Opera Guide for Beginners: The Marriage of Figaro, The Freeshooter, The Ring of the Nibelung

By Jasmin Solfaghari

Opera director Jasmin Solfaghari has written a very special kind of opera guide. Three milestones of the opera literature are explained by the narrator "LUNA of the moon" in a most skillful way: "The Marriage of Figaro", "The Freeshooter", and "The Ring of the Nibelung". In the second chapter, LUNA takes the reader backstage and spreads a little light on many secrets of the theater. Finally in chapter three, in order to understand and enjoy the operas more fully, LUNA explains many of the German words from "The Freeshooter" and "The Ring of the Nibelung" not always found in a normal dictionary.

 The "Opera Guide for Beginners" is available in hardcover, paperback, or as an e-book.

Let yourself be carried off to a world of dragons, weddings, chaos, tears and unbridled passion!

• Language: English
• Publisher: SCHOTT MUSIC GmbH & Co. KG / Schott Campus
• Release date: Nov 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9783959836036

Book preview

Introduction

During numerous audience discussions in my career as a stage director, I have received many questions from the public about approaches and choices of staging an opera. I sometimes had the feeling that much of the performance practice and history of opera were foreign to them. They told me about their difficulties following the sung text, even in their native German! Supertitles and pre-performance talks by dramaturges are already helpful for the audience. However, I wanted to find a way to perform opera for beginners of all ages. A way to take the audience by the hand and teach them something without their noticing. Above all, I wanted to take away the fear that they can’t enjoy opera without knowing a lot about it.

I often use a storyteller for my opera for beginners’ productions. It’s proven useful as a moderator between the piece on stage and the audience, simplifying complex situations and accompanying the public as their tour guide throughout the piece. The opera world is international, so the storyteller should be someone who speaks every language, loves opera very much, and is not unknown. I came up with LUNA, coming from the moon. He could be a mixture of my opera-crazy uncle, the warmhearted prop master of the Freiburg Municipal Theater back in the 80’s, and Fellini’s copyist in the film Orchestra Rehearsal. LUNA – played up until now only by men – has already used his perspective to bring many people in Leipzig, Berlin, and Vienna closer to the opera.

A special kind of opera guide was born. I’ve chosen for you three major milestones of opera literature. The Marriage of Figaro, The Freeshooter and The Ring of the Nibelung. LUNA describes in the first chapter their contents and relationships. In the second chapter, we open up our box of theatrical tricks and give the public a peek or two behind the curtain. During my time in the theater, I’ve always been pleased to see the lively curiosity of people of all ages about what really happens on stage. I love recalling the wide eyes of those taking backstage tours when they witness for the first time the coming together of theatrical magic and stage reality. LUNA enlightens us about the bottom of all this. A large part of my work coaching singers is dealing with their German diction on the one hand and conveying the meaning of the text on the other. Furthermore, as a stage director, I help them combine the musical, linguistical, as well as the contextual aspects of their roles.

In the German edition, I used German dialects to help convey the meaning of the stories. Here, in the English edition I have written a new third chapter containing certain German words and terms from The Freeshooter and The Ring of the Nibelung which might not be so easily found in your everyday dictionary. LUNA sheds some light on words and their meanings can also be used for private study. It can also be helpful to many viewers or listeners in understanding certain moments in the often complex plots. LUNA has experienced many stories from the opera world first hand and would like to share them here with the public.

LUNA invites you into the world of dragons, weddings, chaos, tears, and unbridled passion!

For those of you who would like to listen to the music while reading, the musical references are marked with the ♪ symbol.

Jasmin Solfaghari, Berlin 2020

LUNA lights the way through our story and its background

What a long trip … I live hundreds of thousands of miles from you, but I’ve finally made it. Greetings, my name is LUNA and I’m from the moon! You know, actually it’s pretty nice up there. A bit cold. You get a little rusty and inflexible, even lonely, really! Nobody visits me, you can’t even depend on those scientists anymore! NASA only circled the moon a few years ago and then … everybody wants to go to Mars! To keep warm, I’ve gotten used to orbiting the earth every month so that I can see it from all sides. Besides keeping me fit, I’ve made a great discovery on my trip: on earth, you have something that can’t be found anywhere else in the entire universe. Know what I’m talking about? It’s the wonderful world of theater, but most of all – OPERA.

I’d like to share something with you, but please keep it to yourself: whenever I feel like seeing an opera, nothing can keep me out there in space. I look for just the right moment when the sun can’t see me and then … off I go. I sneak into your opera houses. I make myself as small as possible, squeeze through any open window I can find, and slide down onto the gallery. From there, I try to find a good view of the whole stage and hope that nobody sees me.

LUNA. Freeshooter for Children, Leipzig 2015.

The Marriage of Figaro

Before the backstage boss – stage manager – finds me, I’ll tell you about The Marriage of Figaro, or, as they say in the original Italian, Le nozze di Figaro. The music was written by the Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Lorenzo da Ponte from Italy wrote the text after a play entitled The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro, written by the French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. In order to make the plot a bit clearer, I’ve charted out the family relationships.

Who is who?

Act I – An empty room, except for an armchair

We find ourselves in the palace of Count Almaviva near Seville in sunny southern Spain! The story takes place during the 18th century, when counts still had the last word, and the tumultuous dealings happen all on one single day! That’s why the story is called The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro. So what’s this story about? The Count has a very charming wife, the Countess. But he’s still keen on other women as well. The one I’m talking about now is Susanna, who happens to be his wife’s maid. Susanna also finds her boss rather attractive, but is planning on getting married to the Count’s servant Figaro. But don’t think that’s going to be so easy. Figaro has no idea what his boss has in mind and is busy planning where to put the furniture in their newly assigned room (♪ Duettino No. 2 Susanna, Figaro Se a caso madama la notte ti chiama). Since Figaro thinks their new room is situated in a very practical place right next to the Count’s, Susanna decides to fill her fiancé in on what’s really going on: 1. The Count is clearly interested in her and wants to spend her first night with her: an ancient right which he has previously declared null and void, but desperately wants to reinstate. Counts were allowed to do such things back then. 2. The Count has intentionally put them in the room next to his in order to be closer to Susanna. 3. Her music teacher Basilio is busy playing the matchmaker in order to get Susanna and the Count together. Figaro is furious. He then remembers, that his boss wanted to send him on a trip to London and now finally understands exactly why (♪ Cavatina No. 3 Figaro Se vuol ballare signor Contino). Can you believe it? Figaro and the Count used to practically be friends. But since Figaro now works for the Count, you can forget about all that. Figaro was the one who helped the Count meet the enchanting future Countess in the first place and even helped steal her away from Doctor Bartolo. But that’s what another opera is all about, The Barber of Seville, set to music thirty years later by Gioacchino Rossini.

Ever since then, there have been a few folks who aren’t too happy with Figaro. But there’s also one who wants to marry him. Her name is Marcellina and she is much older than Figaro. She could be his mother. Figaro borrowed money from her, with the stipulation that he would either pay her back or marry her. Unfortunately, it’s even written down in a contract. Figaro hasn’t paid her back yet and today is the deadline. Dr. Bartolo, who still has a bone to pick with Figaro from way back when, wants to help Marcellina marry Figaro today. Then there’s this other guy, a cute kid who’s in love with anything female. His name is Cherubino. He writes poetry and composes music, likes nice clothes, and is head over heels in love with Barbarina, Susanna, and even the elegant Countess. That sometimes gets him into some tricky situations because the jealous Count keeps finding him where he shouldn’t be. And then there’s this unpleasant guy, a scandalmonger, who eavesdrops at every door and whom Susanna has already mentioned, namely her music teacher Basilio. Cherubino, hidden behind a chair, observes the Count making a move on Susanna