Taking up the prerevolutionary work by Beaumarchais, Mozart and the librettist Da Ponte thus illustrate with subtlety the right of “cuissage”, a privilege still exercised by some unscrupulous noblemen, among whom the master of Figaro and Susanna. Humour dominates, beauty reigns. Here beauty, which charms the Count, torn between his spouse and the woman he covets. The first performance was given on May 1st, 1786.