Pierre Beaumarchais
In 1786, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed an opera, "Le Nozze di Figaro", based on "The Marriage of Figaro", with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte based on the play. Several composers including Paisiello in 1782 wrote operas based on "The Barber of Seville". Rossini's 1816 version is his most successful work and still often performed. In 1966, Darius Milhaud composed an opera, "La mère coupable", based on "The Guilty Mother".
Gustav Mahler
Early in 1902 Mahler met Alfred Roller, an artist and designer associated with the Vienna Secession movement. A year later, Mahler appointed him chief stage designer to the Hofoper, where Roller's debut was a new production of "Tristan und Isolde". The collaboration between Mahler and Roller created more than 20 celebrated productions of, among other operas, Beethoven's "Fidelio", Gluck's "Iphigénie en Aulide" and Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro". In the "Figaro" production, Mahler offended some purists by adding and composing a short recitative scene to Act III.