Bravo, signor padrone! . . . Se vuol ballare (Recitative and cavatina of Figaro) W. A. Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), act I Translation by Miles Rind Figaro, valet to the Count Almaviva, has just learned of the Count’s designs on his promised bride, Susanna. Bravo, signor padrone! Ora incomincio a capir il mistero, e a veder schietto tutto il vostro progetto! A Londra è vero? Voi ministro, io corriero, e la Susanna— secreta ambasciatrice. Non sarà, non sarà: Figaro il dice! Well done, my master! Now I begin to penetrate the mystery, and to see clearly your whole plan! To London indeed? You the minister, I the courier; and Susanna— the secret ambassadress. It shall not be, it shall not be: Figaro says so! Se vuol ballare signor contino, il chitarrino* le suonerò. Se vuol venire nella mia scuola la capriola** le insegnerò. If young milord Count wants to dance, I’ll play the guitar for him. If he wants to come into my school, I’ll teach him the capriole. Saprò—ma piano, meglio ogni arcano dissimulando scoprir potrò. I’ll find out—but wait: by dissimulation I will more easily uncover every secret. L’arte schermendo, l’arte adoprando, di qua pungendo, di là scherzando, tutte le macchine rovescerò. Using the art of fencing, pricking here, jesting there, I will upset all his schemes. Se vuol ballare signor contino, il chitarrino le suonerò. If young milord Count wants to dance, I will play the guitar for him. *Chitarrino: a small, four-stringed guitar popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. In his fancy, Figaro would not even need a full-sized guitar to make the Count dance. **Capriola/capriole: a leap made in dancing. Like the cognate English word “caper,” it derives from capra, the Italian word for goat; hence, a leap like that made by a goat—or perhaps, in this instance, a leap made by a man reduced to goatishness by his lechery.