Life of Mozart

84 " LE NOZZE DI FIGARO."Susanna.-^^ Afterwards, when graver matters engage her,when she asserts her claims upon Figaro in the firstfinale, or recognises him as her son in the sestet, themusical expression is sustained and full of true feeling. Asinger who was able to form her conception of the part fromthese touches of character would make of Marcellina somethingquite different from the ordinary old housekeeper,whom we have unhappily been used to see and hear, nodoubt from a mistaken endeavour to render the illusion thatFigaro's mother must be an old woman, and sing like an oldwoman. Marcellina's air (Act IV., 2), on the other hand,does not assist the characterisation, and is the only piece inthe whole opera which fails of its effect. The whole style ofit,even to the passages, is old-fashioned, like the traditionalair for a seconda donna ; it appears to have been a concessionmade to the taste of the singer. Basilio, the man ofcold intellect and malicious cunning, is not a figure whichcan be made comic by caricature. Mich. Kelly (1764-1825),for whom it was written, was an Irishman, who had studiedin Naples, and was highly successful as a tenor in Italy andVienna ; his powers as a mimic fitted him especially forcomic parts.-^^ Basilio's malice and scorn are expressed in theterzet (Act I., 7) with delicacy and character, and, in contrastwith Susanna's painful excitement and the Count'sanger, they give to the piece an irony, such as has seldomfound expression in music. The point justly noted byUlibicheff (II., p. 45 ) that Basilio, in his attempts to pacifythe Count after finding the page in the arm-chair, repeatsthe words :" Ah, del paggio quel ch' ho detto era soloun mio sospetto," a fifth higher, brings out in a strikingdegree his character of refined malice. The effect is heightenedby the use of the same motif by the Count, when he is" In the very characteristic and amusing duet for the two quarrelling womenin Auber's "Maurer" the realism of the musical representation is of somedetriment to the grace of expression and delivery.12 He declares that he so astonished Casti and Paesiello by his power ofmimicry that, although he was very young, they intrusted him with the difficultpart of Gafforio in the " Re Teodoro," in which he made a great sensation(Remin., I., p. 241).