Figaro Gets a Divorce
| Opera dates | |
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| Title: | Figaro Gets a Divorce |
| Shape: | Opera in two acts |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Elena Langer |
| Libretto : | David Pountney |
| Literary source: |
Beaumarchais : La mère coupable ; Ödön von Horváth : Figaro is getting a divorce |
| Premiere: | February 21, 2016 |
| Place of premiere: | Welsh National Opera , Cardiff |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ¾ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | A few years after Figaro's wedding |
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Figaro Gets a Divorce (German: "Figaro lets divorce") is an opera in two acts by Elena Langer (music) with a libretto by David Pountney . The content is based on Beaumarchais ' La mère coupable and Ödön von Horváths Figaro is divorced . The opera was premiered on February 21, 2016 by the Welsh National Opera in the Wales Millennium Center in Cardiff, where it completed the so-called “Figaro Trilogy” in continuation of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro .
action
The action takes place a few years after the wedding of the servants Figaro and Susanna. Count and Countess Almaviva have a son Serafin, and the Count has taken in his ward Angelika. These two have now grown up and are lovers.
first act
Escape. Count and Countess Almaviva are on the run from the revolution with Serafin, Angelika and the two domestic workers. When crossing a pass, they take one last look at their castle. The major, a secret agent and former comrade in arms of the count, confronts them. He accuses them of illegal border crossing and treasonous activities, arrests them and takes them to a hotel. Figaro believes that the major has sinister plans that the count has not yet seen through.
Hotel. The family settles in the elegant hotel. With the support of the major, the count found his son Serafin a position in the regiment. He says goodbye to go to friends in the casino. The countess wants to take Angelika on a trip to a nearby waterfall. Figaro and Susanna stay behind - and argue. Susanna has lost sight of her life goal and is longing for a child. Figaro hardly listens to her, fearing the danger posed by the major. He wants to leave the place as soon as possible.
Love. Serafin and Angelika ensure their love for each other. However, they fear that the count will want to separate them.
Letter. Count and Countess blame each other for their money problems, because of which they have to leave the hotel. The count receives an old letter from the major, which he reads with growing horror. This shows that Serafin is not his son, but comes from an affair between the countess and the former page Cherubino, who later fell in battle.
Rental apartment. Count and Countess now live in a poor apartment where they continue to argue. The countess accuses her husband of putting her son in danger, who is supposed to move in the next day - accompanied by the major, whom the count still considers a friend.
Salon. Figaro goes back to his previous job as a barber. The customers are still a long time coming. Susanna wants to be reconciled with him and once again confirms her wish for a child. Figaro reacts dismissively, whereupon Susanna angrily leaves the salon.
Angelica. The major reflects on his secret plans with which he wants to destroy the count's family. When Angelika appears, he informs her that she is actually the daughter of the count with his former maid Barbarina. She was Serafin's sister and could not marry him under any circumstances. The major insists on keeping the matter a secret, otherwise the family would be ruined. But he had already agreed a solution with the count: Angelika had to marry him (the major) herself. He gives her a letter from the Count advising her to accept the proposal.
Brothers and sisters. Serafin threatens the major, whom he blames for Angelika's change of heart. The major reveals to him that she is his sister and tells him to keep it quiet. Serafin realizes that he has no choice but to take up his position in the army. However, he has the feeling that the major didn't tell him the whole truth. When the major found out from Susanna shortly afterwards that she had visited her husband in the salon, he reacted angrily - he had forbidden that. The countess, on the other hand, is worried about Angelica. The major then declares that the Susanna's family can no longer afford to serve. She must go today. The countess gives her her “last earrings” to support her. The two women say goodbye to each other. Then the countess takes care of the desperate Angelica.
Desperate measures. Susanna visits a nightclub whose owner identifies himself as Cherubino - so he by no means died in a fight. He tells her that he now calls himself “The Cherub” and that this is a refugee bar whose guests are repeatedly harassed by the police. Therefore he regularly gives the major protection money. He leaves Susanna his guest room. The major appears to collect his money and sees the two of them together.
Cutthroat. The major lets Figaro shave him. He tells him about the count's addiction to gambling and his dubious business, Serafin's position in the army, the countess's desperation and his own upcoming wedding with Angelica. He puts Figaro under pressure because he does not have a trade license and demands ten percent of the turnover as protection money. Last but not least, he informs him that Susanna is living with Cherubino again and will sing in his nightclub that evening.
Cabaret. Cherubino presents Susanna to his audience. You are playing a frivolous piece called The Chambermaid. The drunk Figaro comes in and makes a scene. The count also appears. He is being followed by the police for his illegal financial activities. Before his arrest, he asked Figaro to look after the countess. Finally, Susanna performs her song and confesses in front of the audience that she was unfaithful to Figaro.
Second act
Rebellion. The major ponders his secret goals - revenge on the mighty for the humiliations he has suffered. He only feels a little pity for Figaro, since they are both of low origin. Meanwhile, Serafin and Angelika say goodbye to each other. Since they do not want to give up their love despite everything, they look for a place where they can be undisturbed. The countess appears and confronts the major. She finally wants to know the truth about why Angelika could not marry her son. The major reveals to her that Angelica is the count's daughter. He therefore believes that they are both siblings. The major assumes that the countess will not reveal the truth to her husband because she would incriminate herself with it - but the countess does not want to be put under pressure by him.
Divorce. In her apartment near Cherubino, Susanna receives a letter from Figaro demanding a divorce. Cherubino raves about his unique night of love with the countess, who was the highlight of his life. Susanna longs for Figaro.
Output. After the count has been released from prison, the countess reveals the major's intrigue to him without sparing herself. She admits that Serafin is Cherubino's child. Figaro informs them that he is still alive and has a relationship with Susanna. Serafin and Angelika now know that they are not siblings and can therefore marry. They had made up their minds to do this before they knew the full truth. When Cherubino appears, Serafin meets his real father for the first time. But the latter warns of another treachery on the part of the major who denounced her. The family has to flee in a hurry without luggage. Susanna comes in with train tickets that Figaro has obtained for the family.
Mime. The family flees.
Night watch. Figaro watches over the family from afar. You can see him standing on a watchtower with a rifle. He has to choose if he wants to save and who to kill. He still loves Susanna.
Border. The fugitives have reached the border and can already see the lights of Almaviva Castle in the distance. They wait until it is completely dark to get over the fence. Suddenly a shot is fired and Cherubino collapses dead.
A pact. On the basis of a new agreement between the warring powers, the secret services can operate on both sides of the border. The major uses this for his own goals.
Madhouse. The castle has since been converted into a sanatorium. Figaro has also arrived there. He and Susanna have disguised themselves as carers, the others as insane inmates. In front of Cherubino's corpse, which they brought with them, Susanna Figaro confesses that she is expecting a child from him. She wants to make a fresh start with Figaro, even though she knows that he fired the fatal bullet. The major enters disguised as a revolutionary inspector. The family members try to play their part as crazy. But when the major is cynical about the "new euthanasia program", they realize the imminent danger. There seems to be no way out - but fortunately the Count knows a secret passage. Through this he once got to Angelika's mother Barbarina. While Susanna, Figaro, Serafin and Angelika manage to escape, the count couple stays behind to “face the music”.
layout
According to Opernwelt magazine reviewer , the composition proves Langer's experience with vocal works. The singers are never crushed by the orchestra and receive sufficient support from it. The instrumental movement is fast-paced with "quick moving gestures" and a "pointed wind treatment". Nevertheless, the opera also contains "islands, quiet zones of bitter melancholy and within sight of the tonality, rapturous lyrisms that touch the film music". The composer dispensed with musical quotations from Rossini or Mozart, except for the final phrase - a piano triller that sounds like Mozart and ends the work with an open fallacy.
The figure of the major corresponds to the Irish impostor Bégearss in Beaumarchais' model. He was described in the Opernwelt review as a “cross between Loge [from Wagner's Rheingold ] and Mephisto ” and as a possibly “personified dark side of all those involved”. The composer herself compared it to the Voland from Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita .
Although the composer's style is eclectic and has received various other sound styles, her own compositional style always remains recognizable. Langer was allowed to add an additional instrument to the orchestra of the WNO and opted for the accordion , which she used in a double function as a continuo instrument and as a typical timbre ( tango ) in the cabaret scenes.
Work history
There have been several attempts in the past to add a third part to Rossini and Mozart's Figaro operas. For example, the play Les deux Figaro (1795) by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly served as a model for Felice Romani's libretto I due Figaro, ossia Il soggetto di una commedia , which u. a. Set to music by Michele Carafa in 1820 and by Saverio Mercadante in 1835 . Also to be mentioned are works by Giselher Klebe ( Figaro can be divorced, Hamburg 1963), Darius Milhaud ( La mère coupable, Geneva 1966), John Corigliano ( The Ghosts of Versailles , New York 1991), Inger Wikström ( Den brottsliga modern, Solna 1992) and Thierry Pécou ( L'amour coupable, Rouen 2010).
The libretto of Elena Langer's Figaro Gets a Divorce was written by David Pountney , who as Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Welsh National Opera (WNO) also commissioned the composition and directed it at the world premiere on February 21, 2016 at the Wales Millennium Center Cardiff led. The text is based on the drama L'autre Tartuffe ou La mère coupable (T. the Second or The Guilty Mother) by Beaumarchais (1792) and the comedy Figaro Divorces from Ödön von Horváth (1937). The work is Langer's third opera after The Lion's Face (2010) and Four Sisters (2012) (not including some short and chamber operas).
The world premiere was a co-production between the WNO and the Grand Théâtre de Genève (Geneva Opera). Justin Brown was the musical director . Ralph Koltai was responsible for the stage, Sue Blane for the costumes and Linus Fellbom for the lighting design. Mark Stone (Count), Elizabeth Watts (Countess), Marie Arnet (Susanna), David Stout (Figaro), Andrew Watts (Cherubino), Rhian Lois (Angelika), Naomi O'Connell (Serafin) and Alan Oke (Major ). Since the work was placed in connection with the operas of Rossini and Mozart as the conclusion of the “Figaro Trilogy”, some of the actors had also sung in these works beforehand. The opera was well received and nominated for the 2017 International Opera Awards . The WNO also performed at the Bristol Hippodrome, Milton Keynes Theater, Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Birmingham Hippodrome, Theater Royal Plymouth and Mayflower Theater in Southampton until April 2016.
The production was shown in Geneva in September 2017. Here Ellie Dehn took over the role of countess. The Basel Sinfonietta was used as the orchestra . The rest of the cast remained unchanged at the premiere. A video recording was then made available on Arte Concert on the Internet.
The Poznan Opera also took over production in February 2017 . Katarzyna Tomala conducted here. The singers were Stanisław Kuflyuk (Graf), Magdalena Nowacka (Countess), Joanna Freszel (Susanna), Robert Gierlach (Figaro), Tomasz Raczkiewicz (Cherubino), Joanna Kędzior (Angelika), Magdalena Wachowska (Serafin) and Alan Oke (Major) .
Web links
- Marcel Paolino: Geneva Opera; The Figaros trilogy. Performance review. In: Online marker
- Michael S. Zerban: End with horror. Review of the performance in Geneva. In: Original sound
- Michael White: An Operatic Sequel Gives Figaro's Marriage a Modern Twist. Review of the premiere. In: The New York Times of February 25, 2016 (English)
Remarks
- ↑ The scene titles specified here were displayed in the video transmission on Arte Concert.
- ↑ In the production, he seems to immediately convey this knowledge to his family. This would mean that the rest of the story would no longer work, as everyone would already know that Angelika and Serafin are not siblings. Apparently it is just a self-talk that the others do not hear.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Markus Thiel: Naughty comes on. Review of the premiere. In: Opernwelt from April 2016, p. 16.
- ↑ a b Elena Langer in Conversation: Figaro Gets a Divorce, WNO. Interview with the composer on walesartsreview.org (English), accessed on November 29, 2017.
- ↑ Rian Evans: Figaro Gets a Divorce review - Pountney's gamble pays off. Review of the performance. In: The Guardian on February 22, 2016, accessed November 29, 2017.
- ^ I due Figaro, ossia Il soggetto di una commedia (Michele Carafa) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- ^ I due Figaro, ossia Il soggetto di una commedia (Saverio Mercadante) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- ↑ George Loomis: Riccardo Muti in His Element With Further Adventures of Figaro. New York Times, June 14, 2011 , accessed January 28, 2016.
- ↑ Peter Hagmann: Triptych with Barber: Three Perspectives on “Figaro” in Geneva. Review of the performance in Geneva. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 18, 2017, accessed on November 29, 2017.
- ↑ a b c Figaro Gets a Divorce. Performance and network information of the Welsh National Opera , accessed on 28 November 2017th
- ↑ a b ROZWÓD FIGARA Elena Langer at the Poznan Opera ( memento from October 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ George Hall: Figaro Gets a Divorce. Review of the Cardiff performance. In: Opera News of February 21, 2016, accessed November 29, 2017.
- ↑ International Opera Award - Archive 2017 , accessed on November 28, 2017.
- ↑ Grand Théâtre de Genève - Figaro Gets A Divorce, accessed on November 28, 2017.
- ↑ “Figaro gets a divorce” in the Grand Théâtre de Genève ( Memento from December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) on Arte Concert (video available until March 21, 2018).