About the work
A five-act comedy by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, completed around 1778 but held back by royal censorship until its premiere at the Comédie-Française on 27 April 1784. The play forms the second part of the Figaro trilogy centred on Count Almaviva and his valet Figaro.
Plot
On the wedding day of Figaro and the maid Suzanne, Count Almaviva tries to assert his right to the bride before the marriage. Through disguises, swapped letters and the countess's help, Figaro and Suzanne foil his plans within a single, chaotic day.
Cultural significance
Its open criticism of aristocratic privilege made the play one of the most debated theatrical events on the eve of the French Revolution. As the source text for Mozart and Da Ponte's opera "Le nozze di Figaro" (1786), it also became formative for music history.