I Due Figaro, Year Unknown
The story behind my watching this opera is as convoluted as the opera itself, and I, in fact, have been duped by another Figaro, which is very ironic, given the plot! I have been wanting to listen to an opera by Mercadante for awhile, and since I had already heard the ones about Figaro etc. by Mozart and Rossini, I decided to try this sequel. The Wikipedia page about it can be found here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_due_Figaro_(Mercadante)
But unbeknownst to me, there was another I Due Figaro, written by Michele Carafa, a composer I had never heard of, but who proved to be extremely interesting!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Carafa
Warning! This contains spoilers and is about the opera.
https://operastory.co.uk/i-due-figaro-ossia-il-soggetto-di-una-commedia-by-michele-carafa/
I found two versions of this opera on Youtube. One seemed to be performed by a school and for some strange reason, the recitatives were spoken instead of sung. This is definitely Mercadante.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRsT6gpNkCc
The other seemed much better, so I chose it, thinking that M Carafa was either the conductor or a singer in the cast. There was no description of any of this, so I had to guess. But why would I think that two operas with the same title existed? Then again, there are actually four of Il Barbiere!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6AD_tuB2qE
So it turned out that I watched the wrong one and was quite annoyed about that, but it is actually quite funny. Fortunately, I did find an excellent composer along the way and will now be seeking his other works. Below is my original review, slightly modified, of course.
This is the libretto. I had Perplexity translate it by giving it the individual scenes, being sure that it didn't summarise, and I was highly impressed with the results. I am fairly certain this is for the Carafa version. Actually, the libretto might be the same for both, with only the music itself changing.
https://archive.org/details/iduefigaroossiai00tori/page/n2/mode/1up
there is, in fact, a Mercadante one that, of course, I found later, but I used the one above.
https://archive.org/details/imslp-due-figaro-mercadante-saverio
Regardless, it made me laugh aloud several times! This is even funnier than Rossini's version! (I haven't seen the ones by Giovanni Paisiello, Nicolas Isouard, or Francesco Morlacchi). I won't spoil it, but this continues the story after The Marriage of Figaro, and adds a few funny twists, including an imposter, hence the name, which literally means "the two Figaros", and a playwright who is actually writing a similar story to the one unfolding onstage! The music was absolutely wonderful. If you don't like long recitatives and crave constant action, this is definitely for you. There were also some lovely duets, quartets, a quintet, and even a sextet! The singing was probably decent for a modern production. I liked the voice of the man who played the count (the tenor).
Although this is not what I had intended to watch, I would still very highly recommend it. It is a fun, light-hearted, well-written opera that is definitely deserving of being a sequel to that of Rossini.
#Carafa #comedy #Figaro #Mercadante #opera #review
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