Great Band Transcripts of Opera Music
Check out our great band transcripts of opera music. We have a wide variety of opera music to choose from.
The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro (Italian: Le nozze di Figaro), K. 492, is an opera buffa (comic opera) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (1784), which was the first part of an irregular tetralogy, depicting the playwright as Figaro, the daring young valet of the Count Almaviva. The opera was an immediate success and became one of Mozart’s most frequently performed works.
Characters
The Marriage of Figaro is a comedic opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto, by Lorenzo Da Ponte, is based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais called La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro.
The story follows the servants Figaro and Susanna as they scheme to outwit their employer, the philandering Count Almaviva. Along the way, they must contend with the Countess Almaviva, the Count’s jealous old fiancée (who was once Susanna’s mistress), and various other characters.
The opera contains some of Mozart’s busiest and most energetic music, as well as some of his most beautiful arias. It is considered one of his greatest works.
Plot
The Marriage of Figaro is an opera buffa (comic opera) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian-language libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (“The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”), first performed in 1784. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity.
The opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears consistently among the top ten in Opera America’s list of most-produced operas. Beaumarchais’s earlier play The Barber of Seville (1775), was one of the great successes of the French Revolution, and its character Figaro became one for all seasons. Marriages were arranged for financial or political gain rather than love since many though that romantic feelings led to UPOPULAR disorderly conduct. Mozart and da Ponte give voice to Rossini’s generation’s quest for individual rights and dignity.
Don Giovanni
Mozart’s Opera, “Don Giovanni” is about a young, charismatic nobleman who chooses to live a life devoted to conquests of the flesh. The characters in the opera are all drawn to him, despite his complete selfishness and lack of moral values. The opera is set in Spain during the 1630s.
Characters
The following is a list of the characters in the opera Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
-Don Giovanni: The protagonist and title character; he is a womanizer.
-Leporello: Don Giovanni’s servant; he is often the comic relief character.
-Donna Anna: She is engaged to Ottavio and seeks revenge on her father’s murderer.
-Don Ottavio: Donna Anna’s fiancé; he is patient and level-headed.
-DonnaElvira: She was once engaged to Don Giovanni but was jilted by him; she now wants revenge.
-TheCommendatore: Donna Anna’s father; he is killed by Don Giovanni in the first scene.
-Zerlina: A peasant girl who is engaged to Masetto; she is seduced by Don Giovanni.
-Masetto: Zerlina’s fiancé; he becomes jealous of her when she appears to be interested in Don Giovanni.
Plot
The opera tells the story of Don Giovanni, a young Spanish nobleman who has killed the father of his former lover, Donna Anna. As punishment, he is dragged to hell by the ghosts of Donna Anna’s father and the other people he has killed.
La Bohème
Characters
Below is a list of the characters in La Bohème and the singers who usually sing them. The names in capitals are the ones used on this recording.
RODOLFO, a poet, tenor
MARCO, a musician, bass
COLLINE, a philosopher, bass
SCHAUERMANN, a painter, baritone
BENOIT, the landlord of the house in the Rue de la Huchette where the six friends live
ALCAZAR, owner of a nightclub on the Boulevard de Clichy where Musetta sings
Parpignol, a toy vendor
Sergeant of Police
Customs Officer
A Waiter from Café Momus
Plot
La Bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world premiere performance of La Bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio. It rapidly became part of the standard operatic repertoire and is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide.
– Act I
The opening act is set in Christmas Eve around 1830 in the Latin Quarter of Paris, around the Rue de la Huchette. Musetta, a rich girl, taunts her former lover Marcello, a poor painter, with the gift of a cock’s comb for his hat. While Musetta flirtatiously shows off her ankle to a group of young men in a café, Marcello is secretly sketching her. His friend Rodolfo invites him to move to their lodgings to have more light for his work; Marcello initially declines but then changes his mind when he sees Musetta enter with another man, Alcindoro, an older gentleman she is accompanying.
– Act II
Thanksgiving Day around 1832. The second act is set in Rodolfo and Marcello’s attic apartment on the Rue du Contract which they share with Colline, a philosopher, and Schaunard, a musician; it overlooks a courtyard (and laundry area) at the back of an apartment building on the Left Bank opposite Notre Dame Cathedral. Schaunard has found wood for their stove so they can have a fire; he playfully chases away Christmas carolers led by Benoit and Alcindoro returns looking for Musetta; she has sent him on a series of trivial errands so she could stay behind and spend time with Rodolfo. While taking out the garbage (including Musetta’s old shoes), Alcindoro drops his key down the trash chute into the courtyard below just as Rodolfo and Marcello are returning from go grocery shopping; knowing that this will force Alcindoro to wait outside until Musetta finishes with him (and hopefully give them time alone), they invite him upstairs where Colline returns with Schaunard carrying wine and food from Café Momus where they had gone instead of shopping — thus beginning an impromptu party..
– Act III
Early morning hours during Lent 1833. The third act is set in another section entirely of Paris near Marais on Rue Saint-Denis (which runs northeast through central Paris), again overlooking an inner courtyard but this one containing fruit trees rather than laundry lines — perhaps signifying that it is somewhat more upmarket residential area than where Acts I & II were set.. Benoit enters seeking lodgings but not finding any vacant rooms he leaves just as Mimì enters seeking matches so she can light her candle; both are too poor to purchase any. She lives in an adjoining building but often comes into this courtyard to sew near where there might be some sunlight coming thru if it’s not too cloudy or foggy that day.. American baritone Harold Prince staged Act III as though it were being performed outdoors aboard ocean liner because “Puccini was fascinated by America”. While looking for water for Mimì’s candle , Rodolfo finds some old letters she has written to an old boyfriend who has since died; he berates her for being heartless enough to keep them all this time instead of burning them.. A furious argument ensues that ends when Mimì faints from coughing blood into her handkerchief caused by tuberculosis..
– Act IV About six months later 1833–34.. Now wintertime.. The fourth act takes place back at Rodolfo and Marcello’s old attic apartment on Rue du Contract near Latin Quarter which they had vacated so they could each take their own place following their fight with each other over Mimì at end of Act III.. Since then Mimì has been living with Rodolfo while receiving treatment from Doctor Leroux but she has only gotten worse.. As dawn breaks Mimì tries unsuccessfully to light her candle using what little matches are left; seeing this from across the way Colline comes over just as Marcello & Schaunard return from night spent gambling at Café Momus so all three go upstairs leaving Rodolfo & Mimì alone once again.. Hoping against hope that warm sunshine might help clear up her congestion so she can breathe better , since it worked before,, they go downstairs into courtyard only find it still dark and cold outside despite now being broad daylight .. Realizing that nothing more can be done for Mimì , Rodolfo sends neighborhood boy to go get Lorraine’s Porte Saint-Denis (near Porte Saint-Martin) so someone can take her home while he stays behind ostensibly to pay rent owed .. But actually because he knows once she leaves this will be last time he ever sees her alive since she will soon die from tuberculosis .. He plans spend what little money he has buying bread which he will soak in wine as final meal for both them since neither can afford anything else .. But being too weak now even stand let alone walk , Mimì soon dies in his arms telling him “to remember only happiness” from their brief time together..
