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- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Duration: 3 minutes
Description: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO) is based on LA FOLLE JOURNEE OU LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO (1784), a comic play by Pierre Beaumarchais. Lorenzo Da Ponte, who also collaborated with Mozart on DON GIOVANNI and COSÍ FAN TUTTE, wrote the libretto, which tells the story of the servant Figaro, and his lover, Susanna, who overcome their employer’s schemes to seduce her and secure their own marital bliss. LE NOZZE DI FIGARO premiered May 1, 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. It has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas. In Act 1, the adolescent Cherubino (sung by a female soprano) arrives and sings to Susanna of his burgeoning and overwhelming infatuation with all women in the aria “Non so più cosa son” (“I don’t know anymore what I am”), describing the sensation as alternatingly burning and freezing, sighing and trembling, and unable to understand the turbulent new emotions of love. “Non so più cosa son” is one of Mozart’s best-known soprano arias, and it remains a staple of recital, audition, and operatic repertoire. Instrumentation: 0.0.2.2: 2.0.0.0: Str (4.4.3.3.3 in set): Solo Soprano. Reprint edition.