Act Three opens with the Count alone in the palace hall, all decorated for the wedding. He muses on what a scandal the whole afternoon has turned into.  Meanwhile, the Countess has concocted a plan of her own.  She and Susanna will trick the Count. Susanna will arrange the secret meeting he so desires, and, when he turns up for some extra-marital fun in the dark it will be not Susanna, but the Countess waiting. And, unbeknownst to him until after events, it will actually be marital fun after all.

So in goes Susanna who scores the bargain.  The Count will give her the dowry he promised and she will give him her body.  It’s not the most comfortable conversation Susanna has ever had, to be sure…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss0vSS1YIMs

The Count, seeing Susanna gloating about how everything is now fine for her beloved Figaro, then sings a horrid little jealousy aria, through which he decides to rule against Figaro in the Marcellina case that he has agreed to be the judge of.

That done, one of the funniest scenes ever written in an opera begins.

Marcellina, her knees already trembling at the thought of marrying Figaro, rocks up with Bartolo. The court begins.  Bad as his word, the Count rules that Figaro must pay Marcellina, or marry her.  Just as it appears that all is lost Figaro takes a new line of argument.  He tells the assembly that he is a nobleman and therefore cannot be married without his parents’ consent.  The Count initially laughs this off, but as Figaro begins to tell everyone his reasons for believing his nobility, the eyes of both Marcellina and Bartolo grow wider and wider, until the revelation that Marcellina is, in fact, Figaro’s mother.  There follows a quintet, which becomes a sextet as Susanna walks in, only to see her fiancee in the embrace of her rival Marcellina…really, it speaks for itself…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVIMLIBpVag

Marcellina and Bartolo then proceed to give Figaro all the money he could need (for a while anyway).

Barberina and Cherubino flit across the hall, purely to remind the audience that he is dressed as a girl.

Enter the Countess, who is, quite frankly, doing her nut.  Susanna hasn’t come back from giving the Count the ‘go’ (she has probably been distracted by her new in-laws), and the Countess is in a proper state.  The aria that comes out of it is stunning.  It combines purity and simplicity with all the complex twists and turns of the Countess’ emotions.  Part eulogy for a lost past, part fervent pledge for a brighter future; here it is…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98HunHI9dI4

Another little snapshot recit…this time to tell us that Antonio knows Cherubino is still in the palace and, with the Count, is out to get him.

Then a letter writing scene.  A beautiful duet between Susanna and the Countess in which the Countess dictates a love letter which Susanna will send to the Count, sealed with a pin.  It is at once delightfully cheeky and heart-breaking as you can bet your bottom dollar that these are exactly the sort of letters Rosina and Almavira exchanged before they got married and it all went wrong.

It’s finally time for those weddings we’ve all been waiting for (did I mention Bartolo and Marcellina have decided to get hitched as well so it is now a double date?).

Some country types have come to give their blessing to the Count and Countess before the ceremonies begin.  One particularly charming girl takes the Count’s fancy and he calls her over, only to discover it is Cherubino.  Furious, the Count vows to punish him.  Problem is, Barberina intercedes telling everyone that while the Count was kissing her the other day he promised her any wish in the world if she would only love him.  This embarrassing revelation made, she tells the whole party that if the Count now let’s her marry Cherubino she will love him ‘like her kitten.’ Oh…Dear… The Count and Countess are, unsurprisingly, not amused, but, nothing-to-be-done, the weddings begin.

During the dancing Susanna’s letter is handed to the Count, pin and all…all the marriages happily made, Act Three comes to a close.

So, Act Four…what’s left to sort out? Seems all wrapped up right? Wrong.

Barberina is in a pickle.  The Count gave her a pin to give back to Susanna and she has lost it.  She knows it is important and, being young, it feels like the end of the world is nigh.

Enter Figaro with Marcellina and Bartolo in tow.  He notices how sad Barberina is and asks her what’s wrong.  She tells him and, putting two and two together and making six he becomes extremely angry.

Marcellina, who changes her tune and now becomes the opera’s biggest feminist, then takes sides against her new found son (behind his back of course), defending Susanna’s honour.  She sings a nice little aria (very often cut) about birds and beasts and the wickedness of men.

This is shortly followed by another often cut aria.  Basilio hasn’t had one yet, and being a tenor it’s about time.  After he and Bartolo have had a quick chat about how headstrong young men are, he sings a little ruse about how men mellow with age.

(Act Four is a bit of a repository for set pieces to keep singers happy.  You may find they are not in many productions).

Then we are back to the plot.  Susanna is in the pavilion waiting for Figaro.  The Countess is dressed as Susanna and awaiting the Count.  Figaro is in a right old rage and sings about that.

Then, on the other side of this dark, dark garden, Susanna worries about what should happen if Figaro doesn’t come and begs that the pleasure of her wedding night should come soon.  It’s really quite sweet…

Then the chaos beings.  Cherubino turns up at the wrong moment (again) and begins chatting up the Countess (dressed as Susanna) when the Count arrives and begins to chat up the Countess (dressed as Susanna as well).  Susanna is hiding in the bushes watching (dressed as the Countess), and Figaro is hiding in the bushes getting increasingly worked up.  Cherubino dispatched, the Count and Countess go off for a dalliance.  This leaves Susanna and Figaro.  Figaro soon realises Susanna is Susanna and not the Countess, but instead of telling her this, decides to punish her by pretending to be chatting up the Countess. She gets angry and beats him round the head to some very Mozartian slapping music.  He convinces her he knew it was her all along.

Then the Count appears again, stumbling around looking for Susanna (a.k.a. the Countess in disguise) who has run away from him.  Running into Figaro and Susanna he declares foul play and calls for guards as he thinks they are coming to get him. They try and calm everything down to no avail. everyone is revealed and the Count is spitting snakes when finally, out comes his wife, dressed as Susanna and he realises what a complete and utter tool he has been.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWZ-gbIPKnU

All is forgiven.

And that folks, is the end of that! – Apart from that Darius Milhaud composed an opera for the Third Part of the Figaro Trilogy, La mère coupable, in which the Countess is pregnant with Cerubino’s baby…but that my friends, is a different story to be told a different time!