The Barber of Seville
(Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Music by Gioachino Rossini
Libretto by Cesare Sterbini
based on Beaumarchais’s play Le barbier de Séville
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West Bay Opera’s 48th Season
(2003-2004) The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) Music by Gioachino Rossini Libretto by Cesare Sterbini based on Beaumarchais’s play Le barbier de Séville |
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Director’s Notes by David Ostwald
| 1772 | Beaumarchais completed his play, The Barber of Seville. |
| 1775 | The Barber of Seville, produced by the Comédie Française, was a huge success. |
| 1778 | Beaumarchais completed The Marriage of Figaro. |
| 1781 | The Marriage of Figaro was accepted for production by the Comédie Française. |
| 1782 | Paisiello premiered his operatic version of The Barber of Seville. |
| 1784 | The Marriage of Figaro finally premiered after long battles with the censors and was even a greater success than Barber. |
| 1786 | Mozart premiered his operatic version of The Marriage of Figaro. |
| 1815 | Following in the footsteps of at least four other composers, mostly notably Paisiello, Rossini composed his version of The Barber of Seville. |
| 2004 | West Bay Opera audiences join the tens of thousands who have enjoyed Rossini’s opera which has played almost without interruption during the intervening 189 years. |
Beaumarchais’ play is in many ways an old fashioned piece for its time. The characters are rooted in the commedia dell’arte tradition which goes back to the Italian Renaissance. This is particularly true of Figaro, Bartolo, and the Count in his soldier’s disguise who reflect the stock types of the wily servant, the doddering old man and the braggart soldier respectively. It also has the most traditional of plots in which a pair of young lovers overcome numerous obstacles to successfully unite. What gives the play its zest is its wit and the way Beaumarchais filled out the characters to make them so recognizably and lovably human.
For its contemporary audiences it had an additional, even subversive appeal. When young Count Almaviva leaves Madrid for Seville to pursue the call of his heart, he not only leaves the court and his family but also the arranged marriage they would make for him. He woos his beloved in disguise to insure that if she will have him it will not be for his title or money, but because she loves him for himself. By portraying the Count’s title and wealth as an impediment to be disguised, Beaumarchais gave voice to the rising revolutionary tide of the 1780s which would soon swamp the once triumphant Enlightenment and its decaying aristocracy. Simultaneously, his play heralded the beginning of the Romantic era and the rise of democracy. His portrayal of the Count’s and Rosina’s happy union attacks the aristocracy by endorsing the idea that feelings, not property are the desirable basis for marriage. It affirms that in feelings—particularly in love. We are all equal.