The Murder of Figaro

by Susan Larson

It's 1786, and "The Marriage of Figaro," a new comic opera by Amadé Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte, has just begun its first onstage rehearsal when a corpse makes an appearance in the it's the Imperial Censor, whom everybody wanted to kill at one time or other. Mozart and his clever wife Constanze are commanded to solve this deadly mystery. If they fail, "Figaro" will never play in Vienna! The book is structured like an opera libretto, in four acts. There is even an overture, followed by two more overtures, just for fun. The plot follows that of "The Marriage of Figaro" in a loose fashion, with lots of coffee breaks and detours into Shakespeare, other Mozart operas, hot news and scandals of the day, and the American Revolution. Susan Larson was a professional concert and operatic soprano for thirty years. She sang many of Mozart's most iconic soprano roles(Cherubino, Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Fiordiligi, etc.) and performed in the famous Peter Sellars/Craig Smith Mozart/Da Ponte productions. Says Larson about her approach to the "The original singers in 'Figaro' have always fascinated me. They are largely forgotten, but were hard-working international stars in their day. Did they love the music written for them by the brash young upstart Mozart? Did they squabble and throw prima-donna fits? I invented rather messy lives for them, because humans have messy lives." Regarding Mozart himself, she "I invented lots of chit-chat with Mozart and his friends, because I always wanted to talk to him myself. He is one of my favorite human beings. I'm sorry I put him through the labor of solving a murder when all he wanted to do was produce his opera."

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2019

About the author

In the course of my life I have been an opera star, an actress, a music teacher, a journalist, a novelist and an easel painter. While deciding what I will do next I live and tend the garden with my brilliant and beloved husband, in the leafy suburbs of Boston.

Of all the composers I sang, I have always loved Mozart best. Mozart opera roles I have sung include: Fiordiligi (Cosí Fan Tutte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Pamina (The Magic Flute) and Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro).

I started singing his opera arias and songs in high school. I felt that I had found a musical mentor. I read his correspondence in college and fell in love with his high ideals, his low humor, his vitality, curiosity and love of humanity. I almost felt he was talking to me personally.

I wrote “The Murder of Figaro” so I could talk with Mozart and his friends, and pretend I was sitting in Viennes cafés with them cracking jokes, talking about all the changes happening in the world, and eating gooey desserts. I used the mystery form because historical murder mysteries had just become popular and I hoped a murder mystery would lure people into reading the book; and because Mozart loved puzzles and riddles, pranks and crazy plot twists.

A bit of advice: if you haven’t heard the opera “The Marriage of Figaro,” you should do so before reading the book. It’s not obligatory, but you will catch on to more of the jokes if you do. If you want to hear me singing in it, search out the video on London Records directed by Peter Sellars. (1990).

Reviews

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the ATY 2020 Reading Challenge Week 41: A Mystery.

This book was really different as it was written as a libretto for an opera rather than in a prose format.
As the reader, I was imagining the clothes and styles of Vienna in Mozart's time. However, the language was more like what I am used to (or not) today. This added to the humor of the book. It was laugh-out-loud funny many times. It was also quite instructive as to how life was generally lived at the time. For example, there were lots of infidelities, quite a bit of prejudice toward those who were not Austrians...or perhaps, those who were not Viennese, and insecurities everywhere. I enjoyed it, although I am not quite certain whodunit.

[Renny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Murder of Figaro by Susan Larson

Structured like an opera libretto in four acts, a structure which oddly fits the nature of the story, the timeline and the characters involved... It reads like a quirky play with light dialogues descriptive of yet glossing over the tragedy’s severity as well as some mind bogglingly awful events with a word froth that appears designed to evoke scenes of life at once cruel, barbaric and painful but covered with lace and splendid music! ...”It’s the human condition, dear fellow. You can’t avoid it.” “Then let’s not.”