you--everybody knows it"). The orchestra stops, all but the horns,
which with the phrase

[Musical excerpt]

aided by a traditional gesture (the singer's forefingers pointing
upward from his forehead), complete his meaning. It is a pity that
the air is often omitted, for it is eloquent in the exposition of
the spirit of the comedy.

The merriest of opera overtures introduces "Le Nozze di Figaro," and
puts the listener at once into a frolicsome mood. It seems to be the
most careless of little pieces, drawing none of its material from
the music of the play, making light of some of the formulas which
demanded respect at the time (there is no free fantasia), laughing
and singing its innocent life out in less than five minutes as if it
were breathing an atmosphere of pure oxygen. It romps; it does not
reflect or feel. Motion is its business, not emotion. It has no
concern with the deep and gentle feelings of the play, but only with
its frolic. The spirit of playful torment, the disposition of a
pretty tease, speaks out of its second subject:--

[Musical excerpt]

and one may, if one wishes, hear the voice of only half-serious
admonition in the phrase of the basses, which the violins echo as
if in mockery:--

[Musical excerpt]