An original poster for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera, The Marriage of Figaro
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The opera “Figaro” starts off with an aria which is explosive in its opening notes. It builds up to an enthusiastic first piece which is called “Cinque, Dieci, Venti, Trenta” (five, ten, twenty, thirty); these being the numbers which Figaro is using to measure a space in the room he hopes will be the one he and his wife to be; Susana will be sleeping in.
It is as Figaro is measuring a space for his wedding bed that his fiancée, Susana enters the room asking him to look at a hat which she has made for herself by saying “guarda un po mi caro Figaro, guarda un, guardo adesso il mio capello”, (take a look at my hat). The music at this point builds up as one can sense the almost ecstatic joy which Figaro and Susana feel knowing that they soon will be man and wife. It being as if they are in a climatic spiral, where things could not get any better than they already are; as they are on the threshold of the most wonderful thing the world has to offer.
Figaro, for his part, on the one hand, is glad that Susana has made herself such a lovely hat and that they will be getting married but on the other hand, is slightly annoyed that she will not let him concentrate on measuring the space in which he has planned to place what will be their wedding bed. Figaro, however, is won over by Susana’s near ecstasy, as he starts singing with her that her hat is indeed beautiful and all would appear to be made just for them in the sheer delight which surrounds them. It is in my opinion that this particular area captures almost to perfection the joy which most couples experience before they are about to get married as well as the general mood which encircles them before such an event.
From my point of view, I also find this opening piece to be the one which sets the tempo of the opera, not only musically but of the story and its eventual happy ending which goes through several moments of humor before Figaro and Susana; can be declared man and wife. Apart from liking this aria another reason why I have chosen to write about it is because the opera “Figaro” will be performed this year in Warsaw’s “Teatr Wielki” for the first time and it is with tremendous hope that I might be escorted by my Joannuszka Slisznuszka that I try to point out the magnificence of this particular piece. It is one of many classics in the opera “Figaro” which in fact is one of Mozart’s most successful operas along with “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”.
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