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Law and Opera pp 195–208Cite as

Mozart and the Concept of Equality

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Abstract

The paper attempts a comparison between two librettos set to music by Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart. The first, Idomeneo Re di Creta, was written by Giambattista Varesco and performed for the first time in 1780. It is an opera seria, which adopts tropes and common-places of the genre. Once Idomeneo comes back to his island, he is able to kill a monster menacing his people, thus restoring order and peace. The social structure, as emerging from the libretto, is still linked to the Ancient Regime model: society is unequal and order and justice are the output of the legitimate superiority of the sovereign.

In Le nozze di Figaro, things change utterly. Written by Da Ponte after Le marriage de Figaro by Pierre-August de Beaumarchais, the libretto is imbued with the new spirit of the Enlightenment. By making reference to the libretto, I would like to show how juridical equality fosters complexity: indeed, the plot is triggered by the fact that the Count of Almaviva, Figaro’s master, has abolished the so-called jus prime noctis. This means that both Figaro and the Count are equal as to their desire to lie with Susanna (the wife-to-be of Figaro). Thus, the abolishment of a privilege produces the intricate plot of the opera, which is triggered by the Count’s necessity to seduce Susanna and to conceal his love deeds to both his wife and Figaro.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Jackobsen et al. (2014), pp. 1–3.

  2. 2.

    Jackobsen et al. (2014), p. 1.

  3. 3.

    For such a discussion see Longo (2016).

  4. 4.

    Mozart has been object of sociological analysis at least in two cases. Norbert Elias (1993) devotes a monograph to the composer, and Alfred Schütz (1964b) writes a sophisticated essay in which he makes reference to the musical characteristics of Mozart’s works.

  5. 5.

    Steptoe (1988), p. 41.

  6. 6.

    Schütz (1964b), p. 191.

  7. 7.

    I quote from the libretto: “I damante : Oh padre!…/Ah non t’arresti inutile pietà,/Né vaga ti lusinghi/Tenerezza d’amor. Deh vibra il colpo […] I domeneo: Oh qual mi sento/In ogni vena insolito vigor?…/Or risoluto io son … l’ultimo amplesso/ricevi … e mori”.

  8. 8.

    This change is typical:think of Orfeo e Euridice by Glück, whose libretto subvert the classical myth and introduces a happy ending.

  9. 9.

    Strohm (1991), p. 113 ff.

  10. 10.

    Strohm (1991), pp. 122–126.

  11. 11.

    Steptoe (1988), p. 113.

  12. 12.

    Steptoe (1988), p. 117.

  13. 13.

    Steptoe (1988), pp. 115–116.

  14. 14.

    The polemic against aristocracy is a commonplace of the Enlightenment. See Dann (1979), p. 1014 ff.

  15. 15.

    Steptoe (1988), pp. 113–114, underlines that the opera buffa had already ridiculed aristocrats. He makes reference to the marquis of Ripafratta in L’infideltà delusa by Hayden, written in 1773. In the 80s of the eighteenth century, especially in novels, aristocrats are represented negatively, often while attempting at the virtue of young girls belonging to different statuses. A new middle-class moral is emerging, which will take its definitive form in the nineteenth century.

  16. 16.

    See Steptoe (1988).

  17. 17.

    See Steptoe (1988), p. 109 ff.

  18. 18.

    The fact that the jus primae noctis may be an invention of the late Middle Age is irrelevant for my argument. As for the features of privileges, see Sieyès (1789).

  19. 19.

    See Schütz (1964a), p. 240.

  20. 20.

    Just a brief hint to the complexity of the concept: in mathematics equality implies identity (A = A means that the two entities are identical). On the contrary, in the social sciences equality implies that two selected objects (two social actors, two social categories, etc.) are compared in relation to some specific aspects (e.g. social prestige, formal rights, access to social services etc.).

  21. 21.

    See Luhmann and De Giorgi (1994), p. 260.

  22. 22.

    See Dann (1979), p. 1003.

  23. 23.

    One can here recognize Hobbes’ position as well as the approaches of German theorists of contract such as Heinecke, Pufendorf, Wolff. On the topic, see Longo (2001).

  24. 24.

    See Durkheim (1893).

  25. 25.

    See Durkheim (1898).

  26. 26.

    See Sennett (1977).

  27. 27.

    See Luhmann and De Giorgi (1994), p. 247 ff.

  28. 28.

    See De Giorgi (1991), p. 32.

  29. 29.

    See Luhmann (1981).

  30. 30.

    See Luhmann (1995), p. 112.

  31. 31.

    See Giddens (1990) and Bauman (2001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

    Mariano Longo

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  1. Mariano Longo
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  1. Angelo Sraffa Department of Legal Studies, Bocconi Universtiy, Milan, Italy

    Filippo Annunziata

  2. Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Giorgio Fabio Colombo

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Longo, M. (2018). Mozart and the Concept of Equality. In: Annunziata, F., Colombo, G. (eds) Law and Opera. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68649-3_13

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