| I due Figaro, o sia Il soggetto di una commedia | |
|---|---|
| melodramma buffo by Michele Carafa | |
 Michele Carafa | |
| Translation | The Two Figaros, or, The Subject of a Comedy |
| Librettist | Felice Romani |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Les deux Figaro by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly |
| Premiere | |
I due Figaro, o sia Il soggetto di una commedia is an Italian-language opera (melodramma buffo) in two acts by Michele Carafa to a libretto by Felice Romani based on Les deux Figaro by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly. The opera is a homage to Mozart, and tells of the further adventures of Cherubino, returned after 12 years in the army.[1] The opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on 6 June 1820.[2]
The review in Vienna's Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung of the premiere was negative: "I now turn to the third spring opera—titled I due Figaro—newly composed by Mr. Carafa and performed for the first time last Tuesday, albeit with unfavorable results. Even if Rossini has gone to great lengths in the realm of noisy and clamorous music, all of that still amounts to a sonata played on a mandolin when compared with certain passages in our new opera. In its introduction, Carafa has reached the non plus ultra of sheer uproar—though, to make the effect truly complete, only the cannons are missing. No human ear is capable of following this veritable sea of notes; indeed, certain church pieces by Reuter—even those taken at a rapid tempo—seem like Adagios next to the stretta of this introduction. This very first, lengthy movement of the opera so thoroughly exhausts the poor orchestra that they have precious little energy left to execute the subsequent pieces."[3]
Aimé Leborne (1797–1866) arranged his friend Carafa's work as Les deux Figaro at the Théâtre Odéon, Paris, 22 August 1827.[4]
Recording
- I Due Figaro. Simon Bailey (Cherubino), Carmine Monaco (Figaro), Giorgio Trucco (Il Conte), Rosella Bevacqua (Contessa Rosina), Cinzia Rizzone (Susanna), Vittorio Prato (Plagio), Eunshil Kim (Inez), Giuseppe Fedeli (Torribio), Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Brad Cohen, Kurhaus Bad Wildbad 2006 DVD
References
- "Bad Wildbad". Opera. Festivals issue. Vol. 57. London. 2006. p. 80. ISSN 0030-3526.
Felice Romani's libretto for Carafa's 1820 I due Figaro, programmed as an oblique homage to Mozart, tells of the further adventures of Cherubino, returned after a 12-year career in the army.
- Budden, Julian (1994). "Michele Carafa". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Vol. 1. London: Macmillan. pp. 727–28. ISBN 0935859926.
- "Musikalische Berichte aus Mailand" [Musical Reports from Milan]. Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung [General Musical Newspaper] (in German). Vol. 4, no. 52. Vienna: Steiner. June 1820. 401–404. Retrieved April 10, 2026 – via Google Books.
Ich komme auf die dritte Frühlings-Oper, welche I due Figaro betitelt, neu von Herrn Carafa componirt, und verwichenen Dienstag zum ersten Mahle aber mit ungünstigem Erfolge gegeben wurde. Hat es Rossini in der lärmenden und geräuschvollen Musik auch weit gebracht, so ist das alles noch eine Sonate auf der Mandoline, im Vergleich mit manchem Stücke unsrer neuen Oper. Carafa hat in der Introduction derselben das non plus ultra des grössten Lärmens erreicht, obschon zum Ganzen noch die Kanonen fehlen. Kein menschliches Ohr ist im Stande das Meer von Noten zu verfolgen, und gewisse Reuter'sche Kirchenstücke im geschwinden Tempo sind Adagios gegen die Stretta dieser Introduction. Schon dieses erste lange Stück der Oper ermattet das arme Orchester dergestalt, dass es wenige Kräfte mehr zur Execution der folgenden Stücke hat
- Mark Everist Music Drama at the Paris Odéon, 1824–1828 (2002) ISBN 0520234456 p. 105: "Leborne's relationship with Carafa may well have started in the early 1820s when they were both in Italy (although Leborne arrived just as Carafa was leaving), and the former wrote the finales to acts 1 and 2 of the latter's Violette (Opéra-Comique, 1828) a year after he had arranged I due Figaro."