Le Nozze De Figaro Analysis

Found in act II of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera: Le Nozze De Figaro, Voi che sapete is a melodious piece of music sung by the character Cherubino. Cherubino is a trouser role traditionally sung by a female mezzo-soprano. The piece is a clear example of Mozart’s masterful ability to create beautiful music that still serves as a thematic device within the context of the story. Both the construction of the melody and the accompaniment serve the story and the character fully. Set in the bedroom of the Countess Almaviva the Arietta is a song of realization from Count Almaviva’s young page Cherubino; he is coming to terms with the influx of urges created by his oncoming puberty. Cherubino in the context of the opera is an exceptionally young (around twelve or thirteen years of age) boy whom falls in love with all the women living in the palace of Seville. He is charming, well accomplished for his age, and well-liked by the majority of the other characters (especially the women) which encourage the fervor with which he pursues his desires. Due to the youth of the character it can be inferred that Mozart wrote the accompaniment to his Arietta to sound simplistic and almost lullaby-like. Set in two-four time the rhythmic content remains relatively simplistic and static in its delineation of the beat. The same rhythmic phrasing is recycled throughout the piece being chunked predominately in four bar phrases (see examples one and two). The song is the sexual awakening of