Opera "The Barber of Seville": content, video, interesting facts, history

D. Rossini opera "The Barber of Seville"

The Barber of Seville is a bright comedy opera by Rossini, based on the eponymous play by the famous playwright Beaumarchais. The work captivates with wit, virtuoso vocal parts and unexpected plot twists, inherent in the traditional opera style of Italy. The opera is full of funny adventures, intrigues and emotions, and the music is full of grace, freshness and impetuous temperament.

"Barber of seville"- a melodic work, singing tender love feelings, activity and resourcefulness, opera is of great social importance, because it mocks pretense, licentiousness and bigotry.

Summary of the opera Rossini "The Barber of Seville" and a lot of interesting facts about this piece read on our page.

Summary of "The Barber of Seville"

Overnight in the Spanish city of Seville. In love, Count Almaviva, surrounded by musicians, sings a serenade at the balcony of beautiful Rosina. The nobleman hides his noble title under a simple bachelor's suit to win the pure, unselfish love of a young girl. The count's efforts are useless, because Rosina is under the strict control of her guardian, Dr. Bartolo. The old man is incredibly greedy, and keeps his unfortunate pupil in custody, in order to later marry her and receive a considerable dowry.

Suddenly, his old acquaintance, the merry fellow Figaro, approaches the count. The Joker promises to keep the secret of Almaviva and tells his story to a sad lover. Figaro lost his position as a veterinarian due to his literary fame and, due to increased competition in the creative environment, the cheerful writer is forced to turn into a roaming barber.

The worldly wisdom and wit of Figaro fascinates and inspires for incredible deeds, therefore enterprising comrades decide to go for the trick. Upon learning of the temporary absence of Bartolo, Almaviva again sings the love serenade, and this time seems to be a certain Lindor. Rosina is favorable to the stranger, however, having heard the steps in the house, hastily leaves.

Now the action takes place more rapidly. According to the plan of the comrades, Almaviva should play the role of a drunken soldier assigned to the camp to Bartolo. Figaro, being a barber and experienced doctor, entered the home of the jealous Bartolo. The inventor will distract the servant.

House Bartolo. In love, Rosina writes a love message to the mysterious youth Lindora. Don Basilio informs Bartolo of Almaviva's passionate feelings for his pupil. Having found out the unpleasant news, the aged ladies' man locks the girl in the room to keep the situation under control.

Almaviva appears in the form of a drunken soldier. Bartolo refuses to take a stranger for a wait, resulting in a quarrel. Upon hearing loud cries, an officer enters the house with the intention of arresting a violent insolent person. However, having heard from the count his name, the officer leaves.

The next time Almaviva appears before Bartolo in the form of a music teacher, temporarily replacing Basilio. During the lesson, the "teacher" sings along with Rosina, but Bartolo does not like this duet. Suddenly, Figaro comes and invites the doctor to shave. While Bartolo is busy with hygiene, the count convinces his beloved to flee with him. Basilio appears, but Almaviva imperceptibly for everyone bribes the teacher and invites him to go home "to be treated." Bartolo feels deceit and expels the cunning.

The second floor of the house is Bartolo. The loving graph, accompanied by Figaro, enters the house through a window, Almaviva shows her true face to her lover and persuades her to flee. The doctor envisaged such a course of events, he removed the ladder, on which friends climbed to his pupil, and went to get a lawyer to get engaged with her immediately.

In the house of Bartolo appear Basilio and the notary. The count bribes both to marry a girl before the doctor arrives. The marriage took place. Enraged Bartolo returns with the guard. Seeing the marriage contract, the old man resigns himself to his fate. Almaviva announces the refusal of the dowry of his young wife and the performance is completed under the solemn motives of the aria of reconciliation.

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Interesting Facts

• Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais wrote a series of three works on Le Figaro: The Barber of Seville,Figaro's Wedding"and" Criminal Mother. "Later, the whole trilogy was transferred to the opera stage.
• The work "The Barber of Seville" by version Rossini significantly different from the original. Unlike the comedy Bormashe, written in the French pre-revolutionary style, the composer's libretto does not contain rhetorical philosophy and political satire. The Rossini's Barber is the epitome of a democratic national theater with naive humor, fun and comedy. The image of the resolute Rosina is somewhat softened, and the self-confident Count Almaviva appeared before the spectator as a traditional lyrical hero.
• The Barber of Seville is one of the first operas staged by the Bolshoi Theater after the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War. However, the advantage of foreign opera to the detriment of domestic musical works was the reason for condemning the leadership of the theater and significant personnel changes.
• Initially, the opera "The Barber of Seville" had a different name: "Almaviva or Vain Precaution".
• During the premiere of the opera, ill-wishers condemned the author. In addition, a number of unpleasant accidents seemed to contribute to its failure. So, Don Basilio got hurt on the stage during the fall, Almaviva broke the string while playing the serenade, and at some point a cat suddenly appeared on the scene. During the next production, the audience was overcrowded. The public wanted to have fun and see a cascade of absurdities again. However, this time the performance literally impressed the audience, loudly applauding each aria. Rossini was proud of the success of "The Barber" and expressed that his opera was loved by even the most ardent opponents of opera innovations.
• Thanks to the cartoon "Seville rabbit" released by the studio Warner Bros. in 1950, viewers could hear an overture from an opera on their television screens, which made Gioacchino Rossini's music even more popular.

• Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi He was fascinated by the brilliance of ideas and the sound of Rossini's opera, considering it to be the best piece of music in the style of opera buffa.
• In the final of the work, the melody of an old Russian folk song sounds: “Oh, why make a garden?”. Certainly, the rhythm of the song is changed, however, the motive is the Russian melody.
• The Barber of Seville is one of the most famous operas of Rossini. Thanks to this work, the Italian composer won European fame, and his penchant for inspired song melodies became the basis for the honorary title "Italian Mozart"Rossini admired the talent of the great Austrian composer from a young age. While writing his works, he transferred Mozart's achievements to the theatrical art of Italy, borrowed the skills of an opera ensemble. Therefore, the opera-buffa Barber of Seville contains not only traditional opera techniques, it is also enriched with innovations and cutting-edge ideas. Rossini’s cheerful nature also admired Heinrich Heine, who called the composer "The Divine Maestro."

Popular arias and numbers from the opera "The Barber of Seville"

Overture (listen)

Cavatina Figaro "Largo al Factotum" (listen)

Cavatina Rosina "Una voce poco fa" (listen)

Rosia's aria (lesson scene) "Contro un cor" (listen)

Berta's aria "Il vecchietto cerca moglie" (listen)

Canzon Almaviva "Se il mio nome saper voi" (listen)

The story of the creation of the Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville has an interesting background. According to the contract with the Roman theater, Gioacchino Rossini undertakes to write a new opera. The musical piece is timed carnival. All the versions of the libretto provided did not stand up to criticism from the censors, so on the eve of the holiday the famous playwright remembered the comedy play Bormash, repeatedly played on the Italian stage. In order not to disrupt the signed contract, Rossini decides to base the plot of a famous work. Having received permission from the censors, the composer set to work.

Only 20 days it took the musician to create a comedy opera based on the first part of the famous trilogy.

The premiere took place on February 12, 1816. The first production suffered a fiasco and was booed by an angry public. The fact is that the masterpiece opera based on the plot of the play Bormashe has already been created by the respected Italian composer Paisiello. Writing another opera with a similar plot, the audience found it unforgivable insolence and disrespect towards an elderly playwright. Paisiello fans staged an unprecedented scandal. After the first production the composer had to escape.

Despite the scandal around the premiere, the opera "The Barber of Seville" was awesome success. An unbiased audience praised the work and even organized a triumphal torchlight procession to the Rossini house, who did not dare to come to the show.

The popularity of "The Barber of Seville" Rossini exceeded all expectations. The performances were successfully performed in many European countries, and outstanding opera singers were involved in the performance. The composer combined the best features of the Italian opera and created fertile ground for the further rapid development of musical art. Emphasizing the traditional style of opera buffa, Rossini retained the act structure of the work with rapid dynamics, alternation of song numbers and typical domestic conflict.

Productions

March 10, 1818 the British saw the play "The Barber of Seville". After successful productions in Rome, the opera was presented on the stage of the London Royal Theater. For this premiere, the author created a new aria of Rosina, and her role was performed by the famous opera singer Josephine Fodor-Manviel. In the summer of the same year, the opera took place in Spain on the stage of the Santa Cruz Theater. The following, in 1819, the performance was seen in France, Germany, Austria and the USA.

The Russian audience first saw a piece of music in Odessa in 1821. Then the production was performed by Italian actors. The same troupe performed an opera in Moscow at the Apraksin Theater in the winter of 1822, and the first Russian version debuted in the fall of 1822 on the stage of the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Barber of Seville became one of the most popular operas in Russia. The work was repeatedly performed on the stages of the largest theaters in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

During the Soviet era, the opera could be seen at the Bolshoi Theater, with time the plot underwent some changes. So, during the Second World War, the performance changed for relevance, the statements of the actors were supposed to cheer up the soldiers present, to defuse the situation before returning to the front.

In 1952, the All-Union Radio Orchestra, together with the cast, recorded the opera. This radio version is still available to listeners today.

Music from the opera "The Barber of Seville" in movies:

• Overture can be heard in Stanley Kubrick’s movie "A Clockwork Orange" of 1971, as well as in the films "The Game of Classics" 1980, "The Honor of the Pritstsi Family" in 1985. and in the cartoon film with the participation of Michael Jordan "Space Jam".
• Known aria Figaro "Largo al Factotum" very popular in the film industry. It sounds in the films: "Babe: Piglet in the City" 1998, "Simulator" 1995, "Dark Star" 1974, "Mrs. Doubtfire" 1993, "Oscar" 1991, "In the open sea" 1997, " Shock Corridor "1963," Three Coins in the Fountain "1954," Top Secret "1984., and in 1997's Oliver Stone's" Turn "with Sean Penn in the lead role.
• Cavatina Rosina "Una voce poco fa" can be found in films: "Citizen Kane" 1941, "Peak Season" 1987. and Jumanji 1995 with Robin Williams.
• The 2003 Audrey Wells drama "Under the Tuscan Sun" sounds Bertha's aria "Il vecchietto cerca moglie".
• Aria Rosina "Contro un cor" from the lesson scene you can hear the fantastic 1995 drama Catherine Bigelow's “Strange Days”.

Comic opera is a rather complex genre of art that requires the originality and special outlook of the author. When creating a bright parody work, it is important to avoid coarse satire and cheap tricks in order not to lower the opera skills to the level of an entertainment show. While watching the play "The Barber of Seville", the audience does not ridicule human stupidity, they do not have any gloating in relation to the characters. On the contrary, there is a feeling of lightness, joy of life, admiration for the resourcefulness of the main characters, their irrepressible energy and charm. The audience seems to be infected with fun taking place on the stage. It is safe to say that "Barber of seville"is the best confirmation of talent, refined taste and innate musical flair Gioacchino Rossini.