The Barber of Seville

Program Title: Flat Baroque: High Brow Radio by Low Brow Folks
Description: In this episode, we present Il barbiere di Siviglia, or The Barber of Seville composed by Giochino Rossino to an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. This two act opera recounts the events of the first in the Figaro trilogy written by French playwright, Pierre Baumarchais that revolve around the character Figaro, the barber in our opera today, and famously the servant in Mozart’s sequel The Marriage of Figaro composed 30 years before The Barber of Seville debuted at the Teatro Argentina in February 1816.

Il barbiere di Siviglia is set in Seville, Spain in the 18th century and has a number of characters including Figaro written for a baritone, Count Almaviva, Bartolo, a doctor of medicine and Rosina’s guardian, Rosina, a rich pupil in Bartolo’s house, Basilio, Rosina’s music teacher, Berta, an old governess also in Bartolo’s house, Fiorello, Almaviva’s servant, Ambrogio, Bartolo’s servant, a police sergeant, a notary and a chorus of officers, soldiers, and buskers.

The performance of Il barbiere di Sivilglia we’ll listen to was recorded at Henry Wood Hall in London in 1975. James Lavine conducted the John Alldis Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra that accompanied vocalists Beverly Sills as Rosina, Nicolai Gedda as Almaviva, Sherill Milnes as Figaro, Renato Capecchi as Bartolo, as well as Ruggero Raimondi and Fedora Barbieri.

Host(s): Dinah Jansen
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