The background to our term’s theme, the stock character types and situations, go way back even to Homer and the Greek and Roman playwrights. We’re about to meet the persisting character types of comedy (and tragedy), in theatre and opera, and many of the persisting modes of presenting the comic – and tragic. This amazing tradition, commedia dell’arte, took off in 16th century Italy, spreading to France and then across Europe and from small-theatre plays with masked actors - think of the troupe of actors in Hamlet - to modern opera (and The Simpsons). Wikipedia has a detailed history.
This mode of theatre introduced many of the comic elements opera uses – “patter” and group chaos, for instance. The stock characters reoccur in most of the operas we know as "comedies" and also in some that are very unfunny. These include “the inamorati, a pair of young people suffering from a wildly exaggerated, suicidal passion for each other; any number of bumbling, incompetent servants; and most of all the old men, the greedy old misers and pompous old professors who stand in the way of the young peoples’ love.” Go to this Seattle Opera blog for illustrations and examples from Marriage of Figaro. There’s also wonderful blog entry Mozart: master of the ensemble.
Would you like to explore further these origins of so much in opera’s comedy? There’s lots available. A brief account here https://consortiumcarissimi.org/commedia-dellarte-early-opera/. Much more detail from Antonio Fava here. You can learn details of the characters – and advice for playing them. And for a truly wonderful acting class on playing the stock characters, watch this National Theatre video. Or go here for a dramatic reconstruction!
Stock characters, stock situations in Figaro
Mozart entered into the commedia dell’arte world with typical gusto. You’ll find the stock characters in all his operas – Leporello the servant wiser than his master providing comic relief in Don Giovanni, the four hopeless crossed lovers in disguise in Cosi fan Tutte, Papageno and Papagena’s comedic patter duet in The Magic Flute. But maybe no opera shows off the stock characters and situations better than Le Nozze de Figaro, which we’ll dive into on Friday. Well, maybe Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia comes close. Here’s a (rather partial) list, all illustrated from Figaro. See how many of them you can also find in The Barber, which we looked at last term. And any more stock-in-trades of the theatre – plays and opera? Shakespeare’s comedies are full of them.
Characters:
Naive young couple in love – Cherubino & Barberina
Incompetent servants – the gardener
Crafty servants – Figaro, Susanna
Foolish old men – the two Dons and Dr Bartolo (wanting to marry a younger woman is another trope)
The schemer, ultimately foiled – the Count
Situations, Styles:
Running gag – Susanna, “Suo madre?”
Patter – Dr Bartolo and the famous sextet (pictured)
Total Chaos – Figaro discovering his parents (rediscovered relations from long ago is another stock trope).
Hiding and overhearing something you shouldn’t – Cherubino, the Count
The brains drive the action – Susanna, Figaro
Letter or token that gets into the wrong hands – Susanna’s letter, the pin
Cross-dressing - Cherubino
Switching clothing – Countess & Susanna
Mistaken identities – Susanna &Countess
Fake seductions – Countess as Susanna to the Count
Have fun!