CHARACTERS SYNOPSIS - Arizona Theatre Company

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Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) premiered in Vienna in July 1782 and was met with great success. Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782. Mozart’s father and sister were opposed to his marriage to Constanze because she was part of a lower social class. As a result, they never developed a good relationship with Constanze. Mozart supported his family by performing in public and private, teaching, and composing (mainly piano concertos). This was a period of financial success, and the Mozarts spent lavishly. Mozart and Constanze had six children over their nine years of marriage. Only two children survived beyond childhood: Karl Thomas, born in 1784, and Franz Xaver Wolfgang, born four months before his father’s death. The citizens of Vienna did not hold the same regard for Mozart as an adult as was shown to him as a child. The adult Mozart was one of several successful musicians and composers, and he no longer had the special status of child prodigy. Mozart’s mature musical style was not what the citizens of Vienna were used to. Mozart never received the court appointment he wanted, but he continued to be a prolific composer and explored new approaches in his works. He collaborated with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and composed three great operas: Le Nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Cosi fan tutte (1790). In these operas, Mozart ignored the regular opera standard and created truly innovative work. He created full ranges of emotions with the music, using major and minor keys to give the impression of opposite reactions and feelings. Mozart experimented and tested combinations outside of popular standards of the period. By 1787, Mozart’s success was truly slipping. His compositions were not being accepted by Viennese society; they considered his music too difficult and unusual. The emperor himself told Mozart there were “too many notes” in his compositions. People did not appreciate his radical music because they did not understand Mozart’s complex and extraordinary music. Mozart was incorporating many musical elements and styles from different countries into his works. Mozart’s behavior was becoming more erratic, and his financial debt was increasing. Teaching was no longer a large source of income for him. Fewer and fewer patrons were commissioning work from him. Ironically, the works he was composing at this time are now considered to be his greatest. He died on December 5, 1791, just prior to his thirty-sixth birthday. Mozart’s personality has been described as frivolous, eccentric, restless, and mercurial. While he might have not been the most pleasant person to be around, one cannot deny the creative genius of Mozart. In less than 36 years, he revolutionized Western music.
LIBRETTIST Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote the libretto of The Marriage of Figaro, meaning he wrote the words to Mozart’s music. Da Ponte was born on March 10, 1749 in the Jewish ghetto of Ceneda, Italy. Da Ponte studied at seminary to become a priest. This is where he was first introduced to Italian poets, starting his lifelong love of this genre. Though ordained as a priest at age 24, the priest lifestyle did not fit Da Ponte, as he was infamous for gambling and affairs with married women. Da Ponte moved from Venice to Vienna, the true cultural center at that time. The Emperor of Vienna was known for his tolerance of Jewish people, something the rest of Europe did not share, and so Da Ponte felt satisfied knowing that his origins would not be held against him. In 1783, Da Ponte was appointed theatre-poet to the Court Opera in Vienna, which was then devoted to the production of Italian comic opera. It was there that he met Mozart, and the three collaborated on Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, and Don Giovanni. In 1792, Da Ponte moved to London to work with an Italian opera company. It was there he met Nancy Grahl, whom he dated the rest of his life. In 1805, he and Nancy departed for the United States, where Da Ponte became a merchant, a bookseller, and a professor of Italian at Columbia University. Much of his time in the United States was devoted to promoting Italian opera. OPERA DEFINITIONS Aria – An aria is a solo where one character expresses his or her emotional state for several minutes. While the words to an aria are important, they are sparse and the singer usually repeats words multiple times. Aside – A comment from an actor to the audience that the other characters cannot hear. Bel Canto – “beautiful singing” in Italian. In opera, it is an Italian style of singing emphasizing tone, phrasing, coloratura passages, and technique. Cabaletta – Second, faster part of a two-part aria. Cadenza – a passage of singing, often at the end of an aria, that shows off the singer’s vocal abilities. Cavatina – The opening, slow section of a two-part aria. Coloratura – elaborate ornamentation of music written for a singer using many fast notes and trills
Page 1 and 2: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO (Le Nozze di
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CHARACTERS SYNOPSIS - Arizona Theatre Company

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