Mozarts The Marriage of Figaro: Count On a Reckoning
b"Maybe you\\u2019ve heard this one before: a powerful man abuses his privilege and wealth to exploit the women in his life. When confronted with the fact that they\\u2019re not his playthings, he throws a fit and blames everyone but himself. Sound like your daily news alert? It\\u2019s Mozart\\u2019s The Marriage of Figaro, but somehow the world of feudal Spain in the 1700s is still distressingly familiar today.\\xa0\\nThe aria \\u201cHai gi\\xe0 vinta la causa\\u201d traces the emotions of the aristocratic and imperious Count Almaviva when he realizes that his wife and servants have been plotting his comeuppance. Filled with rage that they won\\u2019t bend to his will, the Count offers up one of the great temper tantrums in opera history. And don\\u2019t be surprised if the Count\\u2019s anger gives you flashbacks to headline news from the very recent past.\\nThe Guests:\\nBass-baritone Gerald Finley spent the first decade of his career playing the wily factotum Figaro, and now he sings the controlling Count Almaviva in opera houses around the world. He loves throwing himself into the fire and fury in this aria, but also holds tight to the belief that the Count is truly repentant in the end.\\nProfessor Sharon Marcus teaches English and comparative literature at Columbia University. When it came to music, her mother insisted that she grow up listening to classical. She first met the Count in\\xa0The Marriage of Figaro when she was still in grade school.\\nLaura Bassett is a freelance journalist and an opinion columnist for MSNBC. She originally wanted to be an academic. but the 2008 presidential election convinced her that she needed to be writing stories about the national conversations we're having today. She's written extensively about abuses of power in politics and the instances of sexual harassment that have dominated headlines in recent years."