Innovation - Le Nozze di Figaro

It was a perfect evening in the “Rotterdamse Schouwburg” (theater). The theater was recently renovated and reopened in the end of 2010. And I think they did a good job! 

Before hand I was a bit skeptic: A baroque performance of Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was an adaptation by the Barokopera Amsterdam . I was afraid I would miss the orchestra and the chorus. How wrong! Maybe, if I would have been a bit more observant  of the classical music scene …..

We listened to the introductory explanation. The original play takes place on the day of the mariage of Figaro and Susanna. In this new setting storyteller Figaro "flashes back" to this day. Left by Susanna after 12,5 years of marriage Figaro tries to reconstruct what went wrong. In stead of singing the recitatives in Italian, Figaro speaks to the public (in Dutch), thus involving the public directly in the play.

The performance was excellent. The singing was beautiful. I was grateful for the way they did away with the recitatives. We enjoyed everything.


As I didn’t read the program beforehand, I couldn’t grasp what had gone wrong in the marriage (12,5 years before). This is my fault, because I am always late finding out who is the villain. When I looked it up in the program later, it seemed a bit far fetched to me. Not that it mattered a bit.

We had a perfect evening.

For some good pictures of the opera…   http://www.barokopera.nl/fnozze/fotosnozze.html