Le Nozze Di Figaro Libretto Background Photos

Today Mozart's exquisite Le Nozze di Figaro delights and moves audiences everywhere, long after its 1786 birth into tumultuous times. Theoriginal Beaumarchais play raised a firestorm in France, then on the br ink of revolution, with its dangerous commentary on class relations. However, Lorenzo Da Ponte carefully omitted anything political from his opera libretto; what remained, when joined with Mozart's sublime and penetrating music, was a witty yet profound tale of infatuation, heartache, scheming, and tenderness, where complex emotions are laid bare and everyone, regardless of class, is equally vulnerable to the powers of love.

Figaro continues the story of The Barber of Seville several years later, in a single “day of madness.” Count Almaviva's love, Rosina, is now his long-suffering countess, and the barber Figaro, now the count's valet, is about to marry Susanna, the countess's maid. But the couple-to-be must first deal with two obstacles: a demand