Gioacchino Rossini was an extraordinarily prolific composer. For 19 years he composed two operas a year, and more than once he composed as many as four. So when he was commissioned to compose two operas for the Rome Carnival of 1816, he poured himself, heart and soul, into the task, and the same day he finished the first, at the end of December 1815, he began the second, which was due on January 20, 1816. The two-act play, completed in less than three weeks, was called Almaviva o sia La inutile precauzione.
An already proven story
We do not know it today under that name, because the title Il Barbieri di Siviglia, with a common origin in Beaumarchais' work, had already been used more than thirty years ago by Giovanni Paisiello to set the same plot to music. Hence its premiere at the Teatro Argentina in Rome on February 16, 1816, was a complete failure, provoked, it is said, by the supporters of Paisiello's work, who saw in Rossini's a comfortable musical construction on an already proven theme.
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| Rossini, young (1792 - 1868) |
Comfortable or not, Rossini did not abandon here his propensity to use whole melodies or arias from previous works, including, on this occasion, even the overture. Rushing is a serious thing, so either the overture was lost, or he didn't get around to writing it. And Rossina's cavatina borrowed – in the second performance – previous melodies and Berta's aria is modeled on a Russian melody.
Even so, Rossini showed in this, his most popular work, arias that are a prodigy of inspiration and novelty. A perfect example of this is the famous aria sung by Figaro in the first act.
Cavatina "Largo al factotum della cittá".
After the Count of Almaviva in the guise of Lindoro, a poor student, sings his love to Rossina, Figaro, the Count's former servant, appears on the scene to announce to the crowd that, as the most famous barber in Seville, all doors are open to him - a prebend that Lindoro/Almaviva will later use to his advantage. Presumptuously, he sings and requests that "Make way for the factotum of the city".
2010 performance in Moscow, set in the 1950s. As Figaro, the Italian baritone Pietro Spagnoli.
