The Figaro Trilogy


Book Description

The Barber of Seville * The Marriage of Figaro * The Guilty Mother Eighteenth-century France produced only one truly international theatre star, Beaumarchais, and only one name, Figaro, to put with Don Quixote or D'Artagnan in the ranks of popular myth. But who was Figaro? Not the impertinent valet of the operas of Mozart or Rossini, but both the spirit of resistance to oppression and a bourgeois individualist like his creator. The three plays in which he plots and schemes chronicle the slide of the ancien régime into revolution but also chart the growth of Beaumarchais' humanitarianism. They are also exuberant theatrical entertainments, masterpieces of skill, invention, and social satire which helped shape the direction of French theatre for a hundred years. This lively new translation catches all the zest and energy of the most famous valet in French literature. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.




The Three Figaro Plays


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The Marriage of Figaro


Book Description

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) was an exceptional French writer of prose comedy during the eighteenth century. He is best known for his theatrical works of the three Figaro plays. Beaumarchais had an action-filled career as a watchmaker, musician, secret agent, businessman, diplomat and a financer of revolutions. His literary career was as turbulent as his personal life. After a series of lawsuits in Paris, the accounts of his trials made his reputation as a sarcastic, effective, and recognized writer. -The Marriage of Figaro- is the second in the Figaro Trilogy, preceded by -The Barber of Seville- and followed by -The Guilty Mother-. It was originally a comic opera, or a mixture of spoken play with music. This play was considered a foreshadowing of the French Revolution in its offense of the rights of the aristocracy. It was first banned in Vienna due to its satire of the nobility, considered dangerous in the decade before the revolution. Thanks to the great success of its predecessor, it opened with enormous success, eventually becoming one of Mozart's most successful operatic works.




The Figaro Plays


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Originally published: London: J.M. Dent, 1997.




Le nozze di Figaro


Book Description

John Wells introduces the opera with a high-spirited account of the action-packed career of the author, in many respects the prototype of Figaro himself. Basil Deane explores the score: he shows that Mozart's characters are illuminated here not so much in soliloquies but in their reactions to each other. Composer Stephen Oliver discusses how the comedy exists not just in the words but, essentially, in the music. The full Italian text is given, with a note on the order of scenes in Act Three and the alternative passages Mozart wrote for the 1789 revival. The classic translation of E.J. Dent is an excellent way to get to know the twists and turns of the plot and the stylish wit of da Ponte's innuendos.Contents: A Society Marriage, John Wells; A Musical Commentary, Basil Deane; Music and Comedy in 'The Marriage of Figaro, Stephen Oliver; Beaumarchais's Characters; Le nozze di Figaro: Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte; The Marriage of Figaro: English version by Edward J. Dent




The Barber of Seville


Book Description

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) was an exceptional French writer of prose comedy during the eighteenth century. He is best known for his theatrical works of the three Figaro plays. Beaumarchais had an action-filled career as a watchmaker, musician, secret agent, businessman, diplomat and a financer of revolutions. His literary career was as turbulent as his personal life. After a series of lawsuits in Paris, the accounts of his trials made his reputation as a sarcastic, effective, and recognized writer. "The Barber of Seville" (1775) was originally a comic opera, or a mixture of spoken play with music. The story was based on an ill-fated alliance between Beaumarchais' sister and Jose Clavijo, a Spanish writer. In addition, Beaumarchais raises a cry for the condemnation of the prevailing social system through his main character, Figaro. The work was prohibited in 1773 for indecency then received with great success two years later.




The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro


Book Description

Eighteenth century French author Pierre Beaumarchais is best known today for his Figaro plays. Beaumarchais had an action-filled career as a watchmaker, musician, secret agent, businessman, diplomat, and a financer of revolutions. His literary career was as turbulent as his personal life. After a series of lawsuits in Paris, the accounts of his trials made his reputation as a sarcastic, effective, and recognized writer. First performed in 1773, "The Barber of Seville" is the story of a Spanish count who has fallen for the beautiful Rosine. In order to determine whether or not she could love him for himself and not his wealth and status the count disguises himself as a poor student and attempts to woo her. "The Marriage of Figaro" picks up where "The Barber of Seville" leaves off, three years later as Figaro and Suzanne, two members of the count's staff, plan to marry. The count now bored with his marriage to Rosine, plans a liaison with Figaro's intended. Two masterpieces of commedia dell'arte, these works were provocative in their time for their criticism of the nobility and would go on to inspire some of the most famous operas of all time. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.




Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart


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Wye Jamison Allanbrook’s widely influential Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart challenges the view that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music was a “pure play” of key and theme, more abstract than that of his predecessors. Allanbrook’s innovative work shows that Mozart used a vocabulary of symbolic gestures and musical rhythms to reveal the nature of his characters and their interrelations. The dance rhythms and meters that pervade his operas conveyed very specific meanings to the audiences of the day.




The Follies of a Day; Or, the Marriage of Figaro (Dodo Press)


Book Description

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) was a watch-maker, inventor, musician, politician, fugitive, spy, publisher, arms-dealer, and revolutionary (both French and American). He was best known, however, for his theatrical works, especially the three Figaro plays. Beaumarchais is well remembered for his essential support for the American Revolution. Louis XVI, who did not want to break openly with England, allowed him to found a commercial enterprise, Roderigue Hortalez and Co., supported by the French and Spanish crowns, whose real purpose was to supply the American rebels with weapons, munitions, clothes, and provisions. Shortly after Voltaireas death in 1778, he set out to publish Voltaireas complete works, many of which were banned in France. While the venture proved a financial failure, Beaumarchais was instrumental in preserving many of Voltaireas later works which otherwise might have been lost. His Figaro plays are indicative of the change in social attitudes before, during, and after the French Revolution. His works include: The Barber of Seville; or, The Useless Precaution (1773) and The Follies of a Day; or, The Marriage of Figaro (1778).