melodie-avant-mots - Lacheret

it by other lawful measures. For the remainder of the opera the Count’s exterior voice
will betray him, and "Vedrò" marks the apex of his power in the film. Interior singing,
or an absent voice, may be all that is possible for an outmoded figure, and if so he is a
functional mute. But our omniscient point-of-audition reveals that his power is still a
force to be reckoned with.
Time
In the opera in general, the archaic nature of the Count renders him frozen in
time. Mozart’s music of "Vedrò" brings out this quality beautifully, with Baroque
mannerisms and other curious features. The Count cannot find a workable musical
language. Suspended, he cannot move forward or back. In the film the interior voice
intensifies the feeling of suspension and arrests time by extending the psychology of
one or two moments. The voice freezes image and plot, and the freed-up dramatic time
is available for an intense interplay of subjectivities. Figaro is mute and motionless,
and the Count functionally silent, but by the end we know much more about their
relationship.
Arias in general tend to arrest time as they interrupt the forward progress of the
drama so that a character, usually alone, can express emotion. An interior voice is
suited to this situation, as Ponnelle shows in the first part of the Countess’s aria,
"Dove sono." But how does an interior voice affect time in a public setting, as in
"Vedrò"? As we know, in the film several places in ensembles are rendered as interior
singing—mostly places that humanize the drama through asides or personal reactions
amid group interaction, and that counteract the linearity of Mozart’s dramaturgy. Thus
one can consider Ponnelle’s "Vedrò" an aria that functions like an ensemble because it
resembles an extended aside: a long reaction, amid others.
The scene generates great tension. One reason is that many markers of normal
narrative are missing. Besides no moving lips, there is no outside noise—no reactions
from other characters. The interior voice divides: the Count is animated by it, while
the others have no awareness of it and seem inanimate. This creates an interesting
dissonance as the Count and others function at different speeds. This confuses the
sense of time in the scene. Yet the interior voice facilitates mediation because of its
close connection with the gaze. The reciprocal gaze between the two men helps to
erase time and neutralize the impact of the voice and its associated powers on them. In
this way the camera lessens the gap between the audiovisual makeup of the Count and
Figaro.
For the courtroom spectators the spectacle is mime in suspended time. For
Ponnelle the effect marks another return to the theater and the opera’s source. The
scene is thoroughly cinematic, however, and the interior voice provides the link
between the art forms. This is ironic, because operatic music is thought to work
against the needs of cinema in opera film. All in all, in "Vedrò" the interior voice
redefines the meanings of public and private, and the ways in which time and image
craft character, persona, and agency.
2. "Non so più"
Cherubino’s aria "Non so più" wonders about the fundamental question of
identity, who am I? This isn’t too surprising, as Cherubino is a budding teenage male
sung by a woman. He has yearnng desires for the Countess, and any woman. The text
of "Non so più," which follows Beaumarchais closely, is reflexive, for it holds up a
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