Armed with insatiable\nartistic curiosity, a true performer\u2019s instincts and the advantages of a\nrigorous central European training, George Jackson has earned critical acclaim\nfor the authority and eloquence of his music-making. The British conductor\u2019s\ncareer continues to gather momentum, propelled by landmark debuts with leading\norchestras and opera companies and fuelled by his power to communicate\ncompelling musical ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson\u2019s interpretation\nof H\u00e4nsel und Gretel<\/em> for Grange Park\nOpera, given with the Orchestra of English National Opera in summer 2019, was\nshowered with five-star reviews and hailed as \u2018magnificent\u2019 by the Telegraph.\nHis 2019-20 season includes returns to work with Ensemble Intercontemporain at\nthe Philharmonie Luxembourg and Cit\u00e9 de la musique in Paris, and the orchestras\nof Opera North and Op\u00e9ra de Rouen. He is also set to conduct a retrospective of\nmusic by Irish composers, comprising works by Brian Boydell, Ina Boyle and\nStanford, with the RT\u00c9 National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin and the world\npremiere of Tscho Theissing\u2019s Genia at Theater an der Wien, a major\ncontribution to Beethoven Year 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n News of the\nconductor\u2019s calm assurance and dynamic musicianship spread worldwide in April\n2018 when he replaced Daniel Harding at short notice in Ives\u2019s Fourth Symphony\nwith the Orchestre de Paris at the Philharmonie de Paris. He also conducted Les\nArts Florissants and Ensemble Intercontemporain during the same concert. The\nrange of Jackson\u2019s work is reflected in other recent engagements, embracing\neverything from debut performances with Hamburg State Opera, the London\nSymphony Orchestra, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kammeroper\nFrankfurt and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie to new productions with his\nVienna-based Speculum Musicae Opera Company and The Magic Flute<\/em> for Opera North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brilliant to be chatting again George, especially\nas The Marriage of Figaro<\/em> follows on\nso well from our last chat on <\/strong>Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tim Carter wrote \u2018unlike Don Giovanni<\/em> (1787) and <\/strong>Cos\u00ec fan tutte <\/em><\/strong>(1790)<\/strong>, Figaro<\/em> has few obvious problems\u2019 (1987:ix). Is that true for you as\nthe conductor?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t know if I\nagree with that, to be honest. It\u2019s very easy (if you\u2019re an audience member or\na critic) to value judge these pieces, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s useful to\nidentify \u2018problems\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had a music\nprofessor in Vienna that always used to say, \u2018the problem with Schumann\u2019s\norchestration\u2019 or \u2018the mistake of Bruckner\u2019. If you\u2019re performing their music\nyour job is to bring it to life. We have also very handily turned the Da Ponte operas\ninto a trilogy, but they\u2019re completely different works. The Beaumarchais plays\nare a trilogy, but I don\u2019t think this<\/em>\nis part of one. There are obvious references between the operas, but I think\nthe most useful thing is to think of them very individually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Absolutely. You can\u2019t compare them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not really. I don\u2019t\nthink it helps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you don\u2019t find Figaro<\/em> easier in a practical<\/em>\nway? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On a purely technical\nlevel, I don\u2019t think the Mozart operas are \u2018hard\u2019 to conduct \u2013 not like\nconducting Benedict Mason, for example. \nBut what they ask of you in terms of developing an idea and the style is\nwhat\u2019s hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a very\ntheatrical and economically tight piece. Although, more significantly, The Marriage of Figaro<\/em> does have something\nspecial about it that Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em> and Don\nGiovanni<\/em> don\u2019t. Including the playwright Beaumarchais, Figaro <\/em>is a collaboration between three great artists. It\u2019s very\nrare that you have a libretto written so close to an original play, it normally\nhappens years later, such as Don Giovanni<\/em>\u2019s\nrelationship to Tirso de Molina\u2019s seventeenth century Don Juan story. But Beaumarchais\nwas writing about the same eighteenth-century society that Da Ponte and Mozart\nwere also a part of \u2013 and that\u2019s very unique. It\u2019s also clear that Beaumarchais,\nMozart and Da Ponte share the emotions and political feelings that are in the\nstory, so there\u2019s more of a personal connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We know that Da Ponte went around sleeping with women in the way than Don Giovanni<\/em> does, and in Cos\u00ec<\/em> there are also some similarities. But I get the feeling there\u2019s something very personal and political in the biographies of the people involved that becomes very clear in Figaro<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you seen the play?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I haven\u2019t, but I\u2019ve listened\nto an old reading of it from the Radio 4 archive, and I have a copy of the\nBeaumarchais trilogy. I tend to keep the play open on my desk when I\u2019m studying\nthe score because it\u2019s very interesting to see the process that they\u2019ve gone\nthrough in adapting it. I\u2019m also conducting Barber\nof Seville<\/em> next year in Vienna, so I\u2019m thinking about Beaumarchais a lot in\npreparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there different versions of Marriage of Figaro<\/em> (as with Don Giovanni <\/em>etc.)?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Figaro<\/em> is interesting because they revived it in Mozart\u2019s\nlifetime \u2013 they went back to the Burgtheater in Vienna a few years later (1789).\nSusanna, played originally by the English Soprano Nancy Storace, had changed in\nthe cast, and so Mozart wrote two new arias for Adriana Ferrarese, the same soprano\nwho created the role of Fiordiligi and was famous for her chicken-like bobbing\nhead when jumping between top and bottom register. They are \u2018Un moto di gioia\u2019\n(to replace \u2018Venite, inginocchiatev\u2019 in Act II) and \u2018Al desio di chi t’adora\u2019\n(to replace \u2018Deh vieni, non tardar\u2019 in\nAct IV). <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s interesting\nfrom a historical interest point of view, as it\u2019s clear that Mozart felt that it\nwas really important to write for who\u2019s singing. So, in order to extend that tradition\nonwards, I\u2019ve asked our Susanna at Opera Holland Park, Elizabeth Karani, which arias\nshe wants to do (she has chosen Nancy Storace\u2019s original set of arias). If the\ncomposer has written a different set of arias because the singer had changed,\nthen we should perform the ones that the singer feels most comfortable with. That\u2019s\nsomething that the singer can decide, because they know their own voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s brilliant.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it true that Figaro <\/em>needs a lot of rehearsing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, that implies it\ncan be finished and ready by a certain time! I think an opera like this, with\nsuch a lot of busy action on the stage, will naturally grow over the run of\nhowever many shows it has. So it\u2019s always going to be a work in progress. There\u2019s\nso much action going on in the recitatives. For example, the recitative before\nthe trio (No. 8) \u2018Basilio, in traccia tosto di Figaro!\u2019 \u2013 where Cherubino hides\nbehind the chair \u2013 is where the music and the action need to meet each other\nquite accurately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Apparently Glyndebourne, in its early days,\nreally raised the bar regarding the standard of Mozart performances. In 1934\nthey staged Figaro <\/em>with ideal\nrehearsal conditions. \u2018It is to John Christie\u2019s credit that he provided such\nconditions at Glyndebourne\u2026 The producer, Carl Ebert, and the conductor, Fritz Busch,\nwere given unparalleled opportunities to work long and hard with their cast and\nthe orchestra, building up the production detail by detail\u2019 (Carter 1987:138).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s interesting. You\ncan do it on not much rehearsal as well, it\u2019s a question of how much time you\nhave. To quote Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network<\/em>, it\u2019s like\n\u2018fashion\u2019, because it\u2019s \u2018never finished\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes! It concertinas into how much time is\navailable. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last time, when we spoke about <\/strong>Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em><\/strong>,[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> we discussed pacing in the opera. Do you think Figaro <\/em>is similar in that respect?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it\u2019s very similar in that way. Obviously Mozart writes the pacing into something like the Act II Finale, with the tempo changes and the way that the action develops over the twenty minutes. He\u2019s written it out in quite a specific way. Like inCos\u00ec<\/em>, that is usually more of a challenge for the director, but the conductor needs to make sure that the recitative paces itself in the right way, and that going into the next number feels organic and part of the action. It\u2019s a little bit like a spring, where the tension increases so much towards the end of the recit that you have to release the spring for the next number to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the first jobs\nthat I tend to do in a recit opera is work out where the recit ends and the\nnumber begins. You can use the last chord to sneak your way straight into the\nnumber, or you can close the recit and then start the number. You also have to\nthink about the character of the last chord. Sometimes I find myself thinking\nwe could put the motive of the next number into the cadence, so there\u2019s that\nflow. That comes from a lot of experimentation in the rehearsal room, and a\ngood relationship with the director (in this case, the fabulous Olly Platt).\nIt\u2019s as dramatic as it is musical. We can\u2019t forget that all the singers that we\nwork with are also actors. They\u2019re going to come with their own concept of the\ncharacter. So in a way, most of the job is helping with that process rather\nthan telling them what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carter also suggested that Da Ponte and Mozart\nkeep the momentum going in a number of ways. Including: avoiding long\norchestral introductions; avoiding clear cadences at end of recitatives; using\nclosely related keys; compressed formal structure; swift and economical\nmodulations; and little redundant text repetition among others (1987:106-108). Do\nthese suggestions have relevance to your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, again it\u2019s\ninteresting as I half agree and half disagree with these! Carter includes how\nMozart avoids long orchestral introductions, but the Countess\u2019s first aria \u2018Porgi\namor qualche ristoro\u2019 (No. 10) has quite a long introduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh yes, that is<\/em>\na long introduction, and it\u2019s marked Larghetto<\/em>\ntoo.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it\u2019s slow and it\u2019s\nin four. It\u2019s at least a minute of music. We haven\u2019t met the\nCountess yet, and I think Mozart knows exactly how to present this new\ncharacter. We\u2019ve heard about her and have sympathy for her, because it\u2019s clear\nthat the Count\u2019s doesn\u2019t treat her well. We\u2019ve just listened to Figaro\u2019s quite\nupbeat aria \u2018Non pi\u00f9 andrai farfallone!\u2019 but\nnow he needs to change the temperature. The only way to get a sense of the Countess\nbefore we meet her is to have a long orchestral introduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In relation to the next point, Mozart does <\/em>seem to avoid clear cadences at the\nend of the recits. He often goes straight into the aria to keep the drama\nmoving. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly. There is a\nlot of that, and I think they\u2019re there for a reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The point about closely\nrelated keys is also true. There\u2019s definitely a good tonal journey throughout\neach act, and the recits have the harmonic function of moving\ninto the next key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the late\nEighteenth Century there were a lot of theories about the meaning behind a key.\nThat\u2019s important. Although we\u2019re in an opera that starts in D major and ends in\nD major, we meet Figaro and Susanna in G major, the same key we often meet the\ncountrified\/rustic Papageno in in The\nMagic Flute<\/em>, and Zerlina in Don\nGiovanni<\/em>. Clearly there\u2019s an association with the lower class\/more humble\ncharacters and G major. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mozart spent the\nearly 1780s in Vienna studying a lot of Bach and Handel, and had a close\nassociation with that music from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. That\nwhole century was a massive period of experimentation in opera. I love Handel,\nbut when you go to a Handel opera you can be listening to the nineteenth Da Capo\naria of the evening and suddenly realise you\u2019ve got to listen to the A section\nall over again! I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any moment in Figaro<\/em> where you think that, it is such a departure from the more\nrigid structure of a traditional aria. The form is dictated by the drama,\nrather than vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about \u2018little redundant text repetition\u2019? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, a good example\nis \u2018Non so pi\u00f9\ncosa son, cosa faccio\u2019 (No. 6) in Act I \u2013 <\/em>Cherubino\u2019s first aria. At bar 37[2]<\/a> we\ngo straight back to repeating the A section (with the same text), but it has a\ndramatic function. The title roughly translates as \u2018I don\u2019t know what I feel or\nwhat I\u2019m doing\u2019 \u2013 he\u2019s obsessed with flirting and sleeping with lots of women. So\nthe answer to \u2018I don\u2019t know what to do\u2019 is to sing the A section again\u2026 he\nstill doesn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah yes, he\u2019s going round in circles! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. Mozart was such\na genius \u2013 he was applying the rules of the ABA form to dramatic ends in his\nown way (which is surely how you move forward an art form).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw one performance where in an Act II recit, the\nharpsichordist started playing part of the overture again, just to allow more\ntime for the action on stage. Do you think that\u2019s more commonly needed\/used in\nthis opera? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think it\u2019s just linked\nto the tradition. For the 1786 premiere Mozart was conducting from the keyboard.\nThere\u2019s a tradition of improvisation in the Eighteenth Century, which extends\nto this sort of situation. That\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t write out exactly what to play\nin the recits because a well trained eighteenth-century harpsichordist would\nhave known what to do with each of these chords and how to accompany the\nsinger. Of course, we don\u2019t have a detailed idea of what they would have done,\nas with the ornamentation and appoggiaturas for the singers. With a twentieth-century\ncomposer like Benjamin Britten, everything he wants is in the score \u2013 every\ntiny little tenuto mark and staccato, dotted Is and crossed Ts. Even if there\u2019s\na word that has a shorter vowel he might make it a semiquaver and then put a\nrest to emphasis that it\u2019s shorter than everything else. But the expectation of\neighteenth-century musicians was very different, and we need to get a sense of\nhow they thought and approached music. There are treatises we can read in order\nto understand that. So\u2026 if you need a bit of extra time to get somewhere on the\nstage, why not have a small improvisation on a theme of the overture, or a\nquote from a previous (or future!) work by the same composer? That\u2019s part of\nthe drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there any particular treatise that you recommend?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hiller is interesting,[3]<\/a>\nbecause he very nicely describes the kinds of things that singers should do. For\nexample, he writes that cadenzas should always be in one breath (i.e. they were\nprobably quite short and not too embellished and within the phrase). I think he\neven writes that they should \u2018never sing twice the same way\u2019. He had an idea\nthat legato is something that happens in slow music, and fast music is\ndetached. Of course that\u2019s a huge generalisation, but it gives us an idea of how\nthey thought at the time. Then there are others by Mancini[4]<\/a> and\nAgricola[5]<\/a> \u2013 you\ncan pick up little rules of performance from some of the things they write,\nlike how to fill in melodic gaps or work with harmony. Mancini says any word\nthat has a harsh meaning should not be embellished, which is interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Post-Marriage of Figaro<\/em>, there are lots of\nsources of other composers or theorists writing about what we\u2019ve done with ornamentation.\nFor example there\u2019s Domenci Corri\u2019s ornamentation for \u2018Voi che sapete\u2019 that Charles\nMackerras used in his landmark recording. It\u2019s incredible how florid the whole\nthing is, and so it gives you a little bit of license to experiment. I\u2019m not an\nEarly Music specialist\/conductor, but I think the important thing is to inform\nyour work from that period anyway. More\nlike the a \u2018social smoker\u2019, than \u201850-a-day\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story is very complex. How do you ensure it comes across clearly?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, Figaro<\/em>\u2019s very hard. It is <\/em>an issue for the director but it\u2019s\nalso a collaboration. There are certainly lines that I think are significant. There\nare these moments where you get a moral message, which is often sung by all of\nthe cast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, in the\nAct II Finale bar 267, you have the phrase \u2018perdono non merta chi agli altri\nnol da\u2019 which basically translates as \u2018forgiveness is not given to those who\ndon\u2019t give it\u2019. It\u2019s sung quite quickly, twice, by Susanna and the Countess. But\n\u2018perdono\u2019 is an important message of the time and of the opera, and arguably somewhat\nrelated to the issue of clemency in \u2018La Clemenza di Tito\u2019 a few years later. It\u2019s\nfor the director to decide whether there\u2019s a fourth wall, but that\u2019s a moment\nwhere I\u2019d want to shout that to the audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s one in The Magic Flute<\/em> that is also very good. I\u2019ve always remembered it as a moment that I thought was really important that it’s heard. It appears suddenly in the quintet, in the middle of an important dramatic moment. The text is: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bek\u00e4men doch die L\u00fcgner alle,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ein solches Schloss vor ihren Mund;<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statt Hass, Verleumdung, schwarzer\nGalle,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Best\u00fcnde Lieb und Bruderbund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Translation: For if all liars received<\/p>\n\n\n\n a lock like this on\ntheir mouths,<\/p>\n\n\n\n instead of hatred,\ncalumny, and black gall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n love and brotherhood\nwould flourish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s amazing. We are\ndoing these pieces in the age of Trumpism and the normalization of lying, so Mozart\u2019s\nmessage is as relevant now as it could be then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s so good, I really like that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a good one,\nisn\u2019t it? That\u2019s why we should watch an eighteenth-century opera now. Those\nguys had the same problems that we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you work with Da Ponte\u2019s word play at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The word play is interesting, it\u2019s full of that. It is an interesting time to do this interview because the director and I haven\u2019t started our collaboration yet (we\u2019re three or four months away from the start of rehearsals). Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier are a directing team, and I remember watching them do an interview about opera. They made a brilliant point that I\u2019ve never forgotten: the conductor needs to work like a director, and the director needs to work like conductor\/musician. I find myself investigating aspects of the story that are interesting (including the wordplay). My job is to then adjust the ideas I\u2019ve developed to help bring out the vision of the director. I need to have a very strong opinion of what I think about this piece, but not so strong that it can\u2019t be changed and adapted. I think it\u2019s quite a healthy process, you grow on your own first and then you meet up with the person you\u2019re working with and combine ideas. Luckily, Olly Platt (our Director) was originally a musician, so I\u2019d like to think we can be an embodiment of what Leiser and Caurier were talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s about empathy for\nother people. It\u2019s the same as working with an orchestra. I can\u2019t play all of\nthose instruments but if I respect that that\u2019s what the musicians do very well,\nI also have something to offer. That\u2019s basically what opera is all about \u2013 knowing\nthat everyone has their own concerns and how they come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So do you have to think about comic timing, especially in the recitative sections?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah the recits \u2013\nthat\u2019s where it would be true to say that Figaro<\/em>\nneeds a lot of rehearsal. The drama and the momentum (as we\u2019ve talked about) is\nwritten into the musical numbers, but you need to work hard in the rehearsals\nto get the recits to work. I\u2019m firmly of the opinion that even if you don\u2019t\nspeak Italian and you\u2019re ignoring the surtitles you\u2019re still able to know the\nmeaning of what\u2019s happening on the stage. I don\u2019t mean overact or overemphasise\neverything in the delivery of the text, but it\u2019s our job is to make it obvious what\nis going on. I\u2019ve known people that have seen and understood what\u2019s happening\nin a very developed Italian recit just because it has been acted and timed so well.\nThat\u2019s where the director\u2019s sense of comedy combines with the conductor\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you\u2019re from a family of actors, aren\u2019t you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am. Both parents,\nand my sister is a Casting Director for Film and TV. More and more I think I\u2019m doing that kind of job.\nYou\u2019re making dramatic sense of what\u2019s written down, and that\u2019s what actors do\n\u2013 they work out how to deliver their lines in the right way. It\u2019s a bit like\nShakespeare \u2013 if all you\u2019ve got is the soliloquy, the actor needs to work out\nhow to time it. That is where the recitative interest lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a way I\u2019m more interested in spending six weeks just working on recits, because we all know that they can sing. The conductor or the director doesn\u2019t simply say \u2018do this line a bit faster\u2019, or \u2018wait before this line\u2019. The singers have to know their character well enough to know how they would deliver that line. The way that the recits develop and the timing is the hardest part of the job, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mozart wasn\u2019t\nnecessarily interested in following the words and composing from them (we know this\nfrom the letters). He was much more interested in writing music in a way that\ndepicted character and then slotted the words into what he\u2019d written. I think\nthe quote from the letters he wrote to Da Ponte is; \u2018words are the obedient\ndaughter of the music\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think that relates to the idea that \u2018points of\ndramatic stability are matched by areas of tonal stability\u2026 while dramatic\ninstability is reinforced by tonal instability, whether by way of sudden\nmodulations or, more frequently, dominant pedals\u2019 (Carter 1987:98). The key\ndisplacement when Figaro enters in the Finale (bar 328)<\/strong> is so effective.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. It goes back to\nG major, which is how we first met Figaro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are the key changes important for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, I think they\nare. There\u2019s a nice example in \u2018Voi che\nsapete che cosa \u00e8 amor\u2019, the Cherubino aria (No. 11) in Act II. It has a really interesting\nmodulation, which I think is quite unusual for the time. If you go to bar 37: \u2018Gelo,\ne poi sento l\u2019alma avvampar\u2019: \u2018I freeze and then my soul is on fire\u2019. On \u2018gelo\u2019\n(freeze) we\u2019re in B flat major. We\u2019ve gone towards F minor a little bit but\nthen we have a C major chord in bar 36. Suddenly, without any preparation, he\ndrops down to A flat major. That\u2019s something that you find in a lot of Schubert\nsongs \u2013 a note that stays the same and the harmony shifts around it. In this\ncase the flute plays a C and it\u2019s C major. The C stays the same but with the E\nflat and A flat you\u2019re suddenly in A flat major. That\u2019s quite a Romantic,\nalmost early nineteenth-century thing to do with harmony. But what\u2019s\ninteresting is the reason <\/em>for that: it\u2019s\nthere because suddenly Cherubino is \u2018freezing\u2019. You don\u2019t have a nice\nmodulation into the A flat major chord, you just \u2018freeze\u2019. Moments like that\nare really, really important because there\u2019s a reason to back up the marriage\nbetween this crazy harmony and the libretto. In this case he\u2019s responding to\nwhat the text is saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s easy to dismiss that in Mozart, but if you really look at it and ask \u2018why the hell has he done that?\u2019 you realise. Like all of the best composers, the simplicity of it is what makes it so genius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right. Act II Finale!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes! What\u2019s important\nabout this Finale (No. 15), from a formal perspective, as that we go from a\nduet, to a trio, to a quartet, and it just builds. On a larger macro\/long range\nscale you\u2019re just bringing everybody on the stage over the time. It\u2019s a\nbrilliant way of seeing how he writes for both the orchestra and the accompaniment,\npreparing the characters for how they\u2019re going to act. For example, right at\nthe beginning we have this big E flat major chord and then this very aggressive\nfortepiano<\/em> in the first and second\nviolins. They\u2019re portraying the rage of the Count \u2018esci\no mai, garzon malnato\u2019 (\u2018come\nout you little bastard\u2019). What\u2019s\nimportant is he says \u2018malnato\u2019 which means \u2018lowly born\u2019. So we see the Count\nshow his true colours. He\u2019s insulting Cherubino not just because he thinks he\u2019s\nsleeping with his wife \u2013 it\u2019s the fact that someone from a lower class is doing\nit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From a musical point\nof view, first of all we have a chord on the first beat and then he sings. We\u2019re\ngetting all the energy and aggression of the Count on the first beat. Then we\ngo to the Countess, who is pleading \u2018Ah! Signore, quell furore, per lui fammi\nil cor tremar\u2019 trying to get him to calm down. But interestingly, in bar 5 (just\nbefore she starts singing) the orchestra is suddenly piano<\/em> and the first violins play these octaves. It\u2019s a pleading\nfigure, happening underneath what the Countess is doing. Again the music is slightly\nin advance, predicting or setting up what they\u2019re about to say. When Susanna\narrives later on in B flat major \u2013 the Molto Andante at bar 126 \u2013 there are\ntwo\/three bars of introduction before she sings. Mozart sets up the character\nbeforehand. It may not seem like a revolutionary idea but a hundred years later\nthe orchestra was often like another character in the music of Wagner and the\nlate Nineteenth Century. This is the revolution, particularly in this Finale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another good example is\nat bar 55 when the Count sings \u2018Qu\u00e0 la chiave\u2019 (\u2018get the key\u2019). Before that\nthere are two bars of very loud repeated semiquavers (first and second\nviolins). So again, the rage that the Count needs to sing that line comes from\nthe orchestra. When we finally get to rehearsing with the singers, you realise how\nimportant the orchestra is. It isn\u2019t commenting on the drama, but making it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fantastic. There are lots of shifts in tempo.\nAre there any particularly tricky ones for the conductor? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are, but in a\nway it\u2019s quite organic, all the tempos run into one another quite nicely.\nMozart is writing in the momentum for you, and they all link in a certain way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I see. So are there any moments where synchronizing\nwith the action on stage is especially difficult?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. The music at bar\n328, when Figaro comes in and says the wedding party\u2019s going to start, comes\nfrom nowhere. There\u2019s a fermata and suddenly it starts in G major. I imagine\nthere must be something, a door opening or a glass smashing, that gives the\nmotivation for that music to start. That\u2019s our job \u2013 to fill in the blanks\ndramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s quite an\ninteresting moment at bar 308, just before that. Mozart writes sotto voce<\/em> for the three characters\n(Susanna, Countess and the Count). You don\u2019t see that a huge amount in this\nopera in ensembles, although in Cos\u00ec<\/em> almost every ensemble has a sotto\nvoce<\/em> (maybe it\u2019s something that Mozart was starting to experiment with and\nadds in more as he gets more comfortable in the later operas). Suddenly the\ndrama stops, the Count has stopped asking for forgiveness. \u2018Da questo momento\nquest\u2019alma a conoscervi apprender potr\u00e0\u2019 \u2013 they\u2019re commenting on what\u2019s going\non, but not to each other (as in the Greek chorus tradition). It\u2019s amazing how\nthat just fits in with the way things develop on the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also a nice\nmoment at bar 441 later on where Figaro says \u2018per finirla lietamente, e\nall\u2019usanza teatrale\u2019 (\u2018to end happily and in a theatrical manner\u2019). I checked, and there\u2019s nothing like that in the Beaumarchais play. Da Ponte\nhas written that specifically for Figaro. There\u2019s definitely a strong sense\nthat there shouldn\u2019t be a fourth wall \u2013 you have know the play to realise that\nDa Ponte has prioritized this. In this Viennese tradition, where the fourth wall\ndoesn\u2019t really exist, this direct talking to the audience is a priority (even\nif it doesn\u2019t seem so clear).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You also wanted to mention the recitative and\nthe aria just before that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, No. 12. I think this aria gets overlooked. In a Handel opera lots will happen in the recitatives, and then the aria gives an insight into the character. It\u2019s either emotional, or a commentary on what\u2019s going on. Theoretically, you could run a whole Handel opera with none of the arias and make sense of the story just from the recitatives. In Mozart you can\u2019t because the dramatic function of the recitative and aria become equalised. The recit before the Susanna aria (\u2018Bravo! Che bella voce!\u2019) is when they start dressing Cherubino up. When the aria starts, they\u2019re still doing that. People overlook this, but I think it\u2019s a revolution. It\u2019s not a showy aria (you wouldn\u2019t do it in an audition) but the other two characters on stage are just as important. It really challenges the tradition and is unusual because he\u2019s using the recit and the aria in opposite ways. The idea of a big Da Capo aria where the singer shows off their amazing voice has completely disappeared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the most challenging aspect of this opera\nfor you, as the conductor?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably getting the recits right \u2013 that\u2019s a big thing. And also No. 7 \u2018Cosa sento! Tosto andate!\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s a trio. You have one (quite fast) tempo in 2 \u2013 Allegro Assai. There\u2019s the introduction of three different character\u2019s music, all happening within the same tempo. As a conductor you have to find the tempo that accommodates all three of these ideas. The Count is starting to get annoyed (\u2018Cosa sento!\u2019 bar 4) so you have to find that tempo. Then in that tempo you have to find Basilio\u2019s line \u2018In mal punto son qui giunto\u2019 (bar 16). Within that<\/em> Susanna is getting agitated \u2013 bar 23 \u2018che ruina, me meschina\u2019. There is a tradition of changing tempo for the entrance of each character but actually the challenge is to find one that fits all of them comfortably. It\u2019s a hairline between too fast and too slow, and you have to get it right. Sometimes I think you have to imagine all the characters\u2019 music at once in order to be in the right tempo from the beginning. It\u2019s about finding the unity between three different thoughts expressed in the same way. That’s very hard with a lot of Mozart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I was teaching a\nstudent, that would be a classic extract to work on. It\u2019s the sort of thing you\nwouldn\u2019t think you\u2019d have to think about, but you do. I suspect that Mozart,\nunlike Beethoven or Wagner, wasn\u2019t particularly philosophical. He just wrote\nthe music down and it was amazing. But because we\u2019re not as intelligent as\nMozart, it just takes us longer to get it. I find myself asking the questions: what\u2019s\ngoing on in the orchestra? Who is this representing? What can we learn about\nthat character from the music? It opens up the opera in a very different way. Opera\novertures are usually dramatic. You have this \u2018ba baaa!\u2019 that begins Barber of Seville<\/em> or those dramatic\nchords in Don Giovanni<\/em>. But this is\nquite funny [sings opening]. It\u2019s very pianissimo, that in itself is a bit of a\njoke. I\u2019m sure that the Viennese audience would have thought that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We know in the story\nthat Cherubino has been sleeping with Barbarina \u2013 it has already happened\nwhen the opera starts. So my conclusion is the Overture\nis Cherubino \u2013 this young, very randy adolescent running round this house\ntrying to sleep with everyone. To further the argument (I have thought about\nthis for quite a few years) he quotes the \u2018Aprite presto, aprite!\u2019 (No. 14) in\nthe overture. In bar 252, the crotchets in the woodwinds are also in the duet in\nAct II when Cherubino comes out of the wardrobe and runs off (before the Finale). Although we see this opera through the eyes of Figaro, I also think that\nin a way Cherubino is an even more important figure, and there is a lot more to\nhim in the opera. That\u2019s the only way I can make sense of the overture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interesting. It does feel<\/em> like him, doesn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t think of it\nbeing any of the other characters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And it doesn\u2019t seem to change character that\nmuch. It\u2019s strange we don\u2019t know more about it, seeing as it\u2019s so ridiculously famous.\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly. For me the\noverture is Cherubino (or even Da Ponte) running around Europe sleeping with\neveryone. Maybe I\u2019m being too analytical and it\u2019s just a nice bit of music\nbefore the opera starts, but Cherubino running around being randy is central to\nthe whole story. Him and the Count are quite similar figures, despite not being\nfrom the same noble background. In The Barber\nof Seville<\/em>, the Count comes all the way down from Madrid to Seville, in\norder to try and hook up with some chick he saw on the street in Madrid. That\u2019s\nthe sort of thing I imagine Cherubino might have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (laughs) That suddenly makes it feel very\ndifferent.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s my idea. Whether\nit\u2019s a revelation or not, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gosh we\u2019ve been talking for ages. This has been\nreally great, thank you!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes I want to carry\non! We should do this once a week\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Carter, T. W.A. Mozart:<\/em> Le nozze di Figaro<\/em> (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987) [1]<\/a> Click here <\/a>for George\u2019s interview on Cos\u00ec fan tutte.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> All aria numbers and bar numbers\nrefer to the Eulenberg edition Mozart Le\nNozze di Figaro Opera K492 <\/em>(Eulenberg, London 1983).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a>\nHiller, J. A. Treatise on Vocal Performance and Ornamentation<\/em> (Cambridge University Press 2001).\nOriginally published in 1780.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DSCF6206-1024x683-1024x683.jpg\")
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