Since its emergence in the early 18th century, Italian comic opera has been widely popular with its refreshing, unaffected style, humorous tone, and subjects close to everyday life. Composers ranging from Pergolesi, Paisiello, Mozart to Donizetti and Verdi contributed to this glorious tradition, and Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) is undoubtedly the most authentic representative of this lineage. Starting with The Marriage Contract and winning international acclaim with L’italiana in Algeri, Rossini wrote around 40 operatic pieces throughout his life, half of them comic operas, including The Barber of Seville, which is the most played and well known of his works.
The Barber of Seville, Rossini’s 17th opera, was completed within three weeks in 1816 and premiered in Rome on 20th of February the same year. This two-act opera was inspired by the first play of the Figaro trilogy by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais (the equally classic work in Italian comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, is an adaptation from the second play), and the libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini. Although Italian composers Giovanni Paisiello and Francesco Morlacchi had already conceived two operas using the same subject in 1782 and 1815, respectively, only Rossini’s version was included in the classic repertoire.
Characterised by the absence of major historic events, tragic heroes and gods’ interference with human fate, Italian comic opera reveals humanity and satirises society through the taunting gestures and remarks of common people. Typical elements of the comedic tradition are contained in the plot of The Barber of Seville: disguise and deception, misunderstanding and reconciliation, complex conspiracy and multiple reversals, allowing the audience to resonate and smile for Figaro’s way of conducting himself by “accepting money from others to help solve problems” as well as Basilio’s ingenious interpretation on the nature of rumours.
On the vocal front, this work mainly showcases the conventional style of comic opera and the fascinating charm of Italian bel canto. Rossini’s exceptional melodic talent has given each character memorable arias highlighting their traits of personality: Rosina’s splendid coloratura, Bartolo’s funny grumbling, Count Almaviva’s arduous playing of three different characters, and the recurring “patter songs” set to be sung by each and every character — all of which are distinctive arias that complement one another beautifully.
In The Barber of Seville there is no absolute good and evil nor apparent heroes or villains, as each character has their motives, acting in their own interest. The best means to convey the relationships and dramatic conflicts between them is through the ensemble, a combination of players and instruments whose rich textures are capable of introducing conversations while revealing the characters’ psyche. The same line and same musical motif can be rendered with multiple meanings when performed by different characters. The most complicated and impressive scenes in the two acts of this masterpiece are presented in the form of ensembles, bringing the play to multiple heights, one after another.
The overture of The Barber of Seville is a classic well known to melomanes, often played separately in concerts. However, initially the piece was not meant for this work, but taken from Rossini’s opera seria Aureliano in Palmira, premiered in 1813 and reused in his other opera Elizabeth, Queen of England (1815). The subject material of the overture is therefore unrelated to that of the music in the main section of The Barber of Seville, but the overture itself has nevertheless set an appropriate light-hearted and sardonic tone for the entire opera. We can also notice the composer’s iconic technique throughout the opera, the “Rossini Crescendo”, consisting of a gradual volume increase of the same repeated passage over a long period of time. Seemingly simple as it is, this technique has proven to be very effective in Rossini’s works.
By Danni Liu
Translated from Chinese