WHO WAS
FIGARO? “Room for the City’s Factotum I” cried Figaro imperiously, as he pushed his way through the crowded streets of Seville; and factotum, or Jack-of-all-trades he certainly was. Figaro, “the pride of Seville, •the barber of quality, the prince of barbers, blood-letters, plotters and go-betweens” was ready to have a finger in any pie which promised excitement and intrigue. In the 'Count Almaviva’s courtship of the fair Rosina, Figaro proved an invaluable accomplice. His nimble wits invented a means for Almaviva to obtain an interview with the lady, his presence of mind saved the situation when Rosina’s fierce guardian found the lovers in converse; he it was who stole the key of the balcony whereby the two ..were planning to elope; and' when at the last moment their carefully laid schemes went all aglcy, it was Figaro who retrieved the situation by a stroke of superb audacity. Of the many operas in which he appears “The Nights of Figaro,” by Mozart, and “Tlie Barber of Seville,” by Rossini, are the two best known, and both composers modelled their plots and characters upon the French comedies of Beaumarchais.
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Southland Times, Issue 21273, 19 December 1930, Page 6
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189WHO WAS Southland Times, Issue 21273, 19 December 1930, Page 6
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