The Abduction of Figaro The Abduction of Figaro The Abduction of Figaro is a comic opera, described as "A Simply Grand Opera by P. D. Q. Bach," which is actually the work of composer Peter Schickele. It is a parody of opera in general, and the title is a play on two operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: "The Abduction from the Seraglio" and "The Marriage of Figaro". Those two operas, "Così fan tutte", and "Don Giovanni", as well as Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" are among the core inspirations for the piece. Schickele was commissioned to "discover" this opera by the Minnesota
Jean Fenn theatre program which was run by renowned Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing. Fenn also studied privately with Amelita Galli-Curci and her husband Homer Samuels in California. She later received vocal coaching from Sigmund Romberg and Erich Korngold. In 1949, while still a student, Fenn sang in her first opera with the Hollywood Reading Club portraying Blondchen in "The Abduction from the Seraglio" and that same year appeared in productions with the Guild Opera Company of Southern California. She made her debut with the San Francisco Opera on October 10, 1952 as Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's "La Bohème" with Bidu Sayão as