Word: almaviva
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Figaro, at least as presented in this version, is a little less cutesy. To begin with, there's a major shift in mood: Figaro is not straight comedy, which The Barber certainly is. Instead, it is a fairly cynical look at marriage (the four-years-later episode of Count Almaviva and Rosina's romance), the master-servant relationship (the Count repays Figaro's first act help by demanding the droit du signeur of Figaro's bride), all made more complicated than necessary by intrigues and mishaps. The cast manages generally to overcome the mood-change by keeping the tone...
There is an argument to be made in favor of the playwright, suggesting that the link between the plays was essentially a political one. In this light, Figaro would have to stress the inequality of the friendship between man and master, as seen in Count Almaviva's failure to return Figaro's help in the second half of the play. That argument, however, would have little evidence to support it except the final chorus, which includes lines like, "But hear the thunder from the left, denouncing property as theft," and is sung to the tun of the British Labour Party...
...evening and, leaning away to avoid it, he had already broken two batons. Then, early on in Act III, he stabbed himself in the temple with the point of his third baton. Blood poured down into his right eye, dripping onto the score and music desk. Onstage, Count Almaviva was alone, plotting revenge against his uppity manservant, Figaro. Solti went on beating time with his right hand and sopping up the blood from his forehead and eye with a handkerchief in the left. "It was like a butcher shop," he said later, with characteristic bluntness...
...York's Frederica von Stade came a Cherubino of distilled soprano beauty and ebullient range of boyish emotion. Soprano Mirella Freni remains the best Susanna of the day. Belgium's José Van Dam is a handsome, intelligent, rich-voiced Figaro. Gabriel Bacquier's Count Almaviva just gets better with the years...
...patter aria Largo al factotum ("Feeegaro! Feeegaro!") quickly defines him as one of the most likable hustlers in all opera. Rosina's Una voce poco fa is a song of such poise and bravura style as to remove all doubt that she will get her man, Count Almaviva...