{"id":835,"date":"2026-01-31T20:30:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/?page_id=835"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:18:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:18:26","slug":"its-a-girl","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/figarofiles\/deeper-dives\/its-a-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a Girl!\u201d : Cherubino and the History of Trouser Roles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Emma Harrison ’26<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherubino: a young, frivolous page working for Count Almaviva, who desires all women and in particular, Countess Almaviva, due to his boyish adolescence and his raging pubescent hormones. But with a slight twist\u2026he is actually a woman!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The male-presenting character role of Cherubino is traditionally played by a woman, or a mezzo-soprano-voiced individual, as described by playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais in his description of the character \u201cCherubin\u201d in his 1784 Le Mariage de Figaro<\/em>, the French play that inspired Mozart\u2019s 1786 opera, The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>:

\u201cThis part [Cherubin] can only be played, as it was, by a pretty young woman<\/em>. The stage currently boasts no young male actor mature enough<\/em> to grasp all its subtleties.\u201d Beaumarchais continues, saying \u201che has reached puberty but knows nothing, not even what he wants<\/em>, and is completely vulnerable<\/em> to every passing event.”1<\/a><\/sup>

In Le nozze di Figaro, <\/em>Cherubino (the Mozart equivalent of Beaumarchais\u2019s Cherubin) is one of the most iconic examples of trouser roles in opera.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Engraving of Act 2, Scene 3 \u2013 Susanna dressing Cherubino as a girl, and the Countess gazing lovingly. From\u00a0Orphea Taschenbuch f\u00fcr 1827 (MDZ)<\/a><\/sup><\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

History of the Trouser Role<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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John Collet, Hand-colored mezzotint of an actress, “Miss Brazen,” getting ready for a trouser role, 1779 – Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/sup><\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Trouser roles, also called breeches roles, date back to the second half of the eighteenth century, <\/sup>when female identified singers were cast as young male or beardless characters in order to achieve the correct voice color of a young boy.2<\/a><\/sup> This phenomenon rose to prominence in the 1740s following the decline of the number of castrati singers (male singers who were castrated before reaching puberty to retain their high-pitched voice).3<\/a><\/sup> As a solution, mezzo-soprano women were cast as young boys in their place, since they could best approximate the tone color and bodily figure of a pubescent boy. Trouser roles allowed women to sing in operas and increased the opportunity for women to act on stage.4<\/a><\/sup> Early trouser roles could even be considered as some of the first forms of drag kings! <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The role of Cherubino differs from other trouser roles of the time, as Mozart chose to cast a woman to sing Cherubino\u2019s role, following Beaumarchais\u2019 wishes. In other words, he was not forced to find a substitute for a male castrato to fill Cherubino\u2019s role, as castrati were in demand more often in opera seria <\/em>and less frequently in comic operas, or opere buffe, <\/em>like Le Nozze di Figaro<\/em>.5<\/a><\/sup> For Beaumarchais and Mozart, casting a woman to play Cherubino was done explicitly to create sexual ambiguity and add to the confusion and layers of \u201csexual anarchy.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup> As author Margaret Reynold writes, \u201cCherubino is about mistaken identity, liminality, and tease.\u201d7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherubino\u2019s Queer-Coded Arias<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cherubino is known as an erotically charged character going through the many confusing emotions of puberty, as heard in his two arias: \u201cNon so pi\u00f9\u201d and \u201cVoi che sapete,\u201d both which express his rapidly changing emotions and erotic longings for all women in the castle, and above all, the Countess. In Act 2, Number 11, Cherubino confesses his love to the Countess when he sings her his famous arietta, \u201cVoi che sapete”: a lilting love ballad written by Cherubino himself, expressing his innermost desires for her, both emotional and physical. The arietta\u2019s simple musical form and sparse orchestration, with an undercurrent of pizzicato in the strings mimicking Susanna\u2019s \u201cguitar\u201d accompaniment, symbolize the quickening heart flutters of an intimate, vulnerable moment where Cherubino exposes his true feelings to the Countess. The audience then watches with bated breath as the Countess is wooed by his love song  and begins to swoon back, while Susanna teases them both, contributing to the queer reading of Cherubino\u2019s character and stage presence.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ga\u00eblle <\/a>Arquez\u00a0as Cherubino and\u00a0Susanna Phillips\u00a0as Countess Almaviva\u00a0in 2018 Metropolitan Opera production – photo by Marty Sohl<\/a><\/sup><\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cVenite inginocchiatevi,\u201d the aria following \u201cVoi che sapete,\u201d Susanna dresses Cherubino up as a girl to send him to the garden that night to confuse the Count further. This creates an interesting effect on the Countess, who swoons even further as Cherubino is progressively dressed more and more like a girl. If there was any confusion over Cherubino\u2019s gender before, it is certainly elevated by Susanna dressing up a male character, played by a female singer, as a girl. 
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The perceived queer-coded, cross-dressing, and gender-bending complexities of a traditionally female singer playing a male character who chases after female characters would not have been lost on the audience. Many modern productions of Le Nozze di Figaro <\/em>play up the sexual tension in \u201cVoi che sapete\u201d by emphasizing Cherubino\u2019s nervousness and naivet\u00e9 that quickly grow into a swaggering bravado. In the following two productions of Le Nozze di Figaro<\/em>, the gender confusion and sexual tension is evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Th\u00e9\u00e2tre du Ch\u00e2telet, Paris 1993<\/strong>
(“Voi che sapete”” starts at 53:37)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this production, Cherubino begins singing his aria in a very nervous, self-conscious manner, gasping for breath and fidgeting with his collar. The tempo is noticeably increased, emphasizing Cherubino\u2019s nervousness for dramatic effect. As he sings on, he becomes more comfortable and gains a sense of confidence, turning and making direct eye contact with the Countess, which makes her even more enamored.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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