The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro (, ), K. 492, is an opera buffa (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 1 May 1786. The opera's libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, "La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro" ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"), which was first performed in 1784. 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.
I due Figaro (Mercadante)
The manuscript of "I due Figaro" was discovered in 2009 in Madrid by an Italian musicologist. Two years later, on 24 June 2011, the first production of the opera in modern times was presented at the Ravenna Festival, conducted by Riccardo Muti. The music of this opera, enriched by several dances of Spanish sonority but hampered by a libretto at times weak, was judged "lightweight and brilliant, gracefully written, often refined in the effects of the counterpoint, in the intertwining of the internal voices, in the quality of instrumentation and rhythmic inventiveness". The opera is introduced by the "Sinfonia caratteristica spagnola", a lively ouverture based on typical Spanish dances, that obtained a good success and was also printed as a separate piece.