Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville
Today, The Barber of Seville
is so well loved that the comedian Robin Williams performed its most famous
aria in the guise of a cartoon bird in Mrs Doubtfire. But when it premiered in
1816, Rossini's opera was met with heckling.
It took a composer of singular confidence to
agree to turn the Beaumarchais play The Barber of Seville into an opera in
1816.
By then, opera audiences were
very used to a setting by the Italian composer Paisiello. It’s probably fair to
say that his version was a much loved favourite with the famously loyal
audience of the time.
When Rossini agreed to take on
the project, he knew that he had to come up with something wonderful. By the
end of the cold February night in Rome, where Rossini’s work was premiered, it
wasn’t looking good. The composer had even taken care to call the opera
something different – it premiered as Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution.
The evening had ended with the
audience baying, ‘Pai-si-ell-o, Pai-si-ell-o!’ to a closed curtain. Somehow,
though, Rossini turned it around. It’s even possible that the audience reaction
wasn’t genuine and the first-nighters were a hired claque (a group of paid
applauders prevalent in French opera houses at the time). Eventually retitled,
Rossini’s Barber of Seville saw Paisiello’s version relegated to the dusty top
shelves of the library of history. As well as possessing a simply stunning
overture, the opera is a sheer delight throughout, with hit after hit,
including ‘Una voce poco fa’ and the ‘Largo al factotum