Le nozze di Figaro
The characters
Learn more about the characters in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
Figaro
Bass-baritone
- Clever
- Daring
- Enterprising
Photo: Alastair Muir
- The main character in a popular trilogy of plays by French playwright Beaumarchais.
- The same Figaro as in Il barbiere di Siviglia but several years older.
- Based on the wily servants of commedia dell’arte, the improvised Italian popular comedy dating back to the Renaissance.
Susanna
Soprano
- Clever
- Brave
- Resourceful
Photo:Alastair Muir
- The opera’s longest role – she’s rarely off stage, has two arias and sings in every ensemble.
- Based on the clever, feisty female servants of commedia dell’arte.
- Uses all her charm and wits to fend off the advances of her boss, the Count, and remain faithful to her fiancé, Figaro.
Count Almaviva
Baritone
- Arrogant
- Entitled
- Lecherous
Photo: Alastair Muir
- Lord of the Aguas-Frescas estate, near Seville, where Le nozze di Figaro takes place.
- In Il barbiere di Siviglia, the first play of the Beaumarchais Figaro trilogy, he hires Figaro to help him win his beloved Rosina, now Countess Almaviva.
- Having won his Countess, he has become bored with married life and now uses his noble rank to prey upon subordinate women.
Countess Almaviva
Soprano
- Faithful
- Courageous
- Forgiving
Photo: Alastair Muir
- The spirited young Rosina from Il barbiere di Siviglia, who Figaro and Count Almaviva take away from her guardian, Dr Bartolo.
- In Le nozze di Figaro Rosina has become a mature woman, despondent over her husband’s infidelity.
- Not too proud to enlist the help of her servant and confidante, Susanna, who she regards as an equal.
Cherubino
Mezzo-soprano/soprano
- Charming
- Passionate
- Reckless
Photo: Alastair Muir
- An example of a ‘trouser role’ in opera: a woman playing an adolescent boy with an unbroken voice.
- A young adolescent ruled by his hormones, he is in love with the Countess but that doesn’t stop him flirting with Susanna, Barbarina and any other young woman.
- Before La mère coupable, the third play of the Figaro trilogy, Countess Almaviva gives birth to the child of Cherubino, who has been killed in battle.