Discussion Of The Opera "Le nozze di Figaro" By Mozart

Name: Course: Professor: Date: Discussion of the opera called "le nozze DI Figaro" by Mozart in 1786 The enlightenment period was one of the major turning points in Europe in the 18th century, during this period; reason became the major source of authority. Wolfgang Mozart was an important music liberalist; he created a new style of music different from songs of religious expressions. Mozart music motivated other artists to compose music with emotional expressions, his composition Le Nozze di Figaro in 1786, paved way for music of the romantic era, a period of artistic revolution. Mozarts’ Le Nozze di Figaro revolutionized music during the romantic era, which was majorly caused by social and political pressure after the French revolution. Artistic expressions advocated for socialism (Nedbal 185), artists rebelled against the traditional music composition and practices, paving way for public musical opera performances previously restricted to the noble and the rich(Nedbal 188). Although opera was a prestige genre in the 18th century, during the enlightenment process, Mozart’s’ Le Nozze di Figaro composition revolutionized opera performances to reflect the social changes witnessed during that time (Nedbal 191). The introduction of opera buffa performance by Mozart, transformed opera into a genre that common people could relate to (Barshack 57). Mozart was an expert in composing opera buffa, by 1786 Wolfgang outstanding opera buffa, Le Nozze di Figaro became popular in Europe. Le Nozze di Figaro's popularity was propelled by King Joseph II's love for opera. The King provided Mozart with a platform to showcase his new music style (Barshack 62). Le Nozze di Figaro was a collaboration between Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, a famous music composer. The composers adopted one of the most controversial plays of Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro (Keefe 119). The original version of the play was banned by the King because of its controversial theme. With the French revolution, the King viewed the play as a threat to his power (Keefe 134). Although Mozart was inspired by a French comedy by Beaumarchais titled “The Barber of Seville” Lorenzo da Ponte and Mozart were forced to make certain adjustments to their composition that eventually turned out to be a masterpiece (Keefe 148). Le Nozze di Figaro produced by Lorenzo da Ponte and Mozart was different, the Italian version of Le Nozze di Figaro was full of suspense, and the original version of the play was altered to address the social realities. The two composers carefully edited the piece into a dramatic shape to suit it target audience (Fertonani 122). Le Nozze di Figaro became a masterpiece in several ways. Le Nozze di Figaro explored humanity and love, through Le Nozze, people became aware of human experiences, human desire, love, and lust, how humans battled with jealousy and most importantly, how human embraced their weaknesses(Fertonani 126). Le Nozze di Figaro Storyline The marriage of Figaro's by Mozart plot was a continuation of The Barber of Seville originally produced by Beaumarchais in 1773 but the theme was slightly different. Mozart's storyline is about Count Almaviva who has an eye for his wife's servant Susanna. This becomes that central theme of the opera (Ford 215). In the play, as Figaro and Susanna's wedding nears, their master Count Almaviva tries to seduce Susanna before the wedding day. After the Countess learns about her husband's intention, she is upset that her husband is chasing after other women, more so her servant (Barshack 54). The Countess agrees to Figaro’s plan, which includes sending an anonymous letter to confuse the Count. The Countess has a new plan, which Figaro did not know, Figaro still believed that Susanna was going to meet the Count and conclude that she is unfaithful (Barshack 59). After the wedding party, Susanna and the Countess swap clothes. The Countess disguises herself as Susanna and enters the garden to meet the Count. Later on, the Countess reveals herself to her husband. Humiliated by his wife, the Count begs his wife for forgiveness(Barshack 63). Since Mozart admired Beaumarchais radical play Le marriage de Figaro produced in 1781, Mozart’s Le marriage de Figaro incorporated the plot of the controversial play in the second part of his trilogy, but altered the theme. Mozarts' Le Nozze di Figaro depicts a nobleman man Count Almaviva who seduces Suzanna a servant of his wife to reveal the social class conflict ignored in the original version of the opera. In addition, Mozarts' Le Nozze di Figaro comprised of conventional recitatives, aria and ensembled pieces of music (Nedbal 199). The opera, Le Nozze di Figaro was arranged in 4 acts including the introductory instrumental overture played before the play commenced to set the stage for action and also enable the audience to emotionally be prepared (Barshack 61). The songs were in sonata form that conveyed the range of Figaro's anxiety. Mozart’s’ creativity of changing the music to correspond with the characters' actions and feelings that was outstanding. However, behind the musical performance, Mozart addressed equality through various characters. He accompanied the recitative with relevant music to reveal the prevailing ideas (Nedbal 183). He used the exchange of vocal on the part of the Countess and her servant Susanna hence, creating a musical democracy. Mozarts’ musical composition was different from earlier opera where actions were propelled by recitatives, for Mozart, actions were enhanced using ensembles (Nedbal 197). Mozart also used colorful musical representation when he describes different characters emotions, for example, the Countess Cavatina " porgi' armor incorporated lovely melodic sounds that depicts the character’s elevated social status (Fertonani 121). Musical sounds in the play brought the performance to life. In the Count recitative, the musical sounds represented the Count’s verbal expression of anger and his agitation (Fertonani 125). In this scene, Mozart used scattered tempo and strings of trembling effects. The anger intensity is maintained at a rapid scale to show the Count Vengeance using aria. In the final Act, all the four characters converge with the Count begging for forgiveness as the music swell from a religious hymn to a glorious display of load jubilation(Fertonani 130). Throughout the performance, Mozart opera maintain...