Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro Essay Samples

Mozart has composed the comic opera The Marriage of Figaro was successful in impressing the audience, portraying the personalities of characters through the songs they sang.In the scene one of act one, Figaro and his soon to be bride, Susanna, are seen acting in a room ,that is half furnished , expecting that it would be their bedroom after marriage. It is a funny to watch Figaro getting excited all about the event. He becomes happy seeing Susanna entering the room. Then he takes a thread to measure the space needed for his nuptial bed later that night. Susanna is seen admiring herself as seen in a mirror after trying her wedding dress and hat. It is interesting that Figaro is further taking her measurements as well before flirting and dancing with her. In the meanwhile, Susanna talks about her displeasure about the bedroom as it is too close to that of the count. She also tells him about her strong apprehension that the proximity of her room to that of the count’s, is the Count’s way to seduce her .After giving this message, but assuring Figaro about her love, she leaves the room, leaving Figaro wanting to meet her soon finding a solution to the problem.
This scene is entertaining and interesting. It is great to see the love between Figaro and Susanna. In the beginning the actions of Figaro are a bit funny which can be attributed to the excitement of his love. Later when Susanna reveals the problem Figaro literally becomes disappointed about it. This leaves the audience to think more about the situation and understand the seriousness of Susanna’s fearful words. Figaro and Susanna serve the Count Almaviva and Countess Almaviva. The Count has got the right to sleep the first night with any bride in his estate. Susanna also tells Figaro about the possibility of the Count peeping into her room when Figaro is away. All these disturb Figaro who decides to defeat any such plans of his master. The audience at this point become curious as to what will Figaro do in this regard and how will the couple proceed happily in their life.
Operas have a distinct ability to tell a story via songs, actions and stage performance. This story becomes more interesting as the dialogues are sung the opera way. The opening duets with the dance movement are interesting and help the audience to understand about the dance movements in an opera (Allanbrook 75-76). The dance topics like bourree and gavotte topics spice the roles of Figaro and Susanna as comedians in this play (Zbokovski 53).These special dance topics selected by Mozart, with suitable facial gestures and behaviour makes the play more entertaining. The sonic analogs are quite complementary to the order of movements by the characters. While portraying the drama in the human relationships through comedy it also gives glimpses of history and Figaro’s decision to challenge the plans of the autocratic Count Almaviva. All these factors make The Marriage of Figaro one of the most interesting operas and can be considered even as masterpiece.

References

Zbokovski, L. M. “Music, Dance, and Meaning in the Early Nineteenth Century”. Journal of Musicological Research 31.2-3 (2012):147 -165. Available: http://zbikowski.uchicago.edu/pdfs/Zbikowski_Music_dance_meaning_2012.pdf [7 February 2015]
Allanbrook, W. J. Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro & Don Giovanni. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. Print.