The Marriage of Figaro is an opera buffa in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with a libretto in Italian by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a French play by Beaumarchais. It tells of a single day in the household of Count Almaviva, in which his valet Figaro and the maid Susanna plan to marry and outwit the count, who tries to seduce her. Beaumarchais's play had been banned in Vienna because of its criticism of the nobility, so Da Ponte removed the most overtly political passages. The opera was a success in Vienna and an even greater one in Prague, which led to the commission of Don Giovanni. Today it is one of the most performed operas in the world.
Before and after
- 18 September 1783Death of Leonhard Euler
- 24 November 1784Birth of Zachary Taylor
- from 1785 to 2017Chechen–Russian conflict
- from 1785 to 1925Qajar dynasty
- 1785Publication of The Marriage of Figaro
- from 1785 to 1795Northwest Indian War
- 1 January 1785Launch of The Times
- 7 March 1785Birth of Alessandro Manzoni
- 1786Founding of Reykjavík
More in Art, literature & culture
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- 7 May 1824Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premieres
- 26 November 1865Publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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- from 1886 to 1905Rise of Post-impressionism
- from 6 April 1896 to 15 April 18961896 Summer Olympics
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.
