Organization

Stage director

Jagoš Marković

Choreographer

Ferid Karajica

Singer

Baritone

Vladimir Andrić

The Count of Almaviva

Vuk Zekić

Assistant Set designer

Miraš Vuksanović

Lighting designer

Miodrag Milivojević

Conductor

Premil Petrovič

Set designer

Boris Maksimović

Costume designer

Bojana Nikitović

Assistants Director

Aleksandar Nikolić

Assistant Conductor

Ana Zorana Brajović

Stefan Zekić

Bass

Nebojša Babić

Figaro

Vuk Matić

Soprano

Snežana Savičić Sekulić

Susanna

Aneta Ilić

Katarina Jovanovic

The Countess of Almaviva

Ana Petricevic

Mezzo-soprano

Iva Profaca

Cherubino

Željka Zdjelar

Svetlana Bojčević Cicović

Marcelline

Ivanka Raković

Dragoljub Bajić

Bartolo

Tenor

Darko Đorđević

Basilio

Igor Matvejev

Don Curzio

Marija Mitić

Barbarina

Nataša Đikanović

Pavle Žarkov

Antonio

Miloš Đuričić

Luka Pređa

Servants

Vanja Mijailović

National Theatre Belgrade

Others

National Theater in Belgrade

Orchestra

Belgrade National Theatre Orchestra

Le nozze di Figaro -  (The Marriage of Figaro)

Belgrade

Serbia

The National Theater Opera Belgrade

Le nozze di Figaro Mozart

Public

The Marriage of Figaro

Approved

I have always wondered which language we should use to think the Mozart’s Figaro.  Beaumarchais wrote the drama in French, the venue of the play is Spain, Da Ponte wrote the libretto in Italian and a German who lived in Austria-Hungary composed the music. The answer, of course, is that the opera speaks all these languages simultaneously. Mozart’s Figaro is a European opera par excellence.  Mozart spoke fluently several languages and played with them with remarkable skill. Post prandium la sig’ra Catherine chés uns. wir habemus joués colle carte di Tarock. Á sept heur siamo andati spatzieren in den horto aulico. faceva la plus pluchra tempestas von der Welt. Mozart wrote this funny and charming sentence in his sister’s journal. Every word is in different language, but their connection is logical, they make a sentence.The strength that makes a simple collection of words a unity is syntax. Mozart moved in different music traditions, French, German and Italian. However, the thing that gave this heterogeneity its unity was the new form brought by the classical style – a sonnet form. The point of sonnet form is drama – representation of conflicted elements whose tensions intensify and resolve at the end.  Before Mozart’s time, opera used to be a catalogue of systematized, clearly defined effects. Aria was its basic form; arias were presented statically and they clearly defined one or perhaps two emotions – despair and hope, love and sorrow. The actual drama was placed in recitatives. However, Mozart positions drama into music, so the whole ensemble becomes the centre of an opera. The leading actors, as individuals,are each in his/her own affectionate world and they confront each other. Everyone speaks his own language, but they still understand each other. They present a unity. In the utopia of the non-totalitarian totality, the unison rises exactly from the opposed aspirations that are not being sacrificed, and yet they are in harmony.  We can say that the simultaneous differences are basic characteristic of Mozart’s style. The complexity is the other name of Mozart’s. Everything is in constant change, in transformation. The same way the resolved conflict is followed by a new one in an ensemble, no individual situation is one-dimensional because there is simultaneous presentation of individuals and their conflicted interests. As opposed to previous opera tradition where heroes are idealized and represent operatic ideas more than characters;Mozart places living people on stage together with all their contradictions. In the society Mozart creates, everyone speaks his own language and every individual incessantly speaks sentences similar to the one he wrote in his sister’s journal.  In addition, paradoxically, although each character is complex, they keep their clear individuality, their own worlds – Figaro could never sing the Count’s arias, the same way the Countess could not express herself with Susanna’s music. The result of such complexity is that Mozart’s operas never portray completely repulsive characters. When one reads librettos, there is a chance that one might perceive the Count as a man who abuses his social position in order to satisfy his lust, Don Giovanni as an immoral ladies’ man and a murderer,or Don Alfonso as a cynical man who enjoys destroying any trust in men or life. However, when one listens to Mozart’s music, one has full understanding for every situation and has sympathies for each character. Mozart’s music does not interpret the text; it transforms it. Mozart does not design his characters from the perspective of a preconceived general picture; he composes from the situation here-and-now for each character. By creating his characters from within, from themselves, he does not pass judgment. Mozart creates living people.  Cooperation between Mozart and Da Ponte represents the unity of great music and superb text in operatic literature. The three operas they created together, Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, represent the whole universe of characters, emotions and interpersonal relationships. Basic themes in these operas,manners of existence and policies of seduction, are being presented as issues without answers. Finales in Mozart’s operas do not have the usual function to resolve tensions at the end. The operas remain completely open, just like situations in life. Everything ends in harmony; there is wholeness although the problems have not actually been resolved. Mozart’s operas portray life and give comfort. This is why Mozart’s music has always been popular.This is why Mozart’s music has always been popular.This is why Mozart’s music has always been popular.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble