('The Marriage of Figaro ')
Act 2 of the Opera by Mozart
Scene: The Countess's bedroom from the Sadler's Wells Theatre
In this Act Figaro comes to the Countess's room to tell her of a plan by which he hopes to gain the consent of the Count to his wedding. He has sent an anonymous note to the Count saying that his wife intends to meet a gentleman in the garden. Susanna is to promise to meet the Count there, but Cherubino, dressed in Susanna's clothes, will keep the appointment instead. The Countess will catch her husband in the wrong, and so humble him.
In the midst of dressing up
Cherubino, the Count knocks at the door. After some small complications Cherubino jumps out of a window and is seen by the gardener ; but Figaro takes the blame on himself, and the Count's suspicions are allayed.
Now comes a diversion. Marcellina comes to complain that Figaro has broken a promise to marry her. The Count is glad, for he has another excuse to forbid his valet to wed Susanna, at any rate, until the charge is looked into. This incident, the climax and end of the act, is most effectively worked up in Mozart's happiest style.