Fantasie on Barber of Seville

Perhaps the best-known opera by the most celebrated Italian composer of his day, The Barber of Seville premiered in Rome in 1816 and has assured Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) a place among the pantheon of comic geniuses. Put on one side its brilliant adaptations in countless cartoons—or even on Seinfeld—and you still have the supple, infectious melodies, so full of life, suggestion, and color. Rossini demonstrated good sense in selecting a libretto from Beaumarchais’ great Figaro trilogy. Mozart had already demonstrated the power of Beaumarchais’ poetry with The Marriage of Figaro (1786). These two operas still lay claim to being the greatest comic operas of all time. Personal rivalries helped The Barber to a disastrous premiere in 1816. Supporters of Giovanni Paisiello, who had written an opera on the same libretto 1787, caused numerous interruptions and showered the performance with cat-calls and whistles. The second performance was a roaring success and Rossini’s work never looked back. Tonight we hear a suitably vigorous performance of a Diederich Krug’s Fantasie on The Barber of Seville for piano six hands, an arrangement of material from the famed “Figaro’s Aria” (Act I).

(c) Jason Stell