The Marriage of Figaro

"The Marriage of Figaro" is the second in the Figaro Trilogy, preceded by "The Barber of Seville" and followed by "The Guilty Mother". It was originally a comic opera, or a mixture of spoken play with music. This play was considered a foreshadowing of the French Revolution in its offense of the rights of the aristocracy. It was first banned in Vienna due to its satire of the nobility, considered dangerous in the decade before the revolution. Thanks to the great success of its predecessor, it opened with enormous success, eventually becoming one of Mozart's most successful operatic works.