The public, however … did not really know on the first day where it stood. It alludes to interference probably produced by paid hecklers, but praises the work warmly: "Mozart's music was generally admired by connoisseurs already at the first performance, if I except only those whose self-love and conceit will not allow them to find merit in anything not written by themselves. The newspaper Wiener Realzeitung carried a review of the opera in its issue of 11 July 1786. The requested posters were printed up and posted in the Burgtheater in time for the third performance on 24 May ( Deutsch 1965, p. 275). You will therefore cause some posters to this effect to be printed." Joseph II, who, in addition to his empire, was in charge of the Burgtheater, was concerned by the length of the performance and directed his aide Count Rosenberg as follows: "To prevent the excessive duration of operas, without however prejudicing the fame often sought by opera singers from the repetition of vocal pieces, I deem the enclosed notice to the public (that no piece for more than a single voice is to be repeated) to be the most reasonable expedient. The applause of the audience on the first night resulted in five numbers being encored, seven on 8 May ( Deutsch 1965, p. 272). Īlthough the total of nine performances was nothing like the frequency of performance of Mozart's later success The Magic Flute, which for months was performed roughly every other day (Solomon 1995), the premiere is generally judged to have been a success. The first production was given eight further performances, all in 1786. Mozart himself directed the first two performances, conducting seated at the keyboard, the custom of the day. Performance historyįigaro premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on, the cast for which is included in the " Roles" section below. The Imperial Italian opera company paid Mozart 450 florins for the work this was three times his (low) salary for a year, when he had worked as a court musician in Salzburg (Solomon 1995). Contrary to the popular myth, the libretto was approved by the Emperor, Joseph II, before any music was written by Mozart. In particular, Da Ponte replaced Figaro's climactic speech against inherited nobility with an equally angry aria against unfaithful wives.
It was Mozart who originally selected Beaumarchais' play and brought it to Da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in six weeks, rewriting it in poetic Italian and removing all of the original's political references.
The opera was the first of three collaborations between Mozart and Da Ponte their later collaborations were Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte.
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