Vieni cara Susanna

English Libretto or Translation:

COUNTESS
Come in, dear Susanna,
And tell me the rest ofthe story.

SUSANNA
There's no more to tell.

COUNTESS
So he tried to make love to you?

SUSANNA
Oh, his lordship
Doesn't pay such compliment
To girls like me;
He came to offer me money.

COUNTESS
Cruel man, he loves me no longer!

SUSANNA
Yet how
Can he be jealous of you?

COUNTESS
That is the way
Of modern husbands: on principle
Unfaithful, by nature fickle,
And by pride all jealous.
But if Figaro loves you ... Only he could

FIGARO
singing off-stage
La la la ...
La la la ...

entering

SUSANNA
Here he is! Come in, friend:
My lady's getting anxious ...

FIGARO
You've no cause
To be worried about that.
After all, what's it all about?
My bride attracts his lordship.
And so he'd like
Secretly to revive
His feudal right:
It's all possible and natural.

COUNTESS
Possible!

SUSANNA
And natural!

FIGARO
Very natural!

SUSANNA
Have done with you!

FIGARO
I've done.
That's why he decided
To choose me as courier, and Susanna
As confidential attachée to the embassy;
And because she persistently refuses
The post of honour he had planned for her,
He threatens to favour Marcellina.
That's the whole story.

SUSANNA
And you're so bold as to treat lightly
So serious a matter?

FIGARO
Aren't you glad I can
Treat it lightly? Here's my plan.
to the Countess
By Basilio I've sent a letter
Warning his lordship
About an assignation
Which you've made with a lover
For the time of the ball.

COUNTESS
Oh heaven! what do I hear?
To so jealous a man! ...

FIGARO
All the better;
The more easily can we harass him,
Confuse him, embroil him,
Foil his designs,
Fill him with suspicions, and make him
Realise that this new game which
He's trying to play on me can be played on him;
So let him waste his time in fruitless search.
Then, without him having made any plan
To prevent us, the time of our wedding
will suddenly be upon us, and in your presence
indicating the Countess
He 'd not dare to oppose it.

SUSANNA
That's true, but in his stead
Marcellina will oppose it.

FIGARO
Wait: quickly let the Count know
That towards evening
You'll be waiting in the garden:
We'll get young Cherubino,
Whom I advised not to leave just yet,
To go there in your place,
Dressed as a woman.
If monsieur is caught by milady,
This is the only way by which
He can be made to grant her wishes.

COUNTESS
to Susanna
What do you think?

SUSANNA
Not bad.

COUNTESS
In our situation ...

SUSANNA
When he's determined ...

COUNTESS
Have we time enough?

FIGARO
The Count has gone out hunting,
And won't be back for some hours;
He is about to go
I'll go and send Cherubino
To you at once; I leave to you
The task of disguising him.

COUNTESS
And then?

FIGARO
And then ...
If, my dear Count,
You feel Ii ke dancing,
It's I
Who'll call the tune.

Exit