Mozart

10-08-07

The storyline of Marriage of Figaro is that a lecherous nobleman who wants to renew the custom of the droit du seigneur, that is, the right to sleep with any peasant bride on her wedding night. Tonight, the class saw a modern adaptation of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro which used a modern setting with cameras, soccer balls, and the singers wearing t-shirts. Also, the billboard at the beginning of acts showed a modern-day tabloid with Britney Spears splattered on the cover. Sometimes adaptations done in a modern tone can be tasteful, but this opera flopped as the voices of the opera singers were flat. Still the thirty-three piece orchestra did a nice job playing Mozart’s masterpiece. The seats in the opera house were extremely cramped as there was a lack of leg room. At times, I was sitting on my knees providing relief for my legs. As it is the summer, the State Opera is not in session and it’s too bad because it would have been a treat to see one of the great opera houses of the world put on a performance.

Peter Gay’s biography of Mozart is short and certainly not as extensive as his famous work- a long profile of Sigmund Freud. Still, it addressed the life of Mozart in a manner that made it easy for people to understand. I would recommend it as a read for people who don’t have an extensive background in music. My greatest criticism was that it didn’t give the genesis behind one of Mozart’s most famous pieces, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”. Gay traces the story of a young Mozart who was a child prodigy. Under the tutelage of his father Leopold, who was an accomplished musician himself, he composed his first symphony at the age of five. Leopold, a slick entrepreneur took his son around Europe to accumulate wealth. In Vienna, a young Mozart performed inside the Schonbrunn palace at the age of six. Leopold’s relationship with Mozart not surprisingly gradually deteriorated as he grew older culminating in his refusal to bless the union between Mozart and his future wife - he even refused to babysit Mozart’s kids while the child of his daughter Anna lived in his house. Previously, the relationship between the two grew so strained that when Mozart was in Paris with his mother hoping to nurse her back to health he didn’t notify his father of her death until a couple of months later, perhaps fearful of his father’s reaction. Leopold used Mozart as a scapegoat, blaming him for the rest of his life for the death of his wife as he continuously attacked his son in letters for negligence.

Another interesting point that Gay brings up is that Mozart never was fully accepted in Vienna which was a conservative city that was heavily Catholic and was not ready to accept the ideas of the Enlightment which is why many of his works, most famously “The Marriage of Figaro”, were coolly received. Only in the more progressive Prague, for which he composed “Don Giovanni” was he fully accepted during his time. One might wonder why Mozart elected to remain in Vienna, one has to theorize that it was because Vienna was the music center of Europe and that was where he had the best opportunity to make a comfortable living. Gay noted that Mozart had a lavish lifestyle which included the purchase of a carriage and a pool table, thus he needed the supplementary income.

Finally Gay addresses the myths surrounding the death of Mozart, many of which are made use of in Milos Forman’s Oscar winning film “Amadeus”, based on the play by Peter Schaefer. Mozart did not die a pauper - his wife inherited enough income to live on her own for ten years. While it is true that Mozart’s grave is unmarked and it is uncertain where his final resting place is, it wasn’t because he couldn’t afford a proper burial. The customs of the era were for simple funerals and burials based on laws promulgated by Joseph II – they were certainly not the lavish death arrangements that began during the Bediermeirer era nor the fancy arrangements held before Joseph came to power.

“The Marriage of Figaro” was not the first opera to enter the repertoire of opera houses. However it was the first opera to portray characters in a realistic and sympathetic manner and because of that it is a timeless masterpiece that sings to us across the ages. Previous operas dealt with exotic locales, crazy plots and stereotyped figures. Figaro changed all that and perhaps that’s why it was a flop in Vienna. The work is not mindless entertainment (despite the efforts of current directors) but rather deals with a social problem in which aristocrats used their wealth and social standing to prey upon the lower classes. It hit too close to home for the grandees of that city. The social pressure finally erupted in the French Revolution of 1789 which shook absolutist monarchies to their foundations. Mozart and Da Ponte deal with this class conflict in an artful way that entertains but also teaches. It was tolerated in Vienna because it reinforced Enlightenment views of Joseph II also shared by its creators, Da Ponte and Mozart. But these latter two were no fools. Count Almavira is only defeated temporarily. He waits only for a new opportunity to victimize his subjects.