The Marriage of Figaro is a comic opera in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1, 1786. The opera's libretto is based on the 1784 stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"). It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity.
The opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in the Operabase list of most frequently performed operas.
Cast:
Figaro - Heinz Blankenburg
Susanna - Mirela Freni
Count Almaviva - Gabriel Bacquier
The Countess - Leyla Gencer
Cherubino - Edith Mathis
Silvio Varviso - conductor
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Glyndebourne Chorus
LIVE June 9, 1962