The opera Le Nozze Di Figaro by Mozart is a great favorite of mine because it combines two aspects of the culture of the late 1700’s:
On one hand, both the librettist and the composer show us the culture and the morals of the time. And in addition, we get to hear the humor and sublime music that created this opera in the first place.
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K492
Recorded at the Salzburg Festival, August 2015
The singers are as follows:
Luca Pisaroni (Conte Almaviva), Anett Fritsch (Contessa Almaviva), Martina Janková (Susanna), Adam Plachetka (Figaro), Margarita Gritskova (Cherubino), Ann Murray (Marcellina), Carlos Chausson (Don Bartolo), Paul Schweinester (Don Basilio), Franz Supper (Don Curzio), Christina Gansch (Barbarina), Erik Anstine (Antonio), with the Wiener Philharmoniker Dan Ettinger (conductor).
Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro is an unforgettable opera about love, desire and the primal force of uncontrollable passion. Concluding the Salzburg Festival’s highly successful Mozart / Da Ponte cycle, director Sven-Eric Bechtolf sets this emotional tour de force in a stately English country house during the 1920’s. The renowned Vienna Philharmonic ensures an exceptional evening of music from Mozart’s birthplace.
“Everything about the show exuded immediacy and naturalness: the intriguingly updated production by the director Sven-Eric Bechtolf; the winning performances of a compelling cast; and the supple, glowing playing that the conductor Dan Ettinger drew from the Vienna Philharmonic…”. (The New York Times)
The stage design, spread over two levels showing up to five rooms at the same time, ensures fast-paced, parallel and multi-layered staging possibilities.
Here is a brief scene of this opera, as performed at the Salzburg Festival:
