Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732–1799) was a French playwright, watchmaker, musician, and diplomat, best known for The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro.

The Barber of Seville: A comedy by Beaumarchais in which Figaro helps Count Almaviva win Rosine’s love. This 1775 play introduced Figaro, the resourceful servant who became Beaumarchais’s signature character.
Paris: The capital and largest city of France, situated on the Seine. Beaumarchais was born and built his career in Paris.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: An Austrian composer of the Classical period whose operas include The Marriage of Figaro. Mozart turned Beaumarchais’s controversial play into a celebrated opera.
The Guilty Mother: Beaumarchais’s 1792 drama, the third play in his Figaro trilogy. It completes the sequence begun by The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro.
American Revolution: The war and political movement through which thirteen British colonies became the United States. Beaumarchais helped supply American forces with arms and provisions during the conflict.
The Marriage of Figaro: A comedy by Beaumarchais in which Figaro’s wedding plans expose aristocratic privilege and household intrigue. Its challenge to aristocratic power made the play a defining work of Beaumarchais’s career.
Watchmaking: The craft of designing, making, and repairing timekeeping devices. His skill in watchmaking brought him early recognition at the French court.
Lorenzo Da Ponte: An Italian librettist who wrote the text for Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro. Da Ponte adapted Beaumarchais’s sprawling comedy into an opera libretto.
The Barber of Seville (opera): An opera by Gioachino Rossini based on Beaumarchais’s comedy. Rossini’s adaptation carried Beaumarchais’s Figaro into the operatic repertoire.
Roderigue Hortalez and Company: A French commercial front used by Beaumarchais to channel supplies to American revolutionaries. The company concealed and organized his wartime shipments to the American insurgents.

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