedia dell’arte, who helps the innamorati overcome obstacles to their marriage)

The guitar is an essential prop

Letters are used all the time: false, anonymous, incriminating…

  Sources and Resources

  The Marriage of Figaro is an Online Library of Liberty, full text EN

Le Mariage de Figaro is a Gutenberg Project [EBook #20577] FR

Male innamorati are called: Arsenio, Aurielo, Cinthio, Fabrizio, Flavio, Fedelindo, Florindo, Leandro, Lelio, Lindoro, Mario, Ortensio, Ottavio, Sireno, often the son of Pantalone, Silvio, Tristano

Female innamorati are called: Angelica, Aurelia, Beatrice, Bianchetta, Celia, Clarice, Clori, Cinzio, Emilia, Eularia, Flaminia, Florinda, Filesia, Filli often the daughter of Pantalone, Isabella, Lavinia, Lidia, Orazio, Ortensia, Silvia, Turchetta, Vittoria 

Brighella: http://web.archive.org/web/20091027100540/http://geocities.com/commedia_dellarte/Characters/brighella/brighella.html

Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (comédie italienne), 1860

Flûte de Brighella, Enrico Brunelleschi (Photo credit: Christie’s) (This image cannot be enlarged.)

____________________

[I] Watteau depicted Mezzetino, a zanni, playing the guitar. The guitar is a major motif in Picasso’s art.

[II] “The Marriage of Figaro.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecquked/topic 366268/The-Marriage-of-Figaro>

  [III] “The Barber of Seville.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52863/The-Barber-of-Seville>.

The Count also calls himself Lindoro.

  [IV] “Comici Confidènti.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<ww.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127606/>.

  Gioachino Rossini : The Barber Of Seville – Overture 

    My kindest regards to all of you. 

  © Micheline Walker

July 13, 2014

WordPress

      Figaro (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  The Figaro Trilogy

Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the…

The Figaro Trilogy Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the…

[mebwalker]

  Portrait de Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, by Jean-Marc Nattier

Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the American Revolutionary War and had also supplied arms to American revolutionaries.

One of his recruits was Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (9 August 1754 – 14 June 1825), an architect and engineer who designed the Washington National Mall. L’Enfant was dismissed and replaced by Andrew Ellicott (24 January 1754 – 28 August 1820) who criticized L’Enfant Plan and Pierre-Charles L’Enfant. In 1902, the McMillan Commission did away with Andrew Ellicott’s revisions. The Washington Mall was redesigned using L’Enfant Plan.

The Figaro Trilogy

The Barber of Seville (1773; 1775)

The Marriage of Figaro (written in 1778, performed in 1784, published in 1785)

The Guilty Mother (1791; 1966[opera])

The Marriage of Figaro as the centrepiece of Beaumarchais’ “Figaro trilogy” 

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (K 492) (1786)

    Le Mariage de Figaro, 1784

Le nozze de Figaro, Mozart 1786

The Marriage of Figaro (1784)

At an early point in his life, Beaumarchais did recruit men willing to join the Americans in their struggle for independence, but he is known mainly as the author of Figaro trilogy, which consists of three plays: The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro (1785), and The Guilty Mother (1791).

A problematical comedy

the second instalment in the Figaro trilogy

Accepted for production in 1778 (Comédie-Française)

Vilification of French aristocracy: condemned by Louis XVI

Revised: change of location

Performed in France in 1784

Published in France in 1785

  The Marriage of Figaro is the second instalment of Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy, but constitutes the centrepiece of Beaumarchais’ trilogy. It was written in 1778 and accepted for production by the Comédie-Française in 1781. However, as first written, it vilified French aristocracy and so shocked Louis XVI that Louis banned the production of the play. The play was problematical because Count Almaviva, who marries Rosina in The Barber of Seville, or the Futile Precaution (1778), wants to consummate Figaro’s marriage to Susanna, Figaro’s bride. Beaumarchais revised the play and moved the action to Spain. Ironically, Count Almaviva wanted to avail himself of a right he had abolished: “the feudal droit du seigneur, the right of the lord of the manor to sleep with his servant’s bride on her wedding night.”[I]  

The Marriage of Figaro is a comedy inspired by the commedia dell’arte. Given the conventions of comedy, the Count’s plants will therefore be foiled. The innmorati will be helped not only by clever zanni and other servants, but also by Rosina, Almaviva’s wife, whose marriage to the Count, a philanderer, did not “end well.” The play also features a redeeming discovery. The Count wants Figaro to marry Marcellina, Bartolo’s housekeeper, but it turns out that Figaro is the love child of Marcellina and Bartolo. One does not marry one’s mother. Bartolo therefore proposes marriage to Marcellina. There will be two weddings, which is not uncommon in comedy.

Lazzi

Cherubino, a character reminiscent of Cupid, the mythological god of desire, could be called a lazzi. He is forever in love and gets into trouble. However, he also provides comic relief as do lazzi in the commedia dell’arte. Lazzi are stand-up comics. In Passion Plays, comic interludes were inserted between the acts. The same stratagem can also be used inside comedy. Some “comic” is always at the ready not only to fill in but also to support zanni (servants, one of whom is clever, but the second, clumsy).

As part of the props, we have incriminating letters and, in the case of the Barber of Seville, the Count, disguised as Lindoro, a name borrowed from the commedia dell’arte, hires musicians to serenade Rosina. Guitars are inextricably linked with the commedia dell’arte. They are a prop that Watteau and Picasso, especially, depicted abundantly.

Moreover, to fool the Count, the Countess dresses as Susanna, Figaro’s bride-to-be, while Susanna dresses as the Countess. Therefore, when the Count courts Susanna, he in fact courts his wife and reveals his plans to seduce Susanna. It is quite normal in comedies for the alazôn, the Count, to undo himself. Cross-dressing is a frequent device in comedies. It is rooted in the topsy-turvy world of the Roman Saturnalia, not to mention the last days of l’ancien régime.  

Louis XVI & The Marriage of Figaro   

Beaumarchais’ five-act play was written in 1778 and accepted for production by the Comédie-Française in 1781. However, as first written, it vilified French aristocracy and so shocked Louis XVI that Louis banned the production of the play. Beaumarchais had to revise the offensive text and moved the action to Spain. “[T]he feudal droit du seigneur” thereby became a distant right. Louis XVI lifted the ban on the production of The Marriage of Figaro and the play was performed by the Comédiens français ordinaires du Roi, on Tuesday, 27 April 1784 and the text was published in 1785.

Although The Marriage of Figaro is a Shakespearean “all’s well that ends well,” the conventional ending or dénouement of all comedies, all is not well. First, the Barber of Seville‘s Rosina has married a philanderer. Second, Georges Danton commented that Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro had “killed off the nobility.” (See The Marriage of Figaro, play, Wikipedia). Jesus of Nazareth might have said “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 1:5-7)  Georges Danton voted in favour of the death of Louis XVI. (See Georges Danton, Wikipedia.)

Mozart’s Le nozze de Figaro (1786)

Beaumarchais or Pierre de Beaumarchais’ Marriage of Figaro was made famous by Mozart‘s (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) Nozze di Figaro, a four-act opera buffa, or comic opera, composed in 1785 on a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (10 March 1749 – 17 August 1838). Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) premiered in Vienna at the Burgtheater, on 1 May 1786. It has remained a favourite opera often associated with Mozart only, not Pierre de Beaumarchais.

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Barber of Seville (1775)

The Barber of Seville; or, the Useless Precaution was performed and published in 1775 as Le Barbier de Séville; ou, la précaution inutile. It is the first of Beaumarchais Figaro’ trilogy. The play was written in 1773, but it was not performed until 23 February 1775, when it premiered at the Comédie-Française in the Tuileries. Although I have prepared a point by point description of the plot of The Barber of Seville, I am quoting Britannica’s summary. Simply add the name Lindoro, a guitar, and a few suspicious letters. The Count first dresses as a poor student named Lindoro.

“Rosine (known as Rosina in the opera), the ward of Dr. Bartholo, is kept locked in her room by Bartholo because he plans to marry her, though she despises him. Young Count Almaviva loves her from afar and uses various disguises, including one as Alonzo, a substitute music teacher, in his attempts to win her. Bartholo’s roguish barber Figaro is part of the plot against him. Indeed, it is Figaro who steals the key to Rosine’s room for Almaviva. Unfortunately, Almaviva is in his disguise as Alonzo when he meets Rosine. Though in love with “Alonzo,” Rosine is convinced by the suspicious Bartholo that Alonzo intends to steal her away and sell her to a wicked count. Disappointed, she agrees to wed Bartholo that very night. All of Figaro’s ingenuity is required to substitute Count Almaviva for Bartholo at the wedding ceremony.”[II]

    Portrait of Gioachino Rossini in 1820, International Museum and Library of Music, Bologna (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia(1816)

In 1816, Le Barbier de Séville; ou, la précaution inutile (four acts) was made into a two-act opera by Giaochino Rossini on a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The Barber of Seville, or the Futile Precaution or Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L’inutile precauzione premiered on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, in Rome.

Beaumarchais’ Guilty Mother (1792)

The Guilty Mother, subtitled The other Tartuffe (La Mère coupable ou l’autre Tartuffe), a play in five acts, is the final part of the Figaro trilogy. Tartuffe is a play by Molière. Tartuffe feigns devotion. The Guilty Mother was completed in 1791, but not performed until 1792 at the Théâtre du Marais. It was performed during the French Revolution which made it necessary for Beaumarchais to take away his title from Count Almaviva.

Marius Milhaud‘s The Guilty mother or La Mère coupable (1966)

The Guilty Mother or The other Tartuffe was set to music, is an opera in three acts (Op. 412), by Marius Milhaud, to a libretto by Madeleine Milhaud. It is the final instalment of Beaumarchais’ Figaro trilogy and was first performed that the Grand Théâtre de Genève, on 13 June 1966. (See La Mère coupable [The Guilty mother], Wikipedia.)

Jean-Antoine Watteau’s Italian comedy.

Mezzetin, Jean-Antoine Watteau

The Italian Comedy, Watteau

La Surprise, Watteau

The Love Song, Watteau

The Rebirth of Brighella and the Birth of Figaro

Figaro is heir to the commedia dell’arte‘s Brighella, a zanni. He joins Pedrolino-Pierrot, Harlequin, Scapino, and other zanni. In fact, Figaro himself joins the rank of the zanni. As portrayed above, he looks like Harlequin, but he may disguised as Harlequin. Figaro is an iconic figure in France where it is an institution: a newspaper, founded in 1826 and pubished in Paris. Le Figaro is the second-largest paper in France. It takes its motto from Beaumarchais Figaro trilogy.

“Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n’est point d’éloge flatteur” (“Without the freedom to criticise, there is no true praise”)

Brighella, Maurice Sand

Scapino, Maurice Sand

RELATED ARTICLES

Picasso in Paris

Picasso’s Harlequin

Arlecchino, Arlequin, Harlequin

Leo Rauth “fin de siècle” Harlequin

Pantalone: la Commedia dell’arte

Notes

The Commedia dell’arte

Bartolo is a Dottore

Lindoro is one of the names innamorati used in the commedia dell’arte

Figaro is a Brighella (a zanni in the commedia dell’arte, who helps the innamorati overcome obstacles to their marriage)

The guitar is an essential prop

Letters are used all the time: false, anonymous, incriminating…

  Sources and Resources

  The Marriage of Figaro is an Online Library of Liberty, full text EN

Le Mariage de Figaro is a Gutenberg Project [EBook #20577] FR

Male innamorati are called: Arsenio, Aurielo, Cinthio, Fabrizio, Flavio, Fedelindo, Florindo, Leandro, Lelio, Lindoro, Mario, Ortensio, Ottavio, Sireno, often the son of Pantalone, Silvio, Tristano

Female innamorati are called: Angelica, Aurelia, Beatrice, Bianchetta, Celia, Clarice, Clori, Cinzio, Emilia, Eularia, Flaminia, Florinda, Filesia, Filli often the daughter of Pantalone, Isabella, Lavinia, Lidia, Orazio, Ortensia, Silvia, Turchetta, Vittoria 

Brighella: http://web.archive.org/web/20091027100540/http://geocities.com/commedia_dellarte/Characters/brighella/brighella.html

Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (comédie italienne), 1860

Flûte de Brighella, Enrico Brunelleschi (Photo credit: Christie’s) (This image cannot be enlarged.)

____________________

[I] Watteau depicted Mezzetino, a zanni, playing the guitar. The guitar is a major motif in Picasso’s art.

[II] “The Marriage of Figaro.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecquked/topic 366268/The-Marriage-of-Figaro>

  [III] “The Barber of Seville.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52863/The-Barber-of-Seville>.

The Count also calls himself Lindoro.

  [IV] “Comici Confidènti.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Jul. 2014.

<ww.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127606/>.

  Gioachino Rossini : The Barber Of Seville – Overture 

    My kindest regards to all of you. 

  © Micheline Walker

July 13, 2014

WordPress

      Figaro (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

  The Figaro Trilogy Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) had recruited men who fought in the…

[jellobiafrasays]

le nozze di figaro (c1930s)