A Comparison Of Le Nozze De Figaro And Der Rosenkavalier

Comparison of Le Nozze de Figaro and Der Rosenkavalier There is a range of similarities that are evident in both Operas. To begin with, both Mozart and Strauss each had vast experiences prior to writing their individual operatic pieces. Despite the fact that Mozart lived centuries before, the two composers had different sets of experiences that made their pieces admissibly similar. Strauss had conducted Mozart’s Le Nozze De Figaro more than thirty times before he wrote Der Rosenkavalier (Bakogianni 7; Evans et al. 5). It is important to note that the strong parallels between Mozart’s and Strauss’ pieces are attributed to the fact that Strauss learned from Mozart. Even though the two pieces were composed in different centuries – Mozart’s piece in the 18th century and Strauss’ piece in the 20th century – some of the musical elements that they share transcend both time periods. The characteristics of music in the classical period had to do with the new view of human psychology. Mozart was one to introduce contrasting moods within movements or even within a theme. He was able to infuse strong contrasts of moods within the style of his music (Burkholder, Grout, Palisca 475). In Figaro, Mozart includes an overture which is a piece in sonata form despite its lack of a development section. In Act I cavatina, â€Å"Se vuol ballare†, Mozart whimsically makes changes to the character of his music so as to correspond to Figaro’s machinations (Hambrik n.p). By doing so, he musically