By Hilary Poriss
On February 20, 2016, Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville reached a significant milestone: it turned two hundred years old. From its earliest days, this work has enjoyed an almost unprecedented level of popularity and has maintained a consistent foothold in the operatic repertory. Indeed, any attempt to provide a complete catalogue of performances, published scores, arrangements, and recordings of The Barber that have emerged over the past two centuries would represent a fool’s errand. So ubiquitous is this opera that it has been possible to witness multiple productions every single year, in numerous cities, ever since its premiere.
Its omnipresence extends beyond the opera house, firmly engrained in popular culture as well. A quick search through YouTube and TikTok uncovers references to Rossini’s music in some of the most unlikely—and amusing—places: the overture serves as background music for a Doritos commercial that first aired during the 2013 Super Bowl (“Man’s Best Friend”), and the same tune is woven throughout an episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry attempts to sever ties with his longtime hairdresser (“The Barber,” season 8, episode 5). Most memorably, The Barber of Seville was adapted by Warner Bros. for the Looney Tunes short, Rabbit of Seville (1950), thus ensuring a place in the consciousnesses of innumerable cartoon-watching youth from the past seventy-three years and counting. Why has Rossini’s opera maintained such consistent and widespread appeal?
Photo: John Grigaitis/Detroit Opera
In part, it’s because of its amusing story, which Rossini and his librettist, Cesare Sterbini, adapted from the 1773 play of the same name by Pierre Beaumarchais. The story of Rosina and Almaviva is timeless, two young lovers destined to end up together but temporarily kept apart by a bumbling elder, the arrogant Doctor Bartolo. The help that Figaro extends to the young lovers adds interest and intrigue to the story, and the antics of all these characters keep audiences laughing from beginning to end. Even more than the story, it is the music that has kept audiences coming back to The Barber for centuries.
From the opening notes of the overture to the joyful finaletto, this opera is packed with some of Rossini’s most iconic melodies and hummable tunes. One of the most fascinating aspects of this opera’s history, however, is that 19th- and early 20th-century singers sometimes chose to ignore Rossini’s score. For the Act II lesson scene, for instance, prima donnas rarely sang “Contro un cor,” the aria Rossini wrote for that moment. Instead, when Almaviva asked them, “What would you like to sing,” they performed whatever they wanted. Adelina Patti, one of the 19th century’s most famous sopranos, provides the most fascinating example. During this scene, she would perform two or three arias, none of which were composed by Rossini, and she almost always concluded with “Home, Sweet Home” by Sir Henry Rowley Bishop. Her audiences loved it and never complained that “Contro un cor” went missing!
Photo: John Grigaitis/Detroit Opera
Whether singers follow Rossini’s score faithfully or follow their own path by introducing arias of their choosing, performances of The Barber of Seville never fail to delight. With this opera, Rossini and his librettist tapped into timeless sentiments and wove unforgettable melodies around the charming narrative. The result is an opera that has been performed for centuries and is destined to grace opera houses for many more to come.
Hilary Poriss is Professor of Music History at Northeastern University, Boston. She is a specialist in 19th-century Italian and French opera and is the author of Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (2021).
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