Berlin Opera Academy
Tormey Woods performed in the title role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s comedic opera The Marriage of Figaro, on 13 July 2019 with the Berlin Opera Academy in the Theatre Im Delphi, a former silent movie theatre, in Berlin, Germany. They sang under the baton of Peter Leonard, whose many claims to fame include being the General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the North German Philharmonic.
You can watch Tormey singing Se vuol ballare, of Mozart’s one of the arias of The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro in Italian) above or read a summary of the opera and see a selection of arias and photos for each act below. Tormey is incredibly grateful for the support of the Ian Donald Wilson Memorial Scholarship for allowing him to pursue this wonderful opportunity and for the support of the talented and dedicated team at the Berlin Opera Academy.
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Opera Cast
The production was sung in Italian performed by an international cast, with performers from the UK, France, Belgium, Brazil, Sweden, the United States, China, Puerto Rico and Kyrgyzstan.
The Marriage of Figaro was conducted by Peter Leonard and performed by the Berlin Opera Academy orchestra, comprised of students from all over the world who’d been selected to perform for The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute.
The production was directed by Nina Brazier, who’s fast paced and dynamic staging made sure the audience was always engaged.
|
Role |
Performer |
Voice Type |
|
Figaro |
Bass |
|
|
Susanna |
Elen Lloyd Roberts |
Soprano |
|
Count Almaviva |
Rui Ma |
Baritone |
|
Contessa Almaviva |
Soprano |
|
|
Cherubino, the page |
Soprano |
|
|
Marcellina, Doctor Bartolo's housekeeper |
Kate Wiswell |
Mezzo-Soprano |
|
Don Bartolo, doctor and lawyer |
Katagan Zhumagulov |
Bass |
|
Don Basilio, music teacher |
Tenor |
|
|
Don Curzio, judge |
Mikael Englund |
Tenor |
|
Barbarina Susanna’s cousin |
Luisa Pimenta |
Soprano |
|
Antonio, gardener |
Carlos René García Santiago |
Bass |
|
Choir & Orchestra |
|
Summary of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro is a comedic Italian opera in four acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and premiered in Vienna in 1786 as Le Nozze di Figaro.
It is the sequel to The Barber of Seville and tells the events of “The Mad Day”, where the servants Figaro and Susanna attempt to get married, while having to foil the efforts of their philandering employer, Count Almaviva, who is threatening to bring back an old law allowing him to bed a servant on her wedding night.
The issue is largely resolved during Act 2. Much of the third and fourth act is about Countess Almaviva’s efforts to regain Count Almaviva’s love and the opera as a whole explores love in its many guises.
“In the turbine of feelings, characters are moved by love in its various meanings – pure erotic quintessence (Cherubino), sexual drive (Conte), nostalgia of lost happiness (Contessa), family and bourgeois affection (Figaro and Susanna) – but anyway, pointed toward the search of happiness.”
Law and Opera, edited by Filippo Annunziata, Giorgio Fabio Colombo
Act 1
A very complicated marriage!
In the duet “Cinque, dieci, venti”, Figaro (Tormey Woods) measures the space where the bridal bed will be while Susanna (Elen Lloyd Roberts) tries on her wedding bonnet. In “Se a caso madama la notte ti chiama” Figaro seems happy with their new room, but Susanna is concerned that it is so close to Count Almaviva’s chamber and tells Figaro that the Count has been making advances toward her and plans on exercising his droit du seigneur, which would allow him to bed Susanna on her wedding night.
Figaro then sings "Se vuol ballare signor contino" (If you want to dance, sir count) and promises to outwit Count Almaviva before exiting the stage.
Figaro had previously borrowed money from Marcellina (Kate Wiswell) and promised to marry her if he couldn’t repay it. Dr. Bartolo (Katagan Zhumagulov), due to a previous grudge against Susanna, offers to help her pro bono, then singing his aria "La vendetta" (Vengeance).
The sarcastic duet of an exchange of compliments "Via resti servita, madama brillante" (After you, brilliant madam) between Susanna and Marcellina follows. Susanna wins by “complimenting” Marcellina’s age and Marcellina leaves.
The young page Cherubino (Sophie Kidwell) arrives seeking Susanna’s advice. In "Non so più cosa son" we learn that he is besotted with all women, particularly Countess Almaviva, and the Count wants to send him away. Count Almaviva (Rui Ma) himself then arrives, trying to court Susanna, and Cherubino hides.
Don Basilio (Mikael Englund), the music teacher arrives, forcing the Count to also hide and when the music teacher mentions Cherubino’s crush on the Countess, the Count leaps out, singing "Cosa sento!" (What do I hear?!) The Count soon discovers Cherubino hiding, but Cherubino is saved by the arrival of the peasants of the Count’s estate who arrive at Figaro’s prompting to demand that Susanna will enter the marriage unsullied.
The Count postpones an answer and sends Cherubino to join the army in Seville. Figaro gives Cherubino mocking advice about military life in the aria "Non più andrai" (No more gallivanting).
Act 2
Schemes and counter-schemes
The second act opens with the Countess expressing her sorrows, caused by her husband’s lost love for her in "Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro” ("Grant, love, some comfort"). As Susanna enters the room to get dressed, she reveals to the Countess her husband’s intentions towards herself.
Luckily, to thwart the Count’s plans to bed Susanna on her wedding night, Figaro, entering the room, has a plan. He wrote an anonymous letter that he gave to Basilio for the Count, in which it says that the Countess has an amorous encounter with another man planned for that very night, hoping that this will distract him long enough for the ceremony to proceed undisturbed. Figaro has a second plan: dress Cherubino as a lady in order to seduce the Count and catch him courting another woman.
Figaro, briefly singing “Se vuol ballare, signor Contino" (If you want to dance, signor Contino) again, leaves and in comes Cherubino, on board with Figaro’s plan. Susanna asks him to sing his song for the Countess, "Voi che sapete che cosa è amor" ("You ladies who know what love is, is it what I'm suffering from?"), in which he professes his love for all women. The Countess learns of Cherubino’s fate by reading his military commission. But in his haste, the Count did not put his seal on the document, rendering it unofficial, at least for now.
The ladies then proceed with the plan, Susanna singing "Venite, inginocchiatevi" ("Come, kneel down before me). She leaves to get a dress for Cherubino, leaving him and the Countess alone. The Count then knocks on the door, locked from the inside. In a panic, the Countess hides Cherubino in her closet and lets her husband in. Seeing her agitation, the Count becomes suspicious, especially since some noise is coming from the closet. The Count questions his wife, tries to open the closet but fails to do so. Upon ordering her to open it she refuses and tells him it is only Susanna trying on her wedding dress. At the same time, Susanna comes back, unseen by the Count. She hides and waits but the Count insists on seeing who is in the closet in the aria "Susanna, or via, sortite!" ("Susanna, come out!"). He requests that Countess go with him to get the tools to open it. Reluctantly, she follows him and they leave, locking the maid and the page in the room.
Susanna and Cherubino exit from their hiding places. Bravely, Cherubino jumps out the window to escape during the duet "Aprite, presto, aprite" ("Open the door, quickly!") and Susanna then hides in the closet in order to make a fool of the count.
The Count and his wife come back, and not knowing what happened, she confesses to her husband about Cherubino hiding in the closet. The Count shouts for the page to come out in "Esci omai, garzon malnato" ("Come out of there, you ill-born boy!"). He then opens the closet only to find Susanna. Quickly, Susanna and Countess dupe him by saying they invented the Cherubino story to expose how jealous and untrusting he was towards his wife. He apologizes profusely, still astounded. When he asks about that letter he received about Countess’ unfaithfulness, the ladies reveal Figaro’s part in the scheme.
Figaro comes back, about to get on with the wedding festivities. But before proceeding, the Count asks Figaro about the letter. He denies any part in it, until the ladies subtly tell him the Count knows everything. He then fully admits it and as things start making sense for the Count, Antonio the gardener arrives. He is angry because a boy jumped from the Countess’ window and broke his flowers, dropping a piece a paper in the process - Cherubino’s unsealed military commission.
Figaro takes the fall, dismissing the gardener as a drunk and claiming it was he himself who had jumped, but the Count does not believe him. He then asks Figaro what is the piece of paper, to which Figaro says that the page gave it to him in order to get the seal.
As the Count’s suspicions fade away, Marcellina and Bartolo enter the room demanding that Figaro marries Marcellina in exchange for the money he borrowed and could not repay. The act closes on one group, the Countess, Susanna and Figaro, singing their demise and the other group, Marcellina, Bartolo and the Count, claiming their victory.
Act 3
Two weddings for the price of one
The third act opens to a large and stylish room. The Count broods over the complicated situation that he has to make a decision about. Then Susanna arrives, following her mistress' instructions. She promises the Count to meet him that night. A back and forth engages between the two of them in the duet: "Crudel! perchè finora" ("Cruel girl, why did you make me wait so long?"), the Count wanting to make sure that Susanna is not just taunting him.
This dance stops when Figaro enters, the Count hides while Susanna whispers to him that he has won his case. The Count hears it and decides to avenge himself in his aria "Hai già vinta la causa! ... Vedrò, mentr'io sospiro" ("You've already won the case!" ... "Shall I, while sighing, see"): Figaro must pay Marcellina or marry her.
When the ruling is made public, Marcellina and Bartolo are thrilled, Figaro not so much. In order to delay the wedding, he says that being of noble birth, he cannot marry without the consent of his parents, which he was taken from as an infant. Upon hearing that story, Marcellina realizes that Figaro is in fact her kidnapped boy Raffaelo. She tells Figaro that she is his mother, that Bartolo is his father, and the family rejoices and embraces.
Susanna comes back with enough money to pay Figaro's debt, but she sees him in Marcellina's arms and gets angry at how Figaro replaced her so quickly. He tries to explain in vain and she slaps him. Marcellina calms her down and explains the whole situation. Her marriage is no longer threatened, and Bartolo proposes to Marcellina in honor of their old romance. So it is decided that two weddings will be taking place that day. Joyful, they all sing "Riconosci in questo amplesso" ("Recognize in this embrace").
Everyone leaves the room, Barbarina, the gardener's daughter, enters followed by Cherubino whom she is about to transform into a woman, following the Countess' plan.
They exit the stage and the Countess appears, singing about her pain and sadness, and then of her plan to be with her husband instead of Susanna in her aria entitled "Dove sono i bei momenti" ("Where are they, the beautiful moments"). In the meantime, Antonio the gardener comes back and informs the Count that Cherubino has not followed orders and is in his house, with his daughter, dressed as a girl. The Count, furious, leaves.
The Countess and Susanna resume their plan and together write a love letter for the Count, telling him to meet in the garden tonight in their duet "Sull'aria...che soave zeffiretto" ("On the breeze... What a gentle little zephyr"). They decide to seal the letter with a pin that the Count is supposed to return to Susanna.
A group of ladies of the court appear to sing for the Countess, but among these ladies is Cherubino. Antonio arrives and exposes him, which makes the Count even angrier. But, to his rescue, the young Barbarina implores the Count to let Cherubino stay and marry her, in the name of the promises the Count made to her during their previous amorous moments. He reluctantly accepts.
Everyone is now present on the stage, and the marriages can proceed. During the festivities that Figaro announces ("Ecco la marcia”: "Here is the procession"), Susanna gives the love letter to the Count, who pricks his finger on the pin. Figaro discreetly mocks him for getting this love letter, not knowing it came from Susanna. The court dances and celebrates the marriages as the act draws to a close.
Act 4
Softly, softly
In the last act of Mozart's opera, the curtain opens on a garden, as we see Barbarina lamenting on her demise in "L'ho perduta, me meschina" ("I have lost it, poor me"). Indeed, she has lost the pin that the Count asked her to give to Susanna, as her letter instructed. Figaro enters, finds the pin and recognizes it from the ceremony. He understands that Susanna is the one who wrote the love note to the Count and he vows to take his revenge on the Count and Susanna.
He complains about it to his mother, who advises him to be patient and prudent, but furious, he storms off.
Figaro reemerges alone, hiding and waiting for Susanna and the Count to appear. In "Tutto è disposto ... Aprite un po' quegli occhi" ("Everything is ready ... Open those eyes a little") Figaro directs his aria to the audience and proclaims how women are sirens who only want to draw men in with their voices and tear them apart.
Three ladies arrive: Marcellina, Susanna and the Countess. The Countess and Susanna have exchanged their clothes in an attempt to pass for the other in the eyes of their husbands. Marcellina warns them that Figaro is hiding somewhere, suspicious of Susanna. Susanna, once her two accomplices leave, sings her love in "Deh vieni, non tardar" ("Oh come, don't delay"). Figaro hears it but thinks it is for the Count, making him even more furious.
Susanna leaves as the Countess, dressed as Susanna, comes back and waits for the Count while everyone else is hiding. Cherubino appears on stage and tries to obtain the favors of the one he believes to be Susanna, being quite insistent as we can hear in his singing "Pian pianin le andrò più presso" ("Softly, softly I'll approach her"). The Count, upon seeing what is happening, yells at him. Figaro gets closer to get a better view. The Count chases Cherubino away but due to the darkness of the night, accidentally punches Figaro instead of Cherubino without realizing the error.
The Count, thinking he is finally alone with Susanna, starts courting her. She then runs off when she hears a sound, caused by Figaro bashing his fist, as does the Count, who knows Figaro is nearby and doesn’t wish to be interrupted.
Figaro cannot believe what happened, and when the Countess (Or rather, Susanna disguised as the Countess) appears, he starts telling her everything. But, he soon realizes that he is in fact talking to his wife. He decides to keep the charade going in order to play a farce on her. He starts seducing the fake Countess, and Susanna gets furious and hits him. He reveals that he recognized the voice he loved and knew who she was in "Pace, pace, mio dolce tesoro" ("Peace, peace, my sweet treasure").
The Count comes back and Figaro keeps seducing the “Countess” to make him jealous, which works extremely well. The Count calls to arms. Almost everyone comes back, begging forgiveness for Figaro and the “Countess”, but he refuses. The real Countess then comes back, both Susanna and herself remove their disguises, and the Count seems to understand the lesson that he has been taught. He asks for forgiveness to his wife who accepts. They all rejoice, having understood that the importance of being content with the partners they already have.
Arias
Much of the story of The Marriage of Figaro is told through its arias, whether they are comedic, dramatic, romantic or anguished. Here is a list of all the arias in the Figaro opera:
| Aria | Act | Role | Italian to English translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Se vuol ballare signor contino | 1 | Figaro | If you want to dance |
| La vendetta oh! la vendetta | 1 | Bartolo | Revenge Oh! revenge |
| Non so più cosa son | 1 | Cherubino | I don't know what I'm doing anymore |
| Non piu andrai | 1 | Figaro | No more will you go |
| Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro | 2 | Rosina | Grant love some comfort |
| Voi che sapete che cosa è amor | 2 | Cherubino | You who know what love is |
| Venite, inginocchiatevi | 2 | Susanna | Come kneel down before me |
| Un moto di gioia | 2 | Susanna | A movement of joy |
| Hai gia vinta la causa | 3 | Count | You've already won the case |
| Vedrò, mentr'io sospiro | 3 | Count | Shall I, while sighing, see |
| Dove sono i bei momenti | 3 | Rosina | Where are they, the beautiful moments |
| L'ho perduta me meschina | 4 | Barbarina | I have lost it, poor me |
| Aprite un po'quegli occhi | 4 | Figaro | Open those eyes a little |
| Deh vieni, non tardar | 4 | Susanna | Oh come, don't delay |
| Al desio di chi t'adore | 4 | Susanna | For those who love you |
| Pian pianin le andrò più presso | 4 | Cherubino | Softly, softly, I'll approach her |
Watch a video of Tormey Woods singing "Aprite un po'quegli occhi", the last aria by Figaro, with the Berlin Opera Academy.
