Opera Scotland

Nozze di Figaro 1972Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Marriage of Figaro

The summer week at the Lyceum in Edinburgh in 1971 had featured The Barber of Seville with alternating mezzo and soprano Rosinas. Here the mezzo version alternated with the first revival of Anthony Besch's 1968 production of Figaro with a number of cast changes appearing during the extensive autumn tour of sixteen performances. Though several of the original principals returned, singers who tackled these roles for the first time included Stafford Dean and Patricia Hay, as well as Elizabeth Robson, recognised as an excellent Susanna at Covent Garden, who had not previously sung the Countess.

The text used was unusually complete, in that both Marcellina and Basilio sang their arias in the last act, and there was evidence of thorough musical preparation as well as Besch's usual scrupulous attention to dramatic detail. As with the original 1968 run, the performances were in English, using the translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin. The next revival, in 1973, with many of the same singers, would be in Italian.