About the Opera
by Christopher Holmes
The night of 20 February 1816 was the third of Carnival season at Rome’s Teatro Argentina and the premiere of Gioacchino Rossini’s Almaviva. Rossini’s choice of text was Beaumarchais’s Le Barbier de Séville, a play famous in its own right apart from any operatic setting, and it was not the first time Beaumarchais’s story had been set to music. Many composers had tried their hand at setting the text, but only that of Giovanni Paisiello was revered above all others. It was such a success that it remained in the repertory in Vienna and was performed across Europe after its premiere. W. A. Mozart even composed an aria for inclusion in a German version, though it remained unfinished. Due to its popularity and acclaim among audiences and as a concession to Paisiello, Rossini opted to title his work Almaviva, instead of employing Beaumarchais’s original. Rossini even distributed several disclaimers maintaining the greatness of Paisiello’s opera, while citing the originality of his own. In fact, it was only in August 1816 that the opera became Il barbiere di Siviglia, two months after Paisiello’s death. On opening night, Almaviva, Rossini’s opera, was met with a great ruckus in the audience, due to disruptions by Paisiello’s adherents and compounded by accidents creating confusion and commotion on stage. It was such a disaster that Rossini refused to direct the remainder of the performances. Fortunately, the following nights brought success to Rossini’s setting, despite the popularity of Paisiello’s.
Giuseppe Petrosellini, Paisiello’s librettist, had slavishly followed, often verbatim, Beaumarchais’s text. Rossini engaged Cesare Sterbini as his librettist. Sterbini followed Petrosellini’s adaptation in many respects, maintaining its general scope and shape and following the same order of events. Thus, it was perhaps a diplomatic move on Rossini’s part to issue a disclaimer to assuage Paisiello’s enthusiasts. Rossini and Sterbini did, however, add to Petrosellini’s text to create some of the most remarkable moments of the opera, such as “Una voce poco fa” and the hilarious Act I finale.
Rosina’s Act I cavatina, “Una voce poca fa,” introduces the audience to her character and thoughts. Sterbini organized the text into two parts. The first recalls Lindoro as she proclaims her will to have him. The second illustrates the two contrasting sides of her character: a captivating and charmingly innocent maiden, and also a cunning woman, accomplished in the ways of deception. She describes herself as one who is “obedient, sweetly loving,” but who can be a “viper,” capable of “a hundred tricks.” In the cabaletta of the second stanza, Rosina appears as a three-dimensional character, but the music, adapted from an aria sung by Queen Elizabeth in Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra (1815), challenges her assertions. The patter rhythm and repeated phrases musically undermine the seriousness of her resolve to win Lindoro at any cost, mocking her sincere tone by employing the stock traits of comic opera.
Italian comic opera typically reserves the greatest complexity and chaos for the end of the first act. At this moment in Il barbiere di Siviglia, a drunken Almaviva, disguised as a soldier, enters Bartolo’s house and begins insulting the good doctor, playing on his name. The entire cast gradually enters the scene, and eventually, a chorus of soldiers interrupts the noise and din of the gathering. Yet, the confusion resumes, and as it mounts, so does the musical excitement. Rossini exploits patter rhythms, his famous crescendo, and phrase repetition, all of which heighten the excitement for the audience.
The text becomes a framework on which to hang the music, meaningless for plot explication and narrative advancement and purely for the enjoyment of the audience.
Due to its brilliant vocal writing, independence of orchestration, character delineation, and what Verdi described as an “abundance of true musical ideas,” Il barbiere di Siviglia gained popularity across Europe with performances in London, Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, and was the first opera sung in Italian in New York in November 1825. It has since become Rossini’s most performed work and was, consequently, the first to be issued in a critical edition. While Paisiello’s version has gained some attention in the recent past, Rossini’s is now the standard bearer. Rossini offers subtle layers of characterization, making his characters more alive and rich, such as Rosina’s complex personality revealed in “Una voce poca fa.” Furthermore, the comic brilliance of the first act finale creates both excitement and anticipation. With these musical and dramatic elements, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia became and remains the standard by which other treatments of the same text are judged. |
