Production :

Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

The story

A mad day is heralded at the home of Count Almaviva and his wife. Their valet Figaro is going to marry their servant Suzanne. Seduced by the pretty maid, the Count decides to exercise, before the wedding, his ‘master’s privilege’. As the young Cherubino discovers the first commotions of love, Figaro prepares a plan in order to show his master how ridiculous these practices of a bygone age are

The mad day

Le Nozze di Figaro is the first collaboration between Mozart and the librettist Da Ponte and, since 1786, has occupied a central position in the history of opera. The perfect harmony between the two men would be reproduced twice thereafter with Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte. The perfect union between text and music is conducive to the theatrical, leaving no respite for the spectators. In keeping with the comic opera genre, the Count’s setbacks provoke roars of laughter, the emotions of the adolescent Cherubino are touching and the final message, beyond denouncing the practices of the Ancien Régime, lends itself to reconciliation, a wholesome humanist message! If the Emperor Joseph II accepted what seemed to be a warning to the aristocracy at the dawn of the French Revolution, it was because Mozart skilfully concealed such political remarks underneath a hilarious comedy. The beauty of its arias and ensembles, the extraordinary orchestral score and the perfect dramatic balance show the musician at the very summit of his art.

This new production by the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège takes us back to one of the greatest masterpieces of musical history.