Sentimental and Anti-Sentimental in "Le nozze di Figaro"

Abstract

The article explores the complex relationship between Le nozze di Figaro (1786) and aspects of eighteenth-century sentimental culture. On the one hand, the opera parodies recognizable elements of that culture, thus joining a well-established anti-sentimental trend (an attitude largely inherited from its literary source, Beaumarchais's comedy Le Mariage de Figaro). In other respects, however, Le nozze di Figaro can be seen to make a direct appeal to sentiment. The tension between the sentimental and the anti-sentimental is one of the driving forces behind this work, and one of the most fascinating aspects of an entire epoch in European culture.