As anyone who reads my blogs knows, I love opera and get a lot of inspiration from it for my writing. But much of the opera cannon was written after the era in which my books are set. So it’s a particular treat for me to see an opera that’s old enough I can reference it in my books. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro is one of my favorite operas. In fact I have a sequence set at a performance of it in the book I’m currently working on. The opera houses of Mozart’s day were much smaller than most of today’s major U.S. opera houses. So it was a particular treat for me recently to see a production of The Marriage of Figaro close up in an intimate venue.
The production by the B.A.C.H. (Bay Area Classical Harmonies) had a fresh, vibrant feel, thanks to an enthusiastic young cast. It was directed by Eugenia Arsenis, an alumna of the Merola Opera Program. Last week I had the chance to sit down with Jenny and talk about creating the world of Figaro, Susanna, Count Almaviva, the Countess (Rosina), Cherubino, and the other memorable characters in the piece. Jenny talked about the theatricality of opera and said that as a director she tries to focus on characters and their interactions. She explained that she used small details to underline the personalities of the characters. Such as the wedding veil Susanna is trying on in the opening scene that weaves through the story. In this production, on a spare black box set with sumptuous costumes, this attention to detail did a wonderful job of grounding the story. A single chair which Cherubino hid behind and around defined the Countess’s boudoir and brought wonderful comedy to one of the opera’s key scenes.
One of the delights of live theater is that one can observe the whole scene, instead of focusing on close-ups of the central characters. The cast in this production were a lot of fun to watch as everyone in the ensemble reacted to the intricate unfolding plot. The characters in Figaro, as Jenny pointed out, are an intelligent group. Even the Countess, who in the end forgives her chronically philandering husband (in sublimely beautiful music), does so with her eyes open. “It’s her decision to forgive him,” Jenny said. I once heard a master coach comment that in a successful production of Figaro, the audience doesn’t laugh when the Count says “Contessa, perdono,” because, though one has little faith in the future, in the moment he truly believes it. In this production, no one laughed.
The Marriage of Figaro is based on the second in a trilogy of plays by Beaumarchais (about thirty years later, Rossini turned the first play in the trilogy into his opera The Barber of Seville). The Beaumarchais plays were quite socially radical in pre-Revolution France, featuring an aristocrat who abuses his power and a valet who is both smarter and more honorable than his master. The social satire is toned down somewhat in Mozart’s opera but still there. Naturally, the opera and the plays would appeal to Charles and Mélanie. Mozart’s opera and the Beaumarchais trilogy play an important role in the Charles and Mélanie books. Mélanie’s middle name is Suzanne after Figaro’s sweetheart (Suzanne in the plays, Susanna in the opera). Colin names his stuffed bear Figaro. Charles remembers reading the Beaumarchais plays with Raoul as a boy. In Secrets of a Lady Charles thinks how he knows the precise chord in “Dove Sono”, the Countess’s aria in the opera in which she mourns the lost happy days early in her marriage (which seemed particularly appropriate for Mel, though the circumstances of the marriage are very different).
I emerged from this Figaro production inspired to write and actually found that I had a solved a plot problem. Writers, do you get inspirations from seeing plays/operas written in the era in which you write? Readers, do you like scenes set at the opera/theater? Does it enrich your reading experience to see performances of plays/operas you’ve read about in historical novels?
Be sure to check out this week’s Fraser Correspondence addition. It’s more Mélanie and Raoul’s coded exchange, this time his response to her letter from last week.
October 6, 2009 at 8:15 pm
The fact that I have a former actress (Marguerite) and an opera singer (Geneviève) in this draft is really showing me up on my lack of knowledge, so I’m currently trying to expose myself to more of the theatre and music of both pre-Revolutionary and Restoration France.
When I started the draft, I knew that both Marguerite and Geneviève played in Figaro, but in the different versions (and also in different roles). It’s one of the things that draws them together, but also creates some underlying jealousy between them.
I love plays-within-novels as well as plays-within-plays (or movies). There’s something interesting about the layered fictionality that appeals to me. It makes the fourth wall just that little bit transparent.
October 6, 2009 at 8:49 pm
That’s fascinating about Marguerite and Genevieve. Can say who they each played? (Margo in the play, I assume, and Genevieve in the opera?). I love writing about actors and other performers and I love plays-within-novels (or plays or movies). The new play “Equivocation” by Bill Cain that I blogged about seeing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a fabulous example of a play (or plays)-within-a-play (it’s nominated for a Pulitzer).
I’m always so excited when I get a chance to see a play or opera that would have been performed in “my” era. It was so great to finally see a Gluck opera after reading about Gluck for years (Heyer references Gluck a lot).
October 7, 2009 at 1:45 am
It’s total froth, but “Kiss Me Kate” is a fun play-within-a-play, and it’s got great music to boot. I love the gangsters giving romantic advice, the actors and their egos, and the chance to see Shakespeare and Broadway in one fell swoop — it’s irresistible.
October 7, 2009 at 6:42 am
Thanks for posting, Susan! I love “Kiss Me Kate.” I saw several productions by local groups growing up and I saw the Broadway revival about ten years ago. The script is so clever and the music is gorgeous. I often play the CD when I’m driving to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
October 7, 2009 at 9:43 am
‘Kiss Me Kate’ is one of my favourite musicals, too – I love the film (‘You louse!’), but I also splashed out on a copy of the Rachel York (Broadway?) version on DVD. The film really brought Shakespeare to life for me when I was younger.
One of my random purchases in Paris the year before last was a cardboard cut-out set of the costumes for an eighteenth century production of ‘Figaro’ – such stunning colours and designs! (I bought it at the Comedie Francaise gift shop – couldn’t resist!) I had to Google the play, though.
October 7, 2009 at 4:13 pm
(Margo in the play, I assume, and Genevieve in the opera?).
Indeed. Geneviève plays Cherubino. Marguerite has fluttered back and forth between Suzanne and the Comtesse. I’m drifting toward the Comtesse after reading this post. She also has to continually forgive her husband, if for different reasons.
It was so great to finally see a Gluck opera after reading about Gluck for years (Heyer references Gluck a lot).
Gluck also figures in The Scarlet Pimpernel. It’s during a production or Orpheus and Eurydice that Chauvelin delivers his blackmail. I’ve always loved that detail — a foreshadowing of what Marguerite will go through before she gets Percy back. I’ve always wanted to see a production, but have not yet had the chance.
And now I have “I’ve Come to Wive it Wealthily in Padua” going through my head.
October 7, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I love the film too, Sarah. I didn’t know there was a dvd of the Broadway revival. That would be fun to see.
I’m so jealous of The Marriage of Figaro costumes! That sounds fabulous!
October 7, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Yes, the Comtesse offers very interesting parallels for Marguerite (you could also have had her play the same character as romantic young Rosine in the first play, The Barber of Seville). Btw, in between the second and third plays in the trilogy, the Comtesse and Cherubin (Cherubin in French, Cherubino in Italian) have an affair and an illegitimate child. By the third play, Cherbuin has died in the revolutionary wars. His and the Comtesse’s son falls in love with the Comte’s illegitimate daughter.
I forgot, when I typed the Gluck comment, about Orfeo in TSP. When I reread TSP recently I thought Orfeo & Eurydice was an inspired choice with so many thematic parallels. Two singers in the Merola Opera Program I’m involved with did the duet where Orfeo is leading Eurydice out of Hades in one of our concerts this summer. It was fabulous.
October 7, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I’m getting lots of food for thought here.
I admit, I wasn’t aware of the third play. I’ll have to seek it out once I’m out of the public library’s bad books (my fines are scary). From your little teaser, I’m thinking that having the Marguerite/Geneviève and Comtesse/Cherubin(o) contrast would really add an interesting element to their relationship. And Geneviève’s with Jack, come to think of it.
Thanks again!
October 8, 2009 at 12:11 am
I haven’t read or seen third play, just heard about the story from a friend who’s read it. It was turned into an opera in 1964 by Darius Milhaud, “La mère coupable.”
October 8, 2009 at 12:12 am
p.s.
And yes, from what I know of your book, I think the third play might give you lots of interesting layers.
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