Rossini, The Barber of Seville - Overture

 
When, in 1816, the Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello learned that an opera entitled Almaviva, ossia L'inutile precauzione, was about to be premiered at the Argentina theater in Rome, he had no hesitation in gathering his cohort of adherents and attending en masse at the work premiere with the sole and express purpose of causing excesses and turning the premiere into a failure from which its author, Gioacchino Rossini, could never recover.

The truth is that Paisiello was right in behaving that way. Almost forty years ago, he had premiered an opera also based, like Rossini's, on a libretto that emerged from Beaumarchais's comedy, Le Barbier de Séville ou la Précaution inutile. The work had been widely accepted in its time. So, Paisiello regarded as a personal affront that the young Rossini, an author of "Muslim works", dared to compose a new version of the opera that had made him famous, even when he offered it with another title.

Gioachino Rossini (1792 - 1868)

An ill-fated premiere
And indeed, the first performance, on February 20, 1816, did nothing but make things easier to provoke the brawl. The premiere was full of errors and mistakes that provoked mockery and blunders from the audience, unwittingly joining to the unruly spirits of Paisiello supporters. It is even said that at a certain moment, even a cat took the stage.

However, Paisiello and his entourage were likely the main responsible for the failure, since the second performance, a few days later, was a high success, and has continued so until today, to the point that The Barber of Seville exhibits nowadays the accolade of being the most performed opera in the world.

A "borrowed" overture
The work was composed in three weeks, forcing Rossini to make use not only of arias from other operas. The overture presented here borrowed, with some orchestration changes, the overture from a previous opera, Aureliano en Palmira, which had not been well received in its time. Rossini, entirely rightly, considered that the overture was of such quality that it could not be tied to a minor work. It had to be re-released.

The rendition is by the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra conducted by the Italian maestro Maurizio Benini.