Susanna e la Contessa

The article examines the arias of the two main female characters of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, starting from the data offered by the sketches, revisions in the autograph score, discarded versions and replacing arias. The musical analysis provides hints for dramatic considerations: contrary to the prevailing opinion, the relationship between the two women is not only one of solidarity and “sisterhood”, but also, in a latent but noticeable way, of tension, in which the difference in class and age comes into play, as does sexual rivalry