Loading...
Type of Submission
Performance
Keywords
Opera
Abstract
With the arrival of comedy on the opera stage, a large change in characterizations and plot began to take place. Instead of large grandiose performances of the fantastic, composers strove to write for the "everyman" and have them be perceived in the spotlight. Mozart championed opera buffa by writing several operas that depicted ordinary characters as the heroes and the aristocracy as the "idiots" that they deceived and fooled throughout the production. In "The Marriage of Figaro" we find that Susanna and Figaro, both ordinary citizens who work for the Count, are in a battle of wits with their employer, trying their best to outsmart him to have their own happy ending. Mozart uses irony, wit, double entendre, and sarcasm to make the characters and comedy come alive in a unique and hilarious way. In Act I there is a stunning example of this as Susanna and Marcelina, an older women with conquests on Figaro, sing a duet that explores the comedy of ordinary sarcasm as well as the triumph of the commonplace over the aristocracy. This may be common enough today, but opera buffa when it first appeared on the stages of the late 18th century was new, exciting, and increasingly popular with audiences. Through the exploration of the duet "Via Resti Servita," or, "To Greet You, My Lady," from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," audiences will again be able to experience the hilarity and revolutionary aspects of opera buffa.
Campus Venue
Dixon Ministry Center, Recital Hall
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-10-2013 3:20 PM
End Date
4-10-2013 3:40 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
To Greet You, My Lady (My Enemy)
Cedarville, OH
With the arrival of comedy on the opera stage, a large change in characterizations and plot began to take place. Instead of large grandiose performances of the fantastic, composers strove to write for the "everyman" and have them be perceived in the spotlight. Mozart championed opera buffa by writing several operas that depicted ordinary characters as the heroes and the aristocracy as the "idiots" that they deceived and fooled throughout the production. In "The Marriage of Figaro" we find that Susanna and Figaro, both ordinary citizens who work for the Count, are in a battle of wits with their employer, trying their best to outsmart him to have their own happy ending. Mozart uses irony, wit, double entendre, and sarcasm to make the characters and comedy come alive in a unique and hilarious way. In Act I there is a stunning example of this as Susanna and Marcelina, an older women with conquests on Figaro, sing a duet that explores the comedy of ordinary sarcasm as well as the triumph of the commonplace over the aristocracy. This may be common enough today, but opera buffa when it first appeared on the stages of the late 18th century was new, exciting, and increasingly popular with audiences. Through the exploration of the duet "Via Resti Servita," or, "To Greet You, My Lady," from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," audiences will again be able to experience the hilarity and revolutionary aspects of opera buffa.
