(Le nozze di Figaro)
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
The Story of the Opera
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Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte The Story of the Opera |
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Act I:
A chamber between the Count’s and Countess’s suites
(newly assigned to Figaro and Susanna as their bedroom)
Figaro, the Count Almaviva’s valet, and Susanna, the Countess’s maid, are about to be married. Figaro discovers that the Count is determined to revive an old custom—the seigniorial right to anticipate the bridegroom on a servant’s wedding night. He vows to outwit his master. Figaro’s troubles multiply as the aging Marcellina attempts, with the assistance of the lawyer, Dr. Bartolo, to hold Figaro to a marriage contract he has signed as a promissory note for a loan. The young page, Cherubino, in love with love and with every woman he sees, complicates the situation by overhearing the Count making advances to Susanna. In revenge the Count assigns Cherubino to his regiment in Seville.
Act II: The Countess’s Bedroom
The Countess plots with Susanna and Figaro to punish her husband for his pursuit of Susanna by sending Cherubino disguised as Susanna to a romantic assignation with the Count. While Susanna and the Countess are dressing the Page in women’s clothing, the Count arrives. Cherubino hides in the closet. The Count is enraged to find the closet door locked and accuses the Countess of infidelity. Cherubino escapes through a window and Susanna takes his place. When she emerges the Count is forced to apologize for his suspicions. Just at that moment Figaro appears—eager to advance the preparations for his marriage. The Count detains him, and is delighted when Marcellina, Bartolo, and the music master, Don Basilio, appear to insist that Figaro pay the money he owes Marcellina or marry her.
Act III, Scene One: The Count’s Audience Room
The scheme to use Cherubino to humiliate the Count having been spoiled, the Countess insists that Susanna set up a rendezvous with the Count in the garden, but she, herself, intends to keep it in disguise. The Countess helps Susanna write a letter inviting the Count to the garden that night.
When Marcellina presses her case against Figaro, she discovers to her surprise and delight that Figaro is her long-lost natural son by Bartolo. During a double wedding for Marcellina and Bartolo and Figaro and Susanna, Susanna delivers the note to the Count. Figaro notices the Count when he pricks his finger with the pin sealing the note, causing Figaro to become jealous and suspicious.
Act III, Scene Two: The Garden
As the maid, Barbarina, searches for the lost pin that she is supposed to return to Susanna, she is caught by Marcellina and Figaro. They trick her into telling about the assignation between the Count and Susanna.
In the darkness the Countess and Susanna are successfully mistaken
for each other, and the Count woos his own wife. When the Count is
exposed, he is delighted to rediscover the playful and clever woman the
Countess was when he first wooed her. He apologizes and recommits
himself to her.
