The Marriage of Figaro

The Marriage of Figaro (French: ''La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro) is a comedy in five acts, written in 1778 by Pierre Beaumarchais. The play was first performed officially at the Odéon on 27 April 1784, after having been censored for many years. The play was at first banned in Vienna because of its satire of the aristocracy. Beaumarchais said in his preface to the play that it was the Prince de Conti who requested that the sequel be wr... more

The Marriage of Figaro (French: ''La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro) is a comedy in five acts, written in 1778 by Pierre Beaumarchais. The play was first performed officially at the Odéon on 27 April 1784, after having been censored for many years. The play was at first banned in Vienna because of its satire of the aristocracy. Beaumarchais said in his preface to the play that it was the Prince de Conti who requested that the sequel be written. It is considered an early indication of the French Revolution in its denouncement of the privileges of the nobility. In it, Beaumarchais uses the main characters from The Barber of Seville: the barber Figaro, Count Almaviva, and Rosine, who in this play is now the Countess. Bartholo, the other principal character of The Barber of Seville, has a secondary role. Thanks to the great popularity of its predecessor, The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro opened to enormous success; it reportedly grossed 100,000 francs in the first... less