Trivia / The Marriage of Figaro

• Acting for Two: In the original production, the tenor who sang Don Basilio also took the smaller role of Don Curzio, and the singer playing Bartolo also played Antonio (which is why Bartolo doesn't sing in the final scene). Some productions still double up the roles, but others cast them separately.
• All-Star Cast: As Figaro, Susanna, Count Almaviva, Countess Almaviva, Cherubino, Marcellina, and Bartolo...
  • Audio Recordings:
    • 1950, conducted by Herbert von Karajan: Erich Kunz, Irmgard Seefried, George London, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Sena Jurinac, Elisabeth Höngen, Marjan Rus
    • 1955, conducted by Erich Kleiber: Cesare Siepi, Hilde Güden, Alfred Poell, Lisa Della Casa, Suzanne Danco, Hilde Rössel-Majdan, Fernando Corena
    • 1958, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf: Giorgio Tozzi, Roberta Peters, George London, Lisa Della Casa, Rosalind Elias, Sandra Warfield, Fernando Corena
    • 1960, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini: Giuseppe Taddei, Anna Moffo, Eberhard Wächter, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Fiorenza Cossotto, Dora Gatta, Ivo Vinco
    • 1960, conducted by Ferenc Fricsay: Renato Capecchi, Irmgard Seefried, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Maria Stader, Hertha Töpper, Lilian Benningsen, Ivan Sardi
    • 1964, conducted by Otmar Suitner: Walter Berry, Anneliese Rothenberger, Hermann Prey, Hilde Güden, Edith Mathis, Annelies Burmeister, Fritz Ollendorf (sung in German)
    • 1968, conducted by Karl Böhm: Hermann Prey, Edith Mathis, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gundula Janowitz, Tatiana Troyanos, Patricia Johnson, Peter Lagger
    • 1970, conducted by Otto Klemperer: Geraint Evans, Reri Grist, Gabriel Bacquier, Elisabeth Söderström, Teresa Berganza, Annelies Burmeister, Michael Langdon
    • 1971, conducted by Sir Colin Davis: Wladimiro Ganzarolli, Mirella Freni, Ingvar Wixell, Jessye Norman, Yvonne Minton, Maria Casula, Clifford Grant
    • 1978, conducted by Herbert von Karajan: José van Dam, Ileana Cotrubas, Tom Krause, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Frederica von Stade, Jane Berbié, Jules Bastin
    • 1981, conducted by Sir Georg Solti: Samuel Ramey, Lucia Popp, Thomas Allen, Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Jane Berbié, Kurt Moll
    • 1985, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner: José van Dam, Barbara Hendricks, Ruggero Raimondi, Lucia Popp, Agnes Baltsa, Felicity Palmer, Robert Lloyd
    • 1986, conducted by Riccardo Muti: Thomas Allen, Kathleen Battle, Jorma Hynninen, Margaret Price, Ann Murray, Mariana Nicolesco, Kurt Rydl
    • 1987, conducted by Arnold Östman: Petteri Salmoaa, Barbara Bonney, Hakan Hagegard, Arleen Augér, Alicia Nafé, Della Jones, Carlos Feller
    • 1988, conducted by James Levine: Ferruccio Furlanetto, Dawn Upshaw, Thomas Hampson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Tatiana Troyanos, Paul Plishka
    • 1988, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Anton Scharinger, Barbara Bonney, Thomas Hampson, Charlotte Margiono, Petra Lang, Ann Murray, Kurt Moll
    • 1993, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner: Bryn Terfel, Alison Hagley, Rodney Gilfry, Hillevi Martinpelto, Pamela Helen Stephen, Susan McCulloch, Carlos Feller
    • 1994, conducted by Claudio Abbado: Lucio Gallo, Sylvia McNair, Bo Skovhus, Cheryl Studer, Cecilia Bartoli, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
    • 1994, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras: Alastair Miles, Nuccia Focile, Alessandro Corbelli, Carol Vaness, Susanne Mentzer, Susan Murphy, Alfonso Antoniozzi
    • 2003, conducted by René Jacobs: Lorenzo Regazzo, Patrizia Ciofi, Simon Keenlyside, Véronique Gens, Angelika Kirschlager, Marie McLaughlin, Antonio Abete
    • 2004, conducted by David Parry: Christopher Purves, Rebecca Evans, William Dazely, Yvonne Kenny, Diana Montague, Frances McCafferty, Jonathan Veira
    • 2016, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Luca Pisaroni, Christiane Karg, Thomas Hampson, Sonya Yoncheva, Angela Brower, Anne Sofie von Otter
  • Video Recordings:
    • 1973, conducted by Sir John Pritchard at the Glyndebourne Festival: Knut Skram, Ileana Cotrubas, Benjamin Luxon, Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Nucci Condò, Marius Rintzler
    • 1975, conducted by Karl Böhm: Hermann Prey, Mirella Freni, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kiri Te Kanawa, Maria Ewing, Heather Begg, Paolo Montarsolo
    • 1993, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner at the Théâtre du Châtelet: Bryn Terfel, Alison Hagley, Rodney Gilfry, Hillevi Martinpelto, Pamela Helen Stephen, Susan McCulloch, Francis Egerton
    • 1994, conducted by Bernard Haitink at the Glyndebourne Festival: Gerald Finley, Alison Hagley, Andreas Schmidt, Renée Fleming, Marie-Ange Torodovitch, Wendy Hillhouse, Manfred Röhrl
    • 2006, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Salzburg Festival: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Anna Netrebko, Bo Skovhus, Dorothea Röschmann, Christine Schäfer, Marie McLaughlin
• Banned in China: In Austria, the play was banned by Emperor Joseph due to its political subject matter and fears of a copycat unrest similar to that which would later claim the life of his sister. Contrary to popular belief, though, he approved Mozart's opera adaptation from the start, as being a self-admitted apolitical he had already removed the offending material.
• Common Knowledge: People with only a passing familiarity with opera tend to assume that the famous "Figaro" aria originated in this opera rather than The Barber of Seville. An understandable mistake, given the title.
• Follow the Leader: Mozart's decision to make the Beaumarchais play into an opera was inspired by the great success of the Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello with his 1782 operatic version of the first Figaro play, The Barber of Seville, though this opera has been largely forgotten thanks to the even greater success of Rossini's version. Cherubino's "Voi che sapete" is modeled on (and in the same key as) the big hit song from Paisiello's opera, the serenade "saper bramate".
• Referenced by...: Interview with the Vampire (2022)'s Season 1 Claudia-centric TV spot is set to "Overture".

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