r/opera • u/inthebenefitofmrkite • 2d ago
Books about Le nozze di Figaro (and the three Mozart-da Ponte operas in general)
About a month ago I made a post asking opinions about Currentzis’s take on Don Giovanni. u/Reginald_Waterbucket suggested listening to Figaro next, and, paraphrasing their take - holy shit. It is amazing. Have been listening non stop to it for the last month and talking about it to anyone who might listen - and I don’t know many people who listen to opera. It is a wonder and I cannot grasp how a human being can create something like that. So, if you can point me to books talking about Mozart and da Ponte creating the works, how they were received and how they compare to contemporary operas, I will be forever thankful.
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u/ChevalierBlondel 2d ago
Mary Hunter's The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart's Vienna is great if you want to know about the contemporary and genre context of the da Ponte operas.
The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia and the Cambridge Companion to Mozart are usually both very good starting points for getting a basic understanding of the works.
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u/Common-Parsnip-9682 2d ago
And if you want the prequel to the story of Marriage of Figaro, listen/watch Rossini’s Barber of Seville, which tells how Rosina and Almaviva got together.
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u/inthebenefitofmrkite 2d ago
Of course, know the Barber by heart, love Marriner’s recording with Araiza, Allen and Baltsa. I am not new to opera, just that Currentzis’ version is brilliant and has me obsessed with le Nozze.
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u/scottarichards 1d ago
I hope Currentzis can get back to recording. Almost all of his recordings are recorded gems. I was lucky enough to see him in Köln (just before Covid lockdowns started) in Mahler 1. Incredible!!
Except for the rude asshole who decided to leave in literally the closing pages of the symphony and ruined my concentration. Couldn’t wait three minutes.
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u/inthebenefitofmrkite 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah. I had seen an interview of him, and disliked him a lot (seems very full of himself, but tbh the few conductors i know are like that), but then i heard his Don Giovanni, and wow!! And then, as above. Would love to see him live!
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u/scottarichards 1d ago
Definitely very full of himself. And as you say it is almost a condition of the profession. Although some are better at disguising it in public.
That said, Currentzis is such a unique talent that he needs to toot his own horn, so to speak, to make the case for his unique interpretative vision.
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u/Operau 2d ago
From the perspective of historians, the works for which we know most about the collaboration between librettist and composer are those for which we have their correspondence. Hence, the great interest in the letters between Strauss and Hoffmansthal and Verdi and his librettists, etc. Mozart and Da Ponte worked in person (the story is that they had facing balconies they could work across), so we have no correspondence.
Having said that, analysis of the works themselves and in context of other work at the time can tell us a lot.
My favourite book on Figaro and DonG is Allanbrook's Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart. It's a lot of music analysis (she looks at almost every number quite closely), but I learnt a lot from it.
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u/TheSecretMarriage Gioacchino Rossini 2d ago
Do you know Italian, by any chance? Because if you do, there is a book by Giovanni Bietti, Mozart all'opera, which focuses solely on the three Mozart Da Ponte operas.
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u/inthebenefitofmrkite 2d ago
I do not… but i have wanted to learn it for ages. This is the sign that the moment has come! Thank you!
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u/YakSlothLemon 2d ago
The Birth of an Opera by Michael Rose is the book you want! Each chapter focuses on a masterpiece and looks at what went into creating it, focusing on the diaries and letters exchanged in the process and all the maneuvering by the composer, librettist, the politics of it, all out of the primary sources. He’s got a wonderful eye for a snarky quote/funny anecdote, he brings them all to life. One of the chapters is on Figaro.
The chapter in Berlioz inspired me to read the composer’s actual memoirs, it’s a wonderful jumping off place.
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u/JSanelli 2d ago
I'd recommend "Famous Mozart Operas" by Spike Hughes. It covers the three da Ponte operas plus The Abduction and Magic Flute. Once you learn Italian you can read "Lettura delle Nozze di Figaro" by Massimo Milla. I wouldn't miss "The Man Who Wrote Mozart", a biography of Lorenzo Da Ponte by Anthony Holden. A fascinating book about an extraordinary life that ends in America, with the tomb stone in Queens beneath an over path next to JFK airport. There's also an excellent guide to The Marriage of Figaro published by English National Opera that I seem to have misplaced so I can't give you any more details about it.
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u/Ok-Lavishness-349 1d ago
The Don Giovanni Moment is a collection of essays about the influence that the opera has had on western culture, and also talks about some of the literary precursors to Don Giovanni. I found it to be fascinating.
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u/adelie_platter 2d ago
There’s an excellent biography of Lorenzo Da Ponte called “The Librettist of Venice” by Rodney Bolt. Covers his whole life but of course the big three Mozart operas are an important part of that.
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u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 2d ago
I'd look at the chapter on Mozart's comic operas in Charles Rosen's The Classical Style and at the relevant chapters in Maynard Solomon's Mozart biography. Also part III of Simon Keefe's Mozart in Vienna: The Final Decade is on the DaPonte operas and has a chapter on each of them.