“Upstart servants in Palm Beach,” by Paul du Quenoy

“Upstart servants in Palm Beach,” by Paul du Quenoy

Audiences roared with laughter at Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro when it premiered in 1786 every bit as much as they had reeled at Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ play of the same name two years earlier. Beaumarchais’ comedy offered even more searing indictments of ancien régime society on stage than Mozart dared or was allowed to make—Napoleon called the play “the revolution in action”—but the message in both was loud, …