ROSSINI AND BARBER

Since the original Beaumarchais play was first planned as an opera, it easily lent itself to full musical treatment. In fact, at least seven versions had already been composed by others, the most notable being the one by Giovanni Paisiello which was written while he was in St. Petersburg, Russia. It has charming melodies and was very popular, but the libretto, attributed to Giuseppe Petrosellini, lacked sparkle, and Rossini's version soon eclipsed it.

The impresario of the Teatro Argentina in Rome was desperate for a new comic opera for the carnival season, but the censors rejected all of his suggestions. Finally, they approved the idea of a new Barber to the same libretto as that which had been used by Paisiello. The commission was given on December 26, 1815; the opera was to be ready by mid-January and the opening in February, a seemingly impossible task. The composer was to receive 1,200 francs and a new nut-colored coat with brass buttons. Stendhal tells us that Rossini wrote to Paisiello to obtain permission to use the same libretto, but this may not be true. Sterbini finished a new one in 12 days and, by borrowing heavily from his previous works, Rossini was able to finish the score and conduct the stage rehearsals in time for the opening on February 210. To avoid confusion, Rossini titled his opera Almaviva, ossia l'inutile precauzione, the name by which it was known for the first months of its life, and he took the precaution of writing a preface to the libretto paying homage to his predecessor.

The opening night was a fiasco. A claque of Paisiello partisans greeted Rossini's entrance in his new coat with whistles and catcalls. Almaviva's guitar hadn't been tuned; he had to do it on-stage— and the strings broke! Figaro's aria, Largo al factotum, could hardly be heard. Basilio stumbled over an open trap door (intentionally left open?), and had to sing his great aria, La calunnia with a handkerchief held to his bleeding nose. A cat came on-stage and, when Figaro and Bartolo chased it, hid under Rosina's skirt. If any of the music sounded even vaguely familiar, shouted protests were heard. By the second act, the audience was so noisy that nothing of the opera could be heard.

Rossini did not seem to be upset by the failure; he went home to bed and slept soundly. However, he pleaded illness and did not conduct the second performance. This time it was a wonderful success, and a crowd rushed to his house crying, "Bravo, bravissimo, Figaro". With each performance its popularity increased. When Paisiello died, four months after its première, the original title, Il barbiere di Siviglia, was restored.

The Barber of Seville was first performed in America in 1819 in English. The first performance in Italian was several years later; the advertisements read "Barbiora di Seviglia, by Rosina"!

In contrast to the simplicity of Paisiello's work, Rossini's was brilliant and witty. Although there is much recitativo secco, some of the dialogue was given an orchestral accompaniment (recitativo accompagnato), and a chorus was added.

Over the years many changes in performance practice were made and became part of the tradition associated with the opera. Rosina was often sung by a soprano, a practice which would have disturbed the composer who abhorred the tyranny of sopranos; he called them macchinette, or little machines. Trombones were added to the orchestra, and some of the recitative was replaced by spoken dialogue. It became the custom for Basilio always to wave a handkerchief, a remnant of the original bloody nose. The direction included more and more slapstick and, what started as a comedy of character, became a "vulgar romp". Singers took more and more liberties with the ornamentation, adding notes to suit themselves until little was left of the original concept.

There was a reaction to these excesses in which the music was simplified and much of the ornamentation was deleted, ironically including much of which Rossini himself had written. (He had been so appalled by the excesses of the singers of his day, that, in contrast to the usual procedure, he wrote his own ornamentation and insisted on it being sung just as written.) He knew the human voice and how it could be displayed to its best.

Once the opera had been 'cleaned up', musicologists could turn their attention to restoring the original performance practices, although Rosina was still transposed and sung by high sopranos. However, mezzos started to redeem the role and it is once again usually sung by them. Much is due to the research of the great American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, herself a celebrated interpreter of many Rossini roles including Rosina. When she tried to sing the original Rossini ornamentation, conductors resisted it as too florid until she was able to show them the actual scores in Rossini's own handwriting. Now we can hear Il barbiere di Siviglia as Rossini wrote it.

This is a revision of an article originally written for San Diego Opera.

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Revised July 2010
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