Il barbiere di Siviglia (Paisiello)
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Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero La precauzione inutile (The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution) is a comic opera by Giovanni Paisiello, first performed on 26 September 1782 (old Russian calendar, 15 September) at the Imperial Court, Saint Petersburg. The opera was adapted from the play Le Barbier de Séville of Pierre Beaumarchais. The full title for the opera reads:
"Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero La Precauzione inutile, dramma giocoso per musica tradotto liberamente dal francese, da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Imperiale del corte, l'anno 1782"[1]
"The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution, comical drama with music freely translated from the French, presented at the Imperial Court Theater, the year 1782"
While the librettist was not mentioned on the title page, he has been identified as Giuseppe Petrosellini.
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[edit] History and reception
Several musical adaptations of Il barbiere di Siviglia predated the version by Paisiello, but Paisiello's comic opera was the first to achieve widespread success. It was subsequently staged in several cities in the years immediately following its premiere, including the following:[1]
For the 1787 production in Naples at the Teatro dei Fiorentini the opera was reduced to three acts and Pasiello wrote three new numbers: "La carta che bramate" for Rosina, "Serena il bel sembiante" for Almaviva, and a finale for act one.[3]
In Vienna Il barbiere played at five venues from 1783 until 1804, both in Italian and German, and receiving nearly 100 performances. In 1789 Mozart dedicated the aria "Schon lacht der holder Frühling" (K. 580) to his sister-in-law Josepha Hofer as a substitute for Rosina's original act 3 aria (Già riede primavera). Although it is missing only the closing ritornello, the incomplete orchestration suggests it was never used.[4]
The opera proved to be Paisiello's biggest success. Even after the 1816 premiere of Gioachino Rossini's own version of The Barber of Seville, Paisiello's version continued to be more popular by comparison. With time, however, that situation changed. As Rossini's version gained in popularity, Paisiello's diminished in parallel, to the point where it fell from the repertoire. Paisiello's version did receive revival in later years as follows:
The story essentially follows the original Beaumarchais play, and in some places directly translates songs and dialogue. The plots of the Paisiello and the Rossini versions very closely resemble each other, with subtle differences.[5]
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, Sept. 15/26 (see above), 1782 (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Count Almaviva | tenor | Guglielmo Jermolli |
| Rosina | soprano | Anna Davia de Bernucci |
| Bartolo | buffo | Baldassare Marchetti |
| Figaro | baritone | G. B. Brocchi |
| Don Basilio | bass | Luigi Pagnanelli |
| Giovinetto ('Youth', Bartolo's aged servant) | tenor | |
| Svegliato ('Vigilance', a sleepy servant) | bass | |
| Notary | bass | |
| Warden | tenor | |
| "quartets of "Alguazili" (constables) and servants" | ||
[edit] Recordings
- Mercury SR 2-9010: Graziella Sciutti, Nicola Monti, Rolando Panerai, Renato Capecchi, Mario Petri; Virtuosi di Roma; Renato Fasano, conductor[6]
- Hungaroton SLPD MZS-27: Dénes Gulyas, Krisztina Laki, József Gregor, István Gáti, Sándor Sólyom-Nagy, Csaba Réti, Miklós Mersei, Gábor Vághelyi, Attila Fülöp; Hungarian State Orchestra; Ádám Fischer, conductor[5]
[edit] References in popular culture
- The serenade "Saper bramate" sung by The Count is memorably used in Stanley Kubrick's period film Barry Lyndon.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Loewenberg, Alfred, "Paisiello's and Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia" (April 1939). Music & Letters, 20 (2): pp. 157-167.
- ^ In G. F. W. Grossmann's translation. See Grove's
- ^ Grove. It is not clear how the compression was accomplished. None of the added numbers are in the 1953 Ricordi reprint, which divides two acts into two halves each: "Atto primo-parte prima...Atto secondo-parte quarta"
- ^ NMA ii/7/4, available online via the Mozarteum
- ^ a b Law, Joe K. (1986). "II barbiere di Siviglia. Giovanni Paisidllo". The Opera Quarterly 4 (1): 154–156. doi:, http://oq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/4/1/154. Retrieved on 14 October 2007.
- ^ Lang, Paul Henry (1962). "Reviews of Records - Paisiello: Il Barbiere di Siviglia". The Musical Quarterly XLVIII (1): 135–139, http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/XLVIII/1/135. Retrieved on 14 October 2007.
[edit] External links
[edit] Source
- Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
