Opera in NYC: Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro at The MetOpera

The Metropolitan Opera presents Le Nozze Di Figaro by Mozart in the modernized setting with two exceptional international casts; performances continue in February 2020    

A cornerstone of any opera house’s repertoire, Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro is presented by the MetOpera in Sir Richard Eyre’s dynamic production with two exceptional casts. In the Fall 2019 sopranos Nadine Sierra and Susanna Phillips; mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez; baritone Mariusz Kwiecien; and bass-baritones Luca Pisaroni and Adam Plachetka sing. Sopranos Anita Hartig and Hanna-Elisabeth Müller; mezzo-soprano Marianne Crevasse; and bass-baritone Mariusz Kwiecien take the charge in February 2020.

Premiered at the Met in the 2014-2015 season, the current production transposes the action from the late 18th century Spain to an elegant villa of the 1930s. Cleverly employing the rotating stage for the fast change of the decor and uninterrupted action when moving from scene to scene, the creators and the cast present a highly entertaining and instructive storyline about the virtues of love, decency, loyalty, and the vice of jealousy. The orchestral fluidity under the baton of Antonella Manacorda, sets the pace.

The libretto for the opera was written by Mozart’s favored collaborator Lorenzo Da Ponte. Da Ponte adapted a popular play La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais for his libretto which he completed even before Mozart started writing music for the opera. Ingeniously sequencing the comic scenes with hidings and cross-dressings, Beaumarchais’s play denounces the feudal rules and highlights the wits and smarts of the lower classes. According to Beaumarchais’s contemporaries, the play foreshadowed the French Revolution.

At the MetOpera, Le Nozze’s magical music and catchy arias are delivered by the incredible cast with confidence and mastery. Luca Pisaroni as Figaro sings with grace and warmth and is perfectly attuned to the velvety palette of Nadine Serra’s voice as Susanna. The beauty of the duets and the ensemble arias are well-matched by the orchestral work while the comic scenes and the moments of tension are skillfully calibrated and are presented with vitality and affection.

Enjoy the vibrant production of the timeless masterpiece by Mozart and Da Ponte.

The opera’s run time is 3 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission; sung in Italian with the subtitles.

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Mozart completed the score for Le Nozze in 1786 just two years after the comedy La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais had opened at Theatre Francais in Paris. The play, which was written in 1778 as a sequel to The Barber of Seville, the first play in Beaumarchais’s trilogy, was banned at first by King Loius XVI. Beaumarchais revised the text and moved the action of the play from France to Spain after which it was begrudgingly allowed to be performed for the public. The success of Le Marriage made it the highest-grossing production in the 18th century. The overreach of the aristocracy, the inheritance rights, and the crumbling feudal rules were such hot subjects on the brink of a burst, that the authorities around Europe were wary about bringing the production to their countries. Napoleon Bonaparte called it “the Revolution already put into action.”

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Le Mariage de Figaro is the second of the trilogy that concludes with the play The Guilty Mother. Caron de Beaumarchais included numerous autobiographical references in his plays with even the name of the main character Figaro made to sound as fils de Caron.

The choice of the play Le Marriage of Figaro for the new opera was made by Mozart himself. He turned to Lorenzo Da Ponte who wrote the libretto in poetic Italian and removed all the political references from the text. Another shrewd alteration by Da Ponte was substituting Figaro’s powerful lines against   the rights of the inherited nobility with the aria critical of the unfaithful wives.  Le Nozze was the first of Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s successful collaborations on the operas which followed by Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte. Mozart’s score for Le Nozze brings both the depth and the beauty of the story to the fore with the memorable arias, unforgettable solos, and splendid orchestral parts.

In Vienna, the opera had an overwhelming success concluding each night with the lengthy applauds by the audience and multiple requests for the repeats of the beloved arias. The Emperor even had to issue a decree limiting the length of the performances at the Burgtheatrer.

At the Met, Le Nozze premiered in 1894. From that time on, the opera has attracted the roster of the finest singers. The current production is surely not an exception. The remarkable singing by Nadine Serra makes Susanne, the joyful and smart maid ever more appealing to the advances of Count Almaviva in a powerful performance by Adam Platchetka. The vocal richness of bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as Figaro is impressive.

Le Nozze Di Figaro is a delicious treat for every opera lover.

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Dates: February 5, 8, 11, 14, 19, 22

Venue: Met Opera, Lincoln Center, NY