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We must not indeed compare such jesting as this, however it may have been applauded at the time, with the delicate humour of Figaro. The composer is not at his best; but much of the blame lies at the door of the poet who wrote such trash, and of the performer who would accept only slight indications of the music to be sung, that he might win applause by his own elaboration of it. But youthful inexperience and ignorance of the minds of men must also naturally have narrowed the boy's ideas. It is a sufficient proof of his thoroughly artistic nature that his fun was exempt from childish extravagance.
The two pairs of lovers are not of equal prominence. The somewhat timid and indolent Giacinta is a difficult subject for musical representation. In her first song she declares(3)—
Mari to io vorrei, ma senza fatica,
Averlo, se commoda, lasciarlo, se intrica;
the husband is to be—
Un uoroo d' ingegno
Ma fatto di legno.
This is not exactly the state of mind for a prima donna. The music that she sings is harmonious and pleasing, but, with the exception of a happy turn here and there, not above the average. Only the song in the third act (24) expresses dismay at the pretended flight with a tragic pathos, which, though of course exaggerated, is well sustained, both by the voice and the accompaniment. The conception of this part was doubtless influenced by the individuality of the singer for whom it was written. According to Sonnenfels this was Signora Eberhardi.
"She has an agreeable contralto voice, and a style which pleases universally. Her shakes certainly degenerate sometimes into a quake, and if the tempo is taken very fast she fails to keep pace with it. In her acting she suffers the natural to pass into the artificial, and her conventional gestures are often constrained."[24]
Fracasso is a lover of the usual type, rough and impetuous as becomes a Hungarian officer, quarrelsome with the two brothers, but without marked individuality. This it was impossible for so young a composer as Mozart to evolve out of such commonplace and insignificant materials. The part was cast for Laschi, whom Sonnenfels[25] praises as a cultivated artist, and a buffo actor of the most refined and intelligent type. He still played first lover's parts, but was much commiserated on account of the loss of certain notes of his voice, a defect which he sought to hide by transposing airs and passages.