Fragen an den Kompositionsprozeß und die Dramaturgie von Mozarts „Le nozze di Figaro”

Über die Betrachtung des Notentextes lassen sich Rückschlüsse auf die Entstehung und die Dramaturgie von Mozarts <Le nozze di Figaro> ableiten. Insbesondere die Reihenfolge der Szenen der letzten beiden Akte läßt sich durch sie in Frage stellen. Vor allem jedoch ist die Entfernung des Accompagnato-Recitativs <Tutto è disposto> vor Bindung der Partitur von eminenter Bedeutung und kann dramaturgisch den IV. Akt neu strukturieren. Die Struktur des III. Aktes änderte sich wohl vor allem durch die Doppelbesetzung der Rolle des Antonio/Bartolo, aber auch durch dramaturgische Gründe. (Schaarwächter, Jürgen)

Unity and Discontinuity in the Act 2 Finale of Le nozze di Figaro

The act 2 finale of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro has been the subject of intense categorization and analysis for over a century. Often, these analyses attempt to explain this portion of the opera such that coherent musical structure and drama spring forth from an organic unity. But these analyses overlook the inherent discontinuities in the finale that drive the plot forward and necessitate the following two acts. This chapter explores the analytical history of the finale and offers an alternative view to its structure that prioritizes semiotic relationships among musical structure, topic, character, and plot. The questions raised here have implications for the goals of opera analysis more broadly.

Muso franco e maronè: dubbi lessicali da un Figaro all’altro

Ci sono pervenute due richieste di chiarimento sul significato dell’espressione muso franco, che si trova nel libretto delle Nozze di Figaro, e del termine maronè, documentato nel Barbiere di Siviglia.

Is Don Giovanni Evil?

Although Mozart’s librettist for Don Giovanni, Lorenzo Da Ponte, explicitly invoked Dante’s Inferno as a source of his inspiration, both text and music tell a much more ambivalent story. The parts of the action familiar to its first audiences (the night-time escape and duel, the country maid, the statue of the dead Commander coming to dinner) were complicated by Don Giovanni’s persuasive, even heroic music and the hyper-dramatic self-justifications by his would-be conquests. Chronicling the Don’s last day, the opera focuses on his behaviors both nonchalant and impassioned as well as the inability of patriarchal norms and punishments to contain him. The opening scene, the episodic introduction of the women, and the serenade in Act II are seen here as telling examples of Mozart and Da Ponte’s desire—as in their other two collaborations, Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte—to accommodate a serious moral tale to the poignant delights of comic opera. They reveal a vision of the Don beyond good and evil.

Susanna’s “Deh vieni”

This article offers an analysis of “Deh vieni non tardar,” Susanna’s last aria in Mozart’sLe nozze di Figaro. The aria stages a diegetic performance in which Susanna serenades an absent beloved while Figaro eavesdrops, but the aria is not simply a facsimile of Susanna’s performance. Instead, the music scripts a shift of the audience’s perspective, moving from a quasi-literal representation of the performance to a depiction of Susanna’s affective experience of performing. This shift in perspective realigns how different musical parameters collaborate to produce meaning.Observations from disparate domains coalesce into an interpretation of the aria. The analysis engages with musical details by starting from hypotheses about what the piece is (serenade or psychologizing aria), what it does (deliver text or embody expressive action), and how its musical features afford those identities. The central analytical questions are what genre “Deh vieni” belongs to and how its features serve the functions of that genre.

Da Ponte as Impresario

The last-minute decision to reprieve the opera buffa left Da Ponte needing to recruit singers as a matter of urgency. In doing so, he made use of Ferrarese del Bene’s recent experience of performing in Florence. The new season got off to a poor start, as the National Theater was facing increasingly stiff competition from the commercial stage. A new run of Le nozze di Figaro was scheduled, although by the summer of 1789 Joseph II was too ill to attend. The capture of Belgrade transformed the rather dark public mood in Vienna, and Così fan tutte was staged until the death of Joseph II led to the closure of the theaters.