Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

And one interesting thing about the Mozart-Deponte operas is that of the three, it's the only one that is effectively an original libretto.

Marriage of Figaro, based on the Beaumarchais play, Don Giovanni, long tradition of Don Juan, myth and theater there.

And Da Ponte takes a lot from other writers and a lot from classical myth and a lot of things that he was really into on his own.

But it is effectively an original plot.

Nevertheless, our method of study will disclose to us an ever-growing view of human lift and a deeper and deeper glimpse into the emotional and intellectual life of man, his aims and destiny.

For the almost commonplace conditions of Die Unfrug, where a rascal sings in the best of humor of first beheading and then hanging a man, we reach a plane in The Marriage of Figaro, in which, despite the refinement and mitigation of Beaumarchais' indictment, we feel the revolutionary breeze freshly blowing.

in don giovanni we see the individual set up in opposition to god and the world in order that he fulfil his destiny or live out his life as the popular phrase goes to-day Here, the tremendous tragedy which lies in the story has received a musical expression quite without parallel, notwithstanding the moderation exercised in the employment of means.

In Die Zauberflotte, finally, we observe the clarification which follows the fermentation.

The empire that in 1763 had forced upon her a humiliating peace, quote, at the price of our possessions, of our commerce, and our credit in the Indies, at the price of Canada, Louisiana, Isle Royale, Acadia, and Senegal, unquote.

Equally successful in gaining the king's interest was a curious French adventurer, Beaumarchais, a man of wealth, a lover of music, and the author of two popular plays, Figaro and The Barber of Seville.

These two men had already urged upon the king secret aid for America, before Dean appeared on the scene.

Shortly after his arrival, they made confidential arrangements to furnish money, clothing, powder, and other supplies to the struggling colonies, although official requests for them were officially refused by the French government.

Burgoyne, hemmed in from all sides by the American forces, his flanks harried, his foraging parties beaten back, his supplies cut off, surrendered on October 17, 1777, to General Gates, who had superseded General Shuler, in time to receive the honor.

Treaties of Alliance and Commerce, 1778 News of this victory, placed by historians among the fifteen decisive battles of the world, reached Franklin one night, early in December, while he and some friends sat gloomily at dinner.

Beaumarchais, who was with him, grasped at once the meaning of the situation, and set off to the court at Versailles, with such haste that he upset his coach and dislocated his arm.

The king and his ministers were at last convinced that the hour had come to aid the revolution.

History proves this at every turn.

Is the ferment of the peoples of the West at the end of the eighteenth century and their drive eastward explained by the activity of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, their mistresses and ministers, and by the lives of Napoleon, Rousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais, and others? Is the movement of the Russian people eastward to Kazan and Siberia expressed by details of the morbid character of Ivan the Terrible and by his correspondence with Kurbsky? Is the movement of the peoples at the time of the Crusades explained by the life and activity of the Godfreys and the Louises and their ladies? For us, that movement of the peoples from West to East, without leaders, with a crowd of vagrants and with Peter the Hermit, remains incomprehensible.

And yet more incomprehensible is the cessation of that movement when a rational and sacred aim for the Crusade, the deliverance of Jerusalem, had been clearly defined by historic leaders.

Popes, kings, and knights incited the peoples to free the Holy Land.

History proves this at every turn.

Is the ferment of the peoples of the West at the end of the eighteenth century and their drive eastward explained by the activity of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, their mistresses and ministers, and by the lives of Napoleon, Rousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais, and others? Is the movement of the Russian people eastward to Kazan and Siberia expressed by details of the morbid character of Ivan the Terrible and by his correspondence with Kurbsky? Is the movement of the peoples at the time of the Crusades explained by the life and activity of the Godfreys and the Louises and their ladies? For us, that movement of the peoples from West to East, without leaders, with a crowd of vagrants and with Peter the Hermit, remains incomprehensible.

And yet more incomprehensible is the cessation of that movement when a rational and sacred aim for the Crusade, the deliverance of Jerusalem, had been clearly defined by historic leaders.

Popes, kings, and knights incited the peoples to free the Holy Land.

Nevertheless, our method of study will disclose to us an ever-growing view of human lift and a deeper and deeper glimpse into the emotional and intellectual life of man, his aims and destiny.

For the almost commonplace conditions of Die Unfrug, where a rascal sings in the best of humor of first beheading and then hanging a man, we reach a plane in The Marriage of Figaro, in which, despite the refinement and mitigation of Beaumarchais' indictment, we feel the revolutionary breeze freshly blowing.

in don giovanni we see the individual set up in opposition to god and the world in order that he fulfil his destiny or live out his life as the popular phrase goes today Here, the tremendous tragedy which lies in the story has received a musical expression quite without parallel, notwithstanding the moderation exercised in the employment of means.

In Die Zauberflotte, finally, we observe the clarification which follows the fermentation.