Motivation/Role Play Exercises
Droit du Seigneur and Class Struggle
Act II Finale:

Droit du Seigneur and Class Struggle

In the first scene of the opera, it is the morning of the upcoming wedding of Figaro to Susanna. They are preparing the room they are going to occupy after the wedding. In the duet "Se a caso madama" ("Supposing my lady"), Figaro is delighted with the room, but Susanna, his fiancee, is concerned that it's too close to the Count's room. In a jaunty melody, Figaro describes how near she would be to the Countess if she should ring for her (Ex. 1a).

In a minor key variation of this melody, Susanna points out to him that the Count has shown her some interesting attentions and might send Figaro far away on an errand and ring for her (Ex. 1b).

The major/minor juxtaposition clearly contrasts their differing perceptions of the proximity of their room to their masters. Once Figaro realizes the extent of Susanna's concern he sings "Se vuol ballare" ("If you wish to dance"). He says he is ready to challenge and outwit the Count. This aria is in the style and meter of an 18th century minuet in 3/4 time. But the insistent repeated notes, accompanied by a French horn suggest the ominous threat behind Figaro's words (Ex. #2).

In a scene worthy of a television sit-com, the young adolescent page boy Cherubino (sung by a mezzo-soprano in a typical trouser role of the time) has sung his new love song to Susanna. The Count arrives to flirt with Susanna and Cherubino has to hide behind a chair. When Don Basilio arrives, the Count too has to hide behind the same chair, while Cherubino slips into the chair and is quickly covered by a large cloth. When Basilio says to Susanna that they are all talking about the Count, he steps out from his hiding place. He then re-enacts how he found Cherubino hiding just the other day. Of course, Cherubino is discovered once again. The Count decides to get rid of him once and for all by making him a captain in his army. In perhaps the most famous aria of the entire opera, Figaro sings "Non piu andrai" ("From now on"), a mock-military aria describing what Cherubino is in for in the army. The form of this aria is a traditional rondo form (A B A C A coda) with the famous A melody outlining the C major arpeggio, especially in measures 1, 4, 5 and 6 (Ex. #3).

The Count is a man of powerful passions and is determined to get his way with Susanna. In a playful duet at the beginning of Act III, he arranges to meet her in the garden that evening. She teases him by responding "yes" to his "you'll come?" and "no" to "you will not fail me", but then coquettishly answers "no" to his next "you'll come" (Ex. #4).

She subsequently repeats this byplay with "yes" when he entreats "you will not fail me." After she departs, the Count expresses his pain that a mere servant of his, Figaro, could be happy with her while he, the Count, is unhappy with his wife, the Countess (the Rosina he wooed throughout The Barber of Seville). Note the following 3 points in his aria which express his outrage: a wide leap greater than an octave on the phrase "you were not born to cause me torment" (Ex. #5a), followed by a chromatic rise of the melody in the subsequent phrase (Ex. #5b), and concluding with a fiery coloratura run and trill in his final line expressing jubilation that he will get his revenge over Figaro (Ex. 5c).

The plan to outwit the Count and to thwart his machinations is for Susanna to disguise herself as the Countess and meet him in the garden that night. In the famous "Letter Duet", "Sull'aria" ("To the zephyr"), the Countess dictates the letter to Susanna (Ex. #6a).

As an excuse to reprise this simple yet beautiful melody, Mozart and his librettist Da Ponte arrange for the letter to be read back, to be sure Susanna took it down correctly. Note how Susanna's entrance overlaps that of the Countess exactly 1 measure later (Ex. 6b).

After much intrigue and disguise, the Count gets his comeuppance in Act IV when he discovers he has been wooing his own wife (disguised as Susanna). He is prodded on first by Susanna, then Figaro and finally by eveyone present. At first he refuses with 6 emphatic statements of "No!" But his womanizing has finally been exposed in front of his entire court and he has been thoroughly humiliated. He, who refused forgiveness of the Countess when she was falsely accused by him of carrying on with Cherubino, now falls to his knees and begs her pardon. In a sudden change of tempo from the allegro assai which precedes this moment to andante, in a simple yet poignant melody, the Count asks for forgiveness (Ex. #7a).

His plea is short but moving and so convinces her (and us) of his sincerity, that in the next phrase she answers that she is kinder than he and will say "yes" (Ex. #7b).

Act II Finale:

The style in Mozart's time was to write individual set pieces--arias, duets, small ensembles, each one coming to a conclusion and separated from the next set piece by recitative--sung declamation, usually accompanied by simple chords on a harpsichord. Mozart's finales however are much more elaborate and extended. In the case of this opera, the 2nd act finale is considered a masterpiece of plot development and musical continuity--87 consecutive pages of score lasting 20 minutes or so. It starts with two characters and with the entrance of each new character, usually just one at a time, there is a key change, a tempo change and a new wrinkle in the ever-thickening plot. In fact, the finale is a miniature opera within itself. First a little background is necessary to set it up.

Cherubino, who was marched out by Figaro at the end of Act I to join the Count's army as a captain, never left the premises. In the beginning of Act II he has come to show off his new love song to the Countess. But with a knock on the door by the Count, Cherubino is hidden in the next room and the door is locked. When the Countess refuses to open the door, the Count suspects that she has a lover and goes to get some tools to break down the door. Meanwhile, unknown to everyone (except for the audience, of course) Susanna saves the day by taking the place of Cherubino who has jumped out of the window. When the Count and Countess return, the finale proper begins. It starts in the key of E flat major with an allegro tempo. The Count is angry and insists that whoever is in the side room emerge. He sings a dotted rhythm with determination and a threat of violence (Ex. #8a).

Later in this duet he threatens death to the culprit hiding inside while the Countess responds in sequence to the same melody that he has blind jeolousy (Ex. #8b).

Just as the Count is ready to break down the door, the Countess admits that it is no one other than Cherubino inside and pleads that he is innocent of any wrongdoing. However, it is Susanna who suddenly emerges to the surprise of the two of them. The key has moved up an interval of a 5th to B flat major and the tempo has calmed down to andante con moto (Ex. #9).

The Countess is just as surprised as the Count and when he goes in to check if anyone is in the room, the tempo changes back to allegro as Susanna tells the Countess that Cherubino escaped by jumping out of the window. The ensemble has gone from a duet to a trio with the Countess and Susanna singing in harmonious 3rds as they declare that if the Count wants forgiveness for his accusations, then he too must forgive (Ex. #10).

There is the briefest of pauses when Figaro enters, oblivious to all that has transpired. He is in a jolly mode ready for his wedding. There is a key change to G major and Figaro sings that the band is ready (Ex. #11).

But the Count is in no rush as he slows the pace down from allegro to andante as the key moves down a 5th to C major. He wants to know what Figaro knows about a certain note (Ex. #12). The Countess and Susanna try to prompt him that he wrote it himself, but before the Count can probe any deeper the plot takes a new twist. The ensemble has thickened into a quartet.

The gardener Antonio enters with a broken pot exclaiming that someone jumped out of the window and landed in the flower bed. He looks disheveled and is partially tipsy so it will be easy to manipulate his story in any direction. The music accompanying his testimony is a swirl of triplets and the tempo has been upgraded from allegro to allegro molto. The key has moved down another 5th to F major. Gradually rising in pitch, Antonio describes what he saw fall or jump out of the window (Ex. #13).

Figaro, sizing up his testimony, declares that it was he himself who jumped. But Antonio exclaims that the person he saw was much smaller. Figaro retorts that after jumping one looks very small and furthermore, how can one believe a gardener who is tipsy from morning till night? Figaro even starts to limp in a lame attempt to show that he hurt his foot as he landed. But Antonio has some papers that he found in the garden that, therefore, must belong to him. The tempo changes to andante ma non troppo and the key drops another 5th to B flat major as an insistent rhythmic figure in the orchestra (Ex. #14) underscores the ensuing ensemble which has become a quintet.

How will Figaro wiggle out of this one? Finally it dawns on the Countess that the documents that were dropped were Cherubino's commission and that they needed sealing. Eventually through whispers from the Countess to Susanna to Figaro, he gets the message and confounds the Count with a plausible explanation for having those papers. Antonio exits without his having convinced the Count that it must have been Figaro who jumped.

Enter Bartolo, Basilio and Marcellina to complicate the plot further as the key drops another 5th bringing us back to the starting key of the finale, Eb major. The tempo is back to andante assai. It seems that as a last resort the Count has sent for Marcellina and friends because she has a document showing that Figaro once lent her money and promised to pay it back. If he defaults on this loan, he promised to marry her. First Marcellina then Bartolo then Basilio, in rapid tongue-twisting patter explain this complexity (Ex. #15).

The act concludes with a septet of confusion and consternation. Although 7 are singing, there are basically 2 sides: The Count, Marcellin, Bartolo and Basilio demand that justice be done while Figaro, Susanna and the Countess feel they are beaten, that they don't stand a chance against these aristocrats. In a final prestissimo the second act concludes in a state of agitated but musically organized confusion.