From 3-5 July 2015, the Institute of Music at the University of Oldenburg is organising a public international symposium in co-operation with the Staatstheater Oldenburg entitled "'La cosa è scabrosa'. Musical culture on the opera stage in Vienna around 1780" (concept and coordination: Melanie Unseld, Steffi Turre and Carola Bebermeier). At the centre of the discussions will be the opera Le Nozze di Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (music) and Lorenzo da Ponte (text), which can currently be seen in a production at the Staatstheater (musical director: Roger Epple, stage director: Rudolf Frey).

"Scabrosa" - "delicate" is the question of how an adequate approach to Le Nozze di Figaro can be achieved from a historical distance, as the theatrical comedy of the opera is based in particular on the fact that theatre audiences in Vienna in the 1780s were familiar with the conventions of comic opera, the characters acting on and behind the stage and not least the allusions hidden in the libretto and music. These connections not only fade due to the temporal distance, but also lose their contours if one focuses exclusively on the musical work and ignores the cultural environment that led to the creation and performance of the opera: What did Viennese audiences experience and find fascinating during this period? What were the artistic and intellectual discourses? Who were the actors on and behind the stage?

The symposium will attempt to take a comprehensive look at the opera Figaro from the perspective of musicology: from the basic questions of such a perspective, to the consideration of the specific characteristics of the genre of comic opera (opera buffa), to the singers as central actors in the music business of the 18th century, to the reflection on new questions about Le Nozze di Figaro. Guests are welcome to attend the event!