Barber of Seville and the Marriage of Figaro

Rating:
Summary: Two plays that deserve to be better known
Review: These two plays have been made very famous by the two operas by Rossini and Mozart. However the plays seem to be relatively unknown. Of the two plays "The Marriage of Figaro" is the better of the two. I would also like add a criticism of the movie Amadeus. In the movie Salieri comments on the ending of the opera based on the play in a way that seems to imply that Mozart deserves all the credit. In fact the opera is very faithful to the play. Mozart should get all the credit for the music of the Marriage of Figaro, but Beaumarchais deserves credit for the plot.

But to get back to my point, these are two great plays that deserve to be better known. Figaro (the play) was controversial in its day as a satire about the rights of aristocrats but today the satire does not seem very harsh. Figaro the roguish main character who believes he is just as good as his master is one of the great literary characters. That is not just my opinion, it was also the opinion of the novelist Balzac.

I would especially recommend this Penguin edition for the introduction which has a short biography of the adventurous life of Beaumarchais. It is a miracle he found the time to write these plays, but I am very glad that he did.

Rating:
Summary: Two plays that deserve to be better known
Review: These two plays have been made very famous by the two operas by Rossini and Mozart. However the plays seem to be relatively unknown. Of the two plays "The Marriage of Figaro" is the better of the two. I would also like add a criticism of the movie Amadeus. In the movie Salieri comments on the ending of the opera based on the play in a way that seems to imply that Mozart deserves all the credit. In fact the opera is very faithful to the play. Mozart should get all the credit for the music of the Marriage of Figaro, but Beaumarchais deserves credit for the plot.

But to get back to my point, these are two great plays that deserve to be better known. Figaro (the play) was controversial in its day as a satire about the rights of aristocrats but today the satire does not seem very harsh. Figaro the roguish main character who believes he is just as good as his master is one of the great literary characters. That is not just my opinion, it was also the opinion of the novelist Balzac.

I would especially recommend this Penguin edition for the introduction which has a short biography of the adventurous life of Beaumarchais. It is a miracle he found the time to write these plays, but I am very glad that he did.