Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.
This 1974 La Scala production of The Barber of Seville, under the direction of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, is the seventh in my monthly series of reviews of cinematic adaptations of operas. It is also the first one in my series that is a comic opera (or opera buffa), rather than a dramatic opera. My personal preference runs toward dramatic opera. I simply feel that opera, as an art form, is better suited to expression of intense emotions than comedy. It is therefore particularly high complement that I include The Barber of Seville among my dozen favorite operas. Rossini can be considered the father of Italian comic opera.
Historical Background: Many creative geniuses have also been eccentric people and the life story of Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868) certainly percolates with eccentricity in its own particular way. Rossini was born on leap day, February 29th, 1792, in the town of Pesaro, located on the Adriatic Sea. At the time, it was part of the Papal State. Rossini's father, Giovanni (nicknamed "Vivazza" because of his irrepressibly buoyant disposition), was the town trumpeter and played the horn and trumpet in the local theater orchestra. Since those activities were not enough to support a family, Giovanni was also an inspector for the community slaughterhouses. Gioacchino's mother, born Anna Guidarini, was a beautiful woman with a naturally lovely singing voice and the young Rossini inherited so much of her exceptional good looks that he was nicknamed "The Angel."
Since Giovanni was strongly republican, the family had its ups and downs as the balance of power shifted from time to time. When the French became the protectors of Papal authority, the family had to take to supporting itself in the small theaters of Italy, with Anna singing operatic roles and Vivazza playing the horn in the orchestra pits. For a time, Gioacchino was apprenticed to a blacksmith and, later, a butcher. At the same time, Rossini received lessons on the cembalo. Rossini also developed his singing voice and found work in churches and theaters, singing and playing the cembalo.
At age fourteen, Rossini entered the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna. There, he met Isabella Colbran who, despite being seven years older than Rossini, would become, his first wife, sixteen years later, in 1822. Rossini also became a student at the Liceo Musicale that same year and began the study of counterpoint and the chamber music of Haydn and Mozart. Mozart would become the foremost influence in Rossini's musical life.
When Rossini was just eighteen, he left the Liceo and immediately began composing operas. Rossini was soon commissioned by the impresario at the Teatro San Mosè to write a one-act comic opera. The result was La cambiale di matrimonio, which premiered on November 3rd, 1810. Rossini followed with L'equivoco stravagante and then, in 1812, a two-act opera buffa, La pietra del paragone. The latter work was successful enough to gain Rossini an exemption from the military. Rossini continued to grow in his skills as a composer and, in 1813, had his first success with a serious opera, Tancredi di Siracusa. Now Rossini was in great demand, with impresarios through Italy vying for works from the young genius. L'Italiana in Algeri (1813) and Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra (1815) were Rossini's best operas prior to Il barbiere di Siviglia ("The Barber of Seville") (1816).
Although The Barber of Seville was to become Rossini's eternal masterpiece, the work's premiere was a fantastic fiasco. For one thing, there was hostility from the friends of another composer, Paisiello, who had written an opera on the same theme decades earlier. Then during the performance on February 20th, 1816, a couple of performance problems caused the audience to become restive and dissatisfied. After the unpleasant evening had ended, the prima donna, Giorgi-Righetti, rushed to Rossini's home to console him on the failure, but he was already quietly asleep. He knew that he had an exceptional work, despite the flawed performance of that first evening. The second performance was received with dignified respect and the third elicited thunderous applause. The ultimate success of The Barber of Seville elevated Rossini to the first rank of opera composers at just 24 years of age.
Much of the next fifteen years of Rossini's life would follow the pattern of The Barber of Seville: successes interwoven with failures. There was failure with La Gazzetta (1816) followed by success with Othello (1817). Then, Cenerentola (1817) received a chilly reception of opening night, only to be ultimately declared a comic masterpiece. It was the first in a remarkable series of fifteen operas composed in just seven years that included notably, Armida (1817), La Donna del lago (1819), and Semiramide (1823), all originally composed for Italian stages.
During a journey to London in 1824, Rossini was offered the directorship of the Théâtre Italien in Paris and accepted. He and his wife Isabella moved to the French capital in November of 1824. During his years in Paris, Rossini wrote only four new operas and two of them were revisions and amplifications of previous ones. First came La Siège de Corinthe (1826), a revision of Maometto II. Next off his pen was Moïse (1827), a revision of Mosè in Egitto. Then, his final two operas were: Le Compt Ory (1828) and Guillaume Tell (1829). The first of those two was a masterpiece and the last even better, arguably Rossini's crowning achievement. Still just thirty-eight years of age, the future seemed extremely promising for the gifted Rossini. Instead, a variety of circumstances conspired to silence Rossini's creative muse. He would never again compose an opera, though he did compose his famous Stabat Mater (1842) and a few other minor works.
The Story:The Barber of Seville is a comic opera in two acts. Doctor Bartolo (Enzo Dara), an elderly physician in Seville, has a pretty, young ward named Rosina (Teresa Berganza). Since she is in line to inherit a fortune, he intends to marry her himself and uses his position as her guardian to hold her as a virtual prisoner in his home, to ensure that she will not acquire other suitors. Despite Bartolo's precautions, the young Count Almaviva (Luigi Alva) has spied Rosina and is enraptured with her. He wants only to discover whether she can genuinely reciprocate his love, so he disguises himself as a commoner, Lindoro, hoping to make his affection known to her and gage her response. Outside Bartolo's house, as Act I opens and dawn approaches, Almaviva's servant, Fiorello (Renato Cesari), has assembled a small group of street musicians to accompany the Count's serenade (Ecco, ridente in cielo) to his beloved.
As dawn breaks, the industrious barber of Seville, Figaro (Hermann Prey), arrives to open his shop, which is situated close to Bartolo's home. Figaro is widely sought out by brides-to-be as well as old widows because he's the best barber in town, as he is delighted to explain in the famous catatina entitled Tra la la. Largo al factotum. He's also a tireless schemer, so long as the price is right. He and the Count are old acquaintances and the Count is delighted to purchase Figaro's assistance in gaining access to Bartolo's home and Rosina. Rosina belatedly appears on the balcony of her bedroom and manages to drop a letter to her suitor, despite her guardian's close scrutiny. As Bartolo vainly tries to recover the dropped paper, Almaviva sings a second love song to Rosina and receives the hoped for encouragement.
Figaro concocts a scheme to smuggle Almaviva into Bartolo's home and outlines it in a staccato duet with Almaviva entitled All'idea di quell metallo. Almaviva will disguise himself as a drunken soldier with a billeting order. Meanwhile, at the mirror in her bedroom, Rosina resolves to escape her guardian's tyranny at all cost, which she expresses poignantly in the brilliantly ornamental aria Una voce poco fa. She writes a letter to her suitor, who she knows as "Lindoro," hoping to pass it to him using Figaro as a conduit.
Doctor Bartolo returns before the letter exchange can be completed, however, and Rosina's music instructor, Don Basilio (Paolo Montarsolo), arrives as well. Like Figaro, Basilio is an inveterate schemer and happy to provide any service for a fee. He warns Bartolo that Count Almaviva is in town and has his eye on Rosina. He suggests, in one of the greatest arias ever written for the bass voice, La calunnia è un venticello, that Almaviva could be destroyed by slander. Bartolo, however, prefers the idea of a quick, preemptive marriage to Rosina and bribes Basilio to make the necessary arrangements. Figaro, who has overheard the conversation between Bartolo and Basilio warns Rosina, in the duet Dunque io son . . . tu non m'inganni?, as she passes her previously written love letter to Figaro for delivery to "Lindoro."
After Figaro leaves, Bartolo enters and questions Rosina about her activities, suspecting that something is afoot. He warns her, in the aria A un dottor della mia sorte, that a doctor of his intelligence is not to be trifled with. Almaviva now arrives, disguised as a soldier, feigning intoxication, and demanding that he be billeted. While creating a general commotion, Almaviva is able to reveal himself to Rosina (who still believes him to be Lindoro) and secretly pass a letter to her. Bartolo and Almaviva come close to blows, but Figaro arrives and intervenes. The commotion is so great that the guard arrives and is about to arrest Almaviva, until he privately reveals to the sergeant of the guard his identity as the Count. This hullabaloo transpires during the finale of Act I.
As Act II begins, Bartolo has made inquiries and learned that the soldier who earlier came to his home was an impostor. He suspects that he was an agent of Count Almaviva. Almaviva now arrives in a new disguise, as "Don Alonso," a student of Basilio and Rosina's music teacher for the day, substituting for the supposedly indisposed Basilio. During Rosina's "lesson," the young lovers flirt unconscionably (Contra un cor che accende amore) at the piano, as Bartolo grows drowsy. At the end of the lesson, Bartolo attempts to sing a love song (Quando mi sei vicina) to his ward, but is repeatedly interrupted by Almaviva.
Figaro arrives, claiming that he's had to reschedule Bartolo's shave to today. Bartolo will have to give Figaro the house keys so the barber can collect the shaving cream and towels from an adjacent room. Figaro's idea is to steal the key to the balcony door so that Rosina can be spirited away. Unfortunately, the supposedly ill Basilio suddenly arrives, leading to a chaotic quintet (Rosina, Almaviva, Figaro, Bartolo, and Basilio), during which Basilio is surreptitiously bribed to feign illness and retreat. Then, while Bartolo finally gets his shave, Rosina and Almaviva finalize their plans. Bartolo, however, is insufficiently distracted and gathers the gist of the plot.
When Figaro and Almaviva have departed, Bartolo sends his servant to fetch Basilio, who now readily admits that he does not know "Don Alonso." Desperate to foil his rival, Bartolo sends Basilio to fetch the notary at once, so he can marry Rosina immediately. In the meantime, he presents Rosina with a letter that seems to suggest that her suitor, "Lindoro," is toying with her affections. A fierce downpour develops outside with thunder and lightning as the various intrigues proceed. Figaro and Almaviva arrive and, raising a ladder to the balcony, enter Bartolo's home through Rosina's bedroom. Rosina is initially none too pleased at Almaviva's arrival, imaging that his love is not genuine, but when he reveals himself as the Count, her doubts are dispelled. As the lovers rejoice, Figaro urges them (in the tense trio Ah! Qual colpo inaspettato!) to get a move on, before Bartolo returns. Too late! Someone has come in downstairs and the ladder has been removed from the balcony. There's no way out but the front door.
Downstairs, it is Basilio and the notary who have just arrived. The notary is paid off to perform a remarkably quick marriage and Basilio acts as a witness – at gunpoint. When Dr. Bartolo returns, he discovers a done deal and reluctantly accepts his fate in the Act II finale, as the others rejoice.
Themes: The theme of The Barber of Seville might be best described as love will have its way and a tyrant arms himself in vain with harshness and cruelty. It's all presented in a light-hearted, comic manner.
Production Values: The masterful comic libretto for The Barber of Seville was written by Cesare Sterbini, based on a play by Beaumarchais entitled Le Barbier de Seville. It's a strong libretto, by opera buffa standards, providing strong characterizations and some comic situations. The comedy of the opera derives no more from the libretto than from Rossini music, which is sometimes mocking or ironic, and other times playful as a kitten. Rossini was highly regarded in his day for his serious operas as well, but today it is the comic ones that have most endured.
It's not the librettos, of course, for which Rossini opera's are most revered today. It is the music. Rossini revolutionized the orchestral techniques of opera and even Puccini and Verdi later adapted some of Rossini's innovations for their own purposes. There are several distinctive aspects to Rossini's musical style for which you might want to listen. Rossini often builds from a simple rhythmic motif that can then provide a unifying concept for the aria. Often, just a few instruments initially state the motif, quietly. Then, additional instruments or voices enter gradually in a steady crescendo, intensifying the dynamics until the music explodes in a blaze of sound, with several instrumental groups then vying for dominance. Often, Rossini will have the melody carried by the lower instruments and feature an agitated rhythmic motif in the higher pitched instruments to create a palpable sense of tension. Rossini also often uses the wind instruments to comment on the action of the opera. The first act of a Rossini opera typically ends in a state of chaos and excitement (what we would call a cliff-hanger for television series), to encourage anticipation about what will develop in Act II. For his melodic inspiration, Rossini drew in part from Neapolitan folk music. Many Rossini arias are in the so-called coloratura style, meaning the vocal lines are embellished with florid ornaments, such as trills and runs. It was a vocal style that was very demanding but which provided the divas and lyric tenors with plenty of opportunities to show off. All of these techniques combine to give Rossini's music an ebullient, energetic, and even brilliant tonal quality.
The cast for this version of The Barber of Seville is excellent. Luigi Alva, born 1927 in Peru, was the top lyric tenor during the fifties and sixties. He studied initially with Rosa Mercedes, then in Milan, and made his debut at the Piccolo Teatro alla Scala in 1955. He was soon in demand at opera houses throughout the world. He specialized in Mozart and Rossini and was particularly admired for his interpretation of Count Almaviva. For Rossini operas, tenors have to have a high range and a light, facile voice to effectively realize the coloratura style. Alva was known for his elegant phrasing and pure tone.
Mezzo-soprano Teresa Beganza, born in Madrid, had her debut in 1957 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. She has appeared in the greatest opera houses of the world and worked with many of the great conductors of her generation. She is best known for a repertoire that includes Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Purcell, Offenbach, Bizet, and Massenet. She effortlessly managed the trills required in Una voce poca fa. Rossini's comic heroines were usually mezzo-sopranos or contraltos, rather than the sopranos that are typically featured in dramatic operas.
Hermann Prey, who played Figaro magnificently in this recording, is a German bass-baritone. He was almost fifteen when World War II ended and would have been drafted by the Nazis as soon as he turned fifteen. Although a famous opera star, Prey was perhaps even better known for his renditions of German Lieder. Prey also frequently performed choral works on stage. His lyric voice is known for its warmth. As a performer, he is adept at revealing comic aspects of a piece without losing the musical quality.
Enzo Dara and Paolo Montarsolo, as Bartolo and Basilio respectively, provided the two bass roles. In Rossini operas, basses are utilized for villains, older characters, and comic characters that have to suffer the brunt of the opera's jokes. They are sometimes assigned "patter" songs to demonstrate their ridiculous quality. Basilio's rendition of the great aria La calunnia è un venticello is the dramatic highlight of the present film and is quite musically satisfying as well.
Claudio Abbado conducted members of the La Scala orchestra for this performance. Abbado is a highly regarded conductor, especially for opera. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle directed the opera and the video recording. This is not one of the most cinematic renditions of opera that you'll find on video, but it does differ from a stage performance in the ease with which the camera moves about the set, from exteriors to interiors.
Bottom-Line: Rossini is one of the top masters of comic opera and The Barber of Seville is the foremost masterpiece among his comic works. Only Mozart stands head-and-shoulders above Rossini in the opera buffa domain. This recording is worth viewing for the rendition of La calunnia è un venticello alone, but there are many other delightfully performed numbers as well.
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