Le Nozze di Figaro (DVD)

Le nozze di Figaro is an opera buffa comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, Le mariage de Figaro (1784). Although the play by Beaumarchais was at first banned in Vienna because of its satirization of the aristocracy, the opera became one of Mozart's most successful works. It is now regarded as a cornerstone of the standard operatic repertoire, and Opera America claims it to be the sixth most performed opera in North America. The overture is especially famous and is often played as a concert piece. Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.