There was another scene from AMADEUS that also stayed with me, that of Mozart's describing the Act 2 finale from his opera 'The Marriage of Figaro'. As I prepared the role of the Countess for CFLO's production of the opera this past winter, I fell in love with the ensemble music, and particularly that of the Act 2 Finale. For some reason, I could not help singing it over and over and over again (which works really well when you're memorizing!), and as I did so, I noticed certain spots just grabbed me, really got my attention for some reason that I could not fathom.
Being a naturally analytical person, I started trying to figure out just what, exactly, Mozart was doing in this great ensemble. I went back to the film to find that scene where he describes the action to the Emperor, in an effort to have him approve the material. I found that it did not really begin to explain things in a musical way, and that I was still left with unanswered questions.
Therefore, I had to do my own musical detective work, breaking down one of the greatest pieces of all time into its component parts, in an effort to figure out Mozart's secret. The result of that work is this essay, and I'll present the material to you in the order in which it appears in the score, although that is not the order in which I made the various discoveries. I think you'll get the most benefit from this exercise if you follow along with a score and/or a recording (or Youtube video).
One of the most important things I noticed was that there were five distinct sections of the Finale, determined by which characters were onstage at the time.
The FIRST section finds the Countess and the suspicious Count in her room, as he angrily questions her about who is hiding there. Mozart uses what I'll call 'shouting music', with lots of tremolos and hard, loud, eighth note passages in the brass instruments. He constantly has the dynamic level go back and forth between loud and soft; this is particularly noticeable as each of the two characters sings. Whenever it's the Count, who seems to spend practically the entire opera shouting, he uses the device of fortepiano, or loud-soft, where the instruments first strike a note loudly and then immediately drop down. It sounds like something being hit, like what the Count would like to do to the man he thinks is hiding in his wife's room! By way of contrast, the Countess, who is attempting to calm him down, is accompanied by the softer-textured woodwinds or strings. She also has longer, more smooth legato lines to sing, in contrast to his choppy, short notes and phrases.
After a brief connecting phrase, the SECOND andante con moto section starts with a very different sound--the sound of confused silence, as Susanna comes out of hiding, instead of the expected man. The tempo is slowed to a stately minuet, and Mozart takes the orchestra down to a bare minimum, not just in volume, but also in texture....just a few pizzicato strings, as Susanna coyly steps forward, knowing the sensation she's caused. The Count, and even the Countess, are momentarily struck dumb, and Susanna takes her opportunity to get her little digs into the Count ( very well knowing that there really had a been a man there earlier ). You can almost hear the sarcasm in her tone, as she sings the rising lines, and yet manages also to convey complete unconcern and innocence of any wrong-doing. Mozart gives her very conventional harmonies and rhythms here to bolster this impression.
The Count and Countess, when they finally do sing, are singing sotto voce, under their breaths, as they can't believe what they see. At the Allegro, when the Count momentarily disappears, you can hear the Countess' breathless relief in her one- or two-note phrases, as she whispers to Susanna. The return of the Count brings back the tension of the running eighth notes in the orchestra, along with the blustery interjections of his disbelieving questions to Susanna. The Countess and Susanna often sing in thirds here, to show they are united against the Count, as the interval of the third is very simple and harmonious.
Another device Mozart uses in this section is what I call the 'coaxing motif', a pattern of two rising eighth notes followed by a half note, and we hear this over and over again, as the Count asks Susanna to plead his penitence to the Countess, and as he pleads on his own behalf. Mozart even has the ladies lecture the Count in a bit of a nagging way, giving them running eighth notes together, again in thirds. The Countess' solo interjections are often in a minor key, to show her upset condition, and Susanna expresses her saucy thoughts in a bright major. The conclusion of this section shows the three thinking fairly similar thoughts of reconciliation, and the music illustrates this with close three-part harmony and almost identical rhythms of church-like character.
The THIRD section is opened with jaunty dance music, as Figaro enters to encourage everyone to get ready for the wedding and the celebrations to follow. Notice how he seems to 'hustle' them along, singing excitedly about all the preparations, and trying to prevent the Count from having time to think. The music blusters right along with him. The Count is not long fooled by this, and the music changes as soon as the Count starts questioning Figaro about a paper that has been found outside the Countess' window. In this Andante, the vocal lines are fairly sparse, as the characters make short questions, answers, and comments (asides to help Figaro, from the ladies), but the accompanying music is very courtly indeed, with a formal structure and with old-fashioned musical effects, including lots of ornaments, like trills. The orchestra actually echoes the Count's phrases at one point in canon, further reinforcing an earlier musical age. The end of this section, as everyone tries to persuade the Count to agree to the marriage of Figaro and Susanna, finds Mozart employing a most wonderful musical effect--we seem to hear a pipe organ, a la Bach, with big full wind chords and a pedal bass!
Another abrupt change of mood occurs at the entrance of the gardener Antonio, as the allegro molto begins the FOURTH section. He is spying for the Count, and has evidence that will seemingly convict Figaro as a liar and also prove there was a man in the Countess' room. In the orchestra, we hear frenzied triplets, and the overall sound is boisterousness. There are now five characters on stage, each having their say, but with two distinct sides--the Count and Antonio on the one hand, trying to catch Figaro in a lie and prove that the Countess really did have a man in her room, and Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess on the other side, frantically trying to out-jockey the others' maneuvers in order to preserve the Countess' honor.
In the midst of this section comes one of my most favorite moments in the opera. At the andante ma non troppo, time seems to stop! Figaro has just answered what he thinks is the final question, and everyone freezes to see what the Count will do. We hear very deliberate triplets in the orchestra, accompanied by a pedal tone, a sort of drone, that will not leave, that seems like a buzzing in the head, as the Count and Figaro now have their most serious battle of wits, but in slow motion. The upper hand in the questioning goes back and forth, as Figaro tiptoes very warily indeed through the minefield of questions the Count uses to trap him. This interplay seems to go on and on, and Mozart has the tension build with modulations into other keys and with sudden crescendos, as it seems each time that Figaro is caught. However, with whispered help from the ladies, he triumphantly answers the final question, much to the confusion of the Count and Antonio, who were sure they had him. This is reflected superbly in the music, as each character again sings under the breath, with either relief or chagrin, as their position reflects.
After the sublimity of this music, the FIFTH section is a bit, but only a bit, of a letdown, if such a term can ever be used to describe Mozart! BAM....the doors burst open and in come three more characters, each with their own ax to grind, but united in their idea of thwarting Figaro's marriage. In this Allegro assai, Marcellina, Bartolo, and Basilio enter shouting, and the others shout in return, as does the orchestra. Mozart has it divided into separate groups that mirror and accompany each of the two main groups on stage. The three new entrants each harangue the Count in tongue-twisting patter (and my particular favorite line here is when the Countess, Susanna, and Figaro respond "come?" ("what?") to Marcellina's very convoluted line), and the Count is forced to shout, on a high note, "silenzio" to even get a word in edgewise!
As this section segues into the final stretta, you can hear Mozart 'wind up' the orchestra, as it were, with rising chromatic lines, ready to really let go at the end, at the piu allegro. As everyone one sings about confusion and racket, the orchestra kicks into high gear with extremely fast scales, and even Susanna and the Countess sing them, as they express the opinion that a devil from hell has brought this conclusion.
There is a bit of calm before the final storm, with all singing piano and Susanna running quietly up and down scales with suppressed anxiety, but then all hell really does break loose, as the music surges into the prestissimo, and note values are halved. This final musical effect makes me feel as though we all have put on the boots of a giant and with one step, positively leapt forward! I know it's fanciful, but I don't know how else to convey the out-of-body experience it engenders in me. It's as though Mozart has jumped us all through a time portal. The orchestra at this point is playing fiendishly difficult and impossibly fast runs, as everyone rushes off the stage, and really, what else could they do?
There you have it, my impressions of what makes this scene so great and an enduring example of what makes Mozart a genius. Even with all the words, I still cannot fully express all that the music does, but I hope that in some way you may be able to see what I see and hear what I hear in this most wonderful opera, and that it may bring you to an even better understanding of Mozart's masterpiece, 'Le Nozze di Figaro'.
