Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has composed more than 600 operas, concertos, masses, dances, arias, Singspiele and so on, and many have interesting stories behind them. The aria with the most stories and myths, however is Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso, the famous finale of the first act of Le Nozze di Figaro (K.492/1786). It is usually referred to as just Non più andrai. ‘Figaro’ was the first of Mozarts three successful collaborations with the Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and based on the stage comedy La folle journée, ou le Marriage de Figaro (The Mad Day, or the Marriage of Figaro) from the French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais. Mozart and Da Pontes collaboration resulted in an opera buffa (comic opera) with no less than 80 arias and recitatives divided over 4 acts, as well as the famous overture.
A typical performance lasts about 3 hours excluding intermissions. As ‘the mad day’ from the orgininal title indicates the story is too complicated to explain in a few sentences. The main theme is Count Almaviva demanding his droit de seigneur, his traditional right to sleep with his maid Susanna on her wedding night. Of course, Susanna’s husband to be Figaro wants none of this, and Countess Rosina also sides with Susanna and Figaro. One of the side characters amid all the intrigues and plot twists is the Counts page Cherubino, a lovestruck teenager. When the Count discovers Cherubino tried to seduce the gardeners daughter Barbarina, he is furious. In fact he is so mad he decides to send Cherubino off to his regiment in Seville. In the aria Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso (“You won’t go anymore, amorous butterfly”) Figaro teases Cherubino, singing that his carefree days, chasing women around the Counts estaste, are over and describes the hardships of life in the army.
According to a written testimony by Irish tenor Michael Kelly, one of the members of Nozze di Figaro’s original cast, the aria was an immediate success, even before the opera premiered in Vienna. His memories of the rehearsals were still vivid almost four decades later when he wrote his memoirs in 1824: “Mozart wore a crimson pelisse and gold laced cocked [….] After Francesco Benucci (Figaro) finished singing the aria the whole of the performers on the stage and the full orchestra shouted ‘Bravo! bravo! maestro. Viva! viva grande Mozart!”
The aria is widely considered a masterpiece, for its clever structure, catchy melodies and witty lyrics. Although Figaro was not very often performed in Vienna, the few performances were so successful that sometimes there were as many 8 encores, always including Non più andrai. It lead to a ban on encores, enforced by Emporer Joseph II of the Habsburg Monarchy himself, who ordered posters to be distributed with the text: To prevent the excessive duration of operas, without however prejudicing the fame often sought by opera singers from the repetition of vocal pieces, I deem the enclosed notice to the public (that no piece for more than a single voice is to be repeated) to be the most reasonable expedient.
On the other hand the military style march which ends the aria is so perfect is was adopted by the Coldstream Guards. As the oldest serving regiment in the British Army its principal role is protecting the British monarchy and they are most known for their Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. (As well as for their notoriously tall fur ‘hats’). Oddly they chose the ‘upbeat’ march from Non più andrai as their official slow march. I can’t find the exact year when they adopted it, nor if Mozart ever knew. Either way it is a great honour for a foreign composer, especially since it was written for an comedic opera.
