Although instrumental music became the focal point of classicism, a good number of significant vocal and choral works were also produced. Opera was quite important in Vienna and especially at the Esterházy palace. Although masses and oratorios were no longer as significant or numerous as in earlier periods, they were still being produced.

     One of Haydn’s chief duties was to compose and produce operas for the prince. The twenty or so works he composed were quite popular in his time. The Austrian empress Maria-Theresa was quick to praise his works. Today, however, they are forgotten.

     Haydn did, however produce several significant choral works that are still performed today. One of his most frequently performed choral works is the “Lord Nelson Mass,” more properly titled Missa in angustiis  (Mass in Time of Peril).  

     The master of opera during the classical era, though, was Mozart, who created masterworks in all forms of opera--opera seria, opera buffa, and singspiel. The most enduring and successful of these masterpieces is arguably his opera buffa, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). It was first produced in 1786, with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.

     Based on the play by Beaumarchais, the plot is a complex series of mistaken identities, miscommunications, and hilarious antics. Beneath it, though, is a poignant love story. The setting is the estate of Count Almaviva, a Spanish noble living in Seville. The count’s servant, Figaro wants to marry the Countess Almaviva’s maid, Susanna. The count openly agrees to this arrangement, even giving up his feudal right of prima notte (the master’s right to sleep with the bride on her wedding night!). Secretly, however, he lusts after Susanna and wants to arrange a rendevous with her in the garden. This is all set up in the first act. The next three acts involve Susannah, who is aware of the count’s wicked intentions, scheming with her mistress to thwart the count’s plans and show him for a fool. The countess, who is still deeply in love with her husband, hopes this will bring him to his senses and that he will ask her forgiveness. Along the way the women run into interference from Cherubino, the count’s page who shows up at the most inopportune times, and from Figaro who, although good-hearted, is slow to understand what is going on. Susanna has a momentary setback, too, when the count’s housekeeper, Marcellina, shows up with a contract indicating that Figaro has to repay a debt or marry her.

     Although Beaumarchais’s original intention was to mock the aristocracy, Mozart turns the drama into one of love and forgiveness. About three hours in length, the opera is filled with some of Mozart’s finest melodies, which bring the characters to life.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

1. Composers carefully chose voice ranges and qualities for their characters. Trouser roles (for women playing male characters) were quite common. This was not connected to the earlier use of castrati, because no female voice could duplicate the sound of the castrato. In this case Mozart used the soprano to create the higher pitch and excitement of a teenage boy who is in love with the idea of love. The vocal range and quality (timbre) were the most important considerations.

2. Beaumarchais’s play The Marriage of Figaro was one of a set of three that were all intended as affronts to the aristocracy. These plays created scandal throughout Europe. The emperor had the plays banned in Vienna. Mozart and da Ponte, however, changed the focus and omitted some of the more scandalous material. Mozart’s genius is never more present than in his operas in which he deftly created real, living characters. A wonderful moment in Nozze is the opening of Act II when the countess is introduced through the aria “Porgi amor” (“Oh Love, Give Me Some Remedy”). This is a woman who is clearly grief stricken. She deeply loves her husband but realizes that he is unfaithful. With a very simple (and memorable) melody, Mozart communicates all this to an audience even if they can’t understand Italian.

3. Although Nozze is an opera buffa, that doesn’t mean there aren’t moments of great pathos or seriousness (as above). The style or musical approach had as much to do with the categorization as did overall plot. Don Giovanni is an opera buffa, but it has an incredibly dark plot. The don is more than a scoundrel, he is a rapist and an abuser as well as a murderer. 

FURTHER TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What might be the reason that Haydn’s operas are no longer performed?

2. What is the primary thesis of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro?

3. How did Mozart musically match the character to the type of aria he/she sings?