Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. (1756–1791). Le Nozze di Figaro. Die Hochzeit des Figaro. Eine Comische Oper in 4. Aufzügen...fürs Clavier eingerichtet von C. G. Neefe.. Bonn: N. Simrock. [1795]. First edition. [1] (title printed within oval decorative border), 2-228 pp., 1f. (recto publisher's catalogue, verso blank). Oblong 4to (c.21.5 x 30cms). Engraved throughout. [PN] 28. Text in Italian and German. Includes as No. 30, Mozart's aria "Al desio di chi t'adora" (k. 577). Unrecorded by Haberkamp, our copy listing in the publisher's catalogue at the conclusion only Kreutzer's "Lodoiska," and without his later "Paul et Virginie" (as in issues after the second) but listing nine of Mozart's operas (as in the fourth issue). This appears thus to be a transitional issue between the second and fourth issues (but not the recorded third one!), probably published in 1795. Haberkamp page 258, plates 218-220; Hoboken 259; RISM M 4343. Half calf, marbled boards, binding broken at spine but otherwise generally fine throughout.
Early issues of the first edition of Mozart's best-loved opera are very scarce. Haberkamp records only two copies of the first issue and one of the second: in Dresden and Salzburg. The copies in the British Library and the Austrian National Library are of the third issue.
First performed in Vienna at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Beaumarchais. "Figaro is generally agreed to be the most perfect and least problematic of Mozart's great operas... In the great finales of Acts 2 and 4, Mozart reached a level which he could never surpass; indeed, he was hardly to equal the Bb Allegro of the second act finale for its mercurial motivic play and the subsequent Andante in 6/8 for the synchronization of dramatic revelation with the demands of musical form." Grove Opera Vol. 3 p. 634.
Early issues of the first edition of Mozart's best-loved opera are very scarce. Haberkamp records only two copies of the first issue and one of the second: in Dresden and Salzburg. The copies in the British Library and the Austrian National Library are of the third issue.
First performed in Vienna at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Beaumarchais. "Figaro is generally agreed to be the most perfect and least problematic of Mozart's great operas... In the great finales of Acts 2 and 4, Mozart reached a level which he could never surpass; indeed, he was hardly to equal the Bb Allegro of the second act finale for its mercurial motivic play and the subsequent Andante in 6/8 for the synchronization of dramatic revelation with the demands of musical form." Grove Opera Vol. 3 p. 634.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. (1756–1791). Le Nozze di Figaro. Die Hochzeit des Figaro. Eine Comische Oper in 4. Aufzügen...fürs Clavier eingerichtet von C. G. Neefe.. Bonn: N. Simrock. [1795]. First edition. [1] (title printed within oval decorative border), 2-228 pp., 1f. (recto publisher's catalogue, verso blank). Oblong 4to (c.21.5 x 30cms). Engraved throughout. [PN] 28. Text in Italian and German. Includes as No. 30, Mozart's aria "Al desio di chi t'adora" (k. 577). Unrecorded by Haberkamp, our copy listing in the publisher's catalogue at the conclusion only Kreutzer's "Lodoiska," and without his later "Paul et Virginie" (as in issues after the second) but listing nine of Mozart's operas (as in the fourth issue). This appears thus to be a transitional issue between the second and fourth issues (but not the recorded third one!), probably published in 1795. Haberkamp page 258, plates 218-220; Hoboken 259; RISM M 4343. Half calf, marbled boards, binding broken at spine but otherwise generally fine throughout.
Early issues of the first edition of Mozart's best-loved opera are very scarce. Haberkamp records only two copies of the first issue and one of the second: in Dresden and Salzburg. The copies in the British Library and the Austrian National Library are of the third issue.
First performed in Vienna at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Beaumarchais. "Figaro is generally agreed to be the most perfect and least problematic of Mozart's great operas... In the great finales of Acts 2 and 4, Mozart reached a level which he could never surpass; indeed, he was hardly to equal the Bb Allegro of the second act finale for its mercurial motivic play and the subsequent Andante in 6/8 for the synchronization of dramatic revelation with the demands of musical form." Grove Opera Vol. 3 p. 634.
Early issues of the first edition of Mozart's best-loved opera are very scarce. Haberkamp records only two copies of the first issue and one of the second: in Dresden and Salzburg. The copies in the British Library and the Austrian National Library are of the third issue.
First performed in Vienna at the Burgtheater on May 1, 1786, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Beaumarchais. "Figaro is generally agreed to be the most perfect and least problematic of Mozart's great operas... In the great finales of Acts 2 and 4, Mozart reached a level which he could never surpass; indeed, he was hardly to equal the Bb Allegro of the second act finale for its mercurial motivic play and the subsequent Andante in 6/8 for the synchronization of dramatic revelation with the demands of musical form." Grove Opera Vol. 3 p. 634.