‘The Marriage of Figaro’ for Catalonia
The greatness of The Marriage of Figaro it consists of conveying a sense of reality, both in terms of the treatment of the characters and the situations of the work, far superior to that of previous operatic models. The characters are not the stereotypes of the buffa opera, but human beings who suffer and feel in a real way, easily identifiable with our weaknesses, fears and joys. This happens, not only thanks to the fantastic booklet of Lorenzo da Ponte or to the original text of Pierre de Beaumarchaisbut for the wonderful music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The entire melody of this opera depicts the emotional state of some characters that we see close and recognizable. So, just listening to the first chords of the wonderful give me love you can already sense the state of mind the countess is in given the lack of interest – and the infidelities – she suffers from the one who a few years ago was her ardent lover; or if we pay attention to the melody of the famous Voi che sapete we will instantly understand the amorous turmoil of the lovelorn Cherubino, almost without the need to hear what he is saying.
In addition, Da Ponte and Mozart together the pathos dramatic of the characters with the comic treatment of many of the situations that arise. Let’s remember the facts that the work exposes: the Countess of Almaviva is deceived on several occasions by her husband – who previously loved his wife madly – and the last infidelity consists of taking the promise of his servant Figaro (Susana) on the same wedding night while wanting to exercise a right of thigh that he himself had just abolished; the count, meanwhile, sends his teenage page (Cherubino) to the army (ie to certain death) only because he suspects him of pursuing the countess or loving another of his mistresses (Barbarina). All this series of situations of pain and (dis)deception, Da Ponte and Mozart present them in a comedy key – the aforementioned march of Cherubino to the army, for example, is exposed mockingly by Figaro in the famous I won’t go anymore— and open a path that the artistic couple themselves would masterfully culminate a few years later in Don Giovannia masterful mixture of drama and comedy and a true pinnacle of Mozart’s operatic production.
For all that, every performance of this opera requires a stage manager who is able to believably translate this Mozartian theatricality. And this is no problem for the Fundació Ópera a Catalunya (FOC), since the person in charge of bringing this wonder to the stage will be Miquel Gorrizwhich means solvency and know-how guaranteed. If we add to that, in addition, a solid solo quintet like the one they will form Milan Perisic (count of Almaviva), Maria Hinojosa (Countess of Almaviva), Pau Armengol (Figaro), Rosa Maria Abella (Susanna) i Laura Orueta (Cherubino), in addition to having as usual the titular musical director of the FOC, Daniel Gil de Tejadaat the head of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the production will surely delight the public.
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