BEAUMARCHAIS, Pierre Augustin Caron de ( b. Paris, France, 24 Jan 1732; d. Paris, 19 May 1799 )
Beaumarchais was a professional playwright and an amateur musician. He is best remembered as the creator of Figaro, the wily servant. Figaro appears in a trilogy of plays, Le Barbier de Seville (The Barber of Seville), La Folle Journée, où Le Marriage de Figaro, (The Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro), and the less well-known, La Mere Coupable (The Guilty Mother).
Many operas are based on his characters and works. Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Rossini's Barber of Seville (1816) are still firm favourites in the repertoire.
As a librettist in his own right Beaumarchais is chiefly known for Tarare, an opera with music by Salieri. In its foreword he writes about the art of the librettist and the relative importance in opera of words and music.
