The Barber of Seville/The Marriage of Figaro »

'He has everything - pleasantry, seriousness, reason, vigour, pathos, eloquence of every kind...', Voltaire once said of Beaumarchais, 'and yet he strives after none of them... '

It was also said of Beaumarchais (1732-99) that he had only one character - himself - and that Figaro epitomizes all his creator's vices. This does not seem to have stood in the way of his success. If The Barber of Seville and its sequel, The Marriage of Figaro, are known to us almost exclusively through the operas of Rossini and Mozart, then that is our loss, for Beaumarchais's effortless light touch makes these two plays high points in eighteenth-century European comedy.