marriage of figaro, act 2 (continuing)

ok so the next song on the list is cherubino's voi che sapete..... he is only supposed to be 16 years old and he's always played by a woman as there has not yet been a pubescent teenager whose voice hasn't broken who could sing the soprano parts play the role..... there have been cases where kids could do it but it just hasn't been done.... more to do with the difficulty of scheduling and the fact that their window to playing would be shortlived anyway, since eventually their voice would break......

this is an opera about love, cherubino's conception of love for the opposite sex (there are no fags in this opera) is innocent and naïve, he has no knowledge of sex and is only beginning to experience sexual desire........ the aria reflects that -- it's not for everyone, so we won't even bother trying to sell it to you

however, it is important, in my mind, when considering this opera, which is probably the greatest opera every written and therefore, really, the greatest musical ever written........ that we understand cherubino's aria as a prelude and strong juxtaposition to some of the powerful arias the count delivers shortly thereafter

if you've seen the movie Amadeus, which is somewhat bleak and depressing, especially towards the end and somewhat untrue in its blaming Salieri for killing Mozart, you would see a scene in which Mozart is trying to convince the ruling monarch whoever it was at the time, in his area, about how great opera is and how in his opera, there is a scene that runs on for 20 minutes with continual singing.... this is the barrage that comes after voi che sapete and some of the dopey sing songy parts with no music........ it is a thoroughly magnificent strip of music too, really, again, among the greatest music that we know of.............

the count is a man that wants to fuck.......... he's not going to say 'i'll growl her box out even if it's hot and sweaty and bloody,' like an Australian English redneck uncouth varmint, because this is not Mozart's style, however, nevertheless, we can fairly affirm that the Count wants to fuck like a bull and he doesn't giving a flying fuck, as they say, whose feelings are hurt. He wants to fuck his servant's fiancée because it's his right as a nobleman......... the politics of this is what offended Mozart's relevant nobleman at the time of producing this opera..... interestingly, in America, which had just been born at the time after George Washington and his buddies kicked the English's arses and established Jefferson's Constitution, the awarding of hereditary titles had been banned. We might say today that u.s. citizenship, in and of itself, constitutes a form of hereditary title which itself is unconstitutional, however, this is a radical tangent and we want to talk about the Count

now the Count has a thoroughly magnificent baritone, as does his servant Figaro, however the Count's may be a little deeper and certainly his songs are most bombastic and most booming and most powerful, in his aggressive and arrogant way, due to the support of the orchestra....... the Count in act 2 is seeking out Sussana who is hidden in a closet..... he doesn't care that his wife the Countess is offended by his lack of love for her, this is conjugial love, as described by Sweedenborg, for one man to one woman exclusively, none of the characters in this story are muslims who can have four wives legally and fairly and squarely according to their God appointed religion

if you go ahead and listen to this long stream of 20 minutes opera, just appreciate how powerful and magnificent the count's arias are.... later you will hear Figaro singing and still later an old widow who wants to marry Figaro and doesn't care about Susana, Marcellina, comes onto the scene, it turns out she's Figaro's mother so it's all a little incestuous - but they were both innocent of that knowledge at the time...... you'll hear a magnificent aria in act 3 representing that realization later.......

all of the Count's magnificent baritones are wonderfully and very masterfully balanced by Mozart with Susana and the Countess' excellent sopranos