Il barbiere di Siviglia

Haus für Mozart, Salzburg, Austria

Scene 6 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 1

Scene 1 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 2

Scene 2 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 3

Scene 3 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 4

Scene 4 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 5

Scene 5 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 6

Scene 7 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 7

Scene 8 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 8

Scene 9 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 9

Scene 10 from the opera "The Barber of Seville", photo 10

All photos (10)

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7 PM

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Important Info

Festival: Salzburg Festival Whitsun 2022

Type: Opera

City: Salzburg, Austria

Starts at: 19:00

Acts: 2

Intervals: 1

Duration: 3h 45min

Sung in: Italian

Titles in: German,English

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Festival

Salzburg Festival Whitsun 2022

The Salzburg Festival Whitsun took place from 3 to 6 June 2022. In 2022 in Salzburg was conjured up a vivid fantasy of Seville, with its stunningly bright light, its blistering heat, its intoxicating orange blossom scent, its unique melting pot of proud ancient cultures — and of course the incredibly varied music it generated and inspired.

Overview

"Come — let’s see some feat of your wits!" On 20 February 1816, just as carnival week was approaching its climax, Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia had its premiere at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. The new opera was a highly appropriate match for the unfettered atmosphere of the Roman carnival: delighting in masks and disguise, parody and the grotesque, performance and pretence, it is permeated through and through with the spirit of carnival.

Of course this is due in part to its literary prototype, Beaumarchais’s Le Barbier de Séville, a comedy of intrigue that draws its effect from its rapid tempo, entanglements and witty dialogue, and in whose clearly defined characters the archetypes of the commedia dell’arte — for example, the ‘Dottore’ or the resourceful servant — shine through as forebears. Spanish genres, influenced in their turn by Italian improvised comedy, also left their traces in Beaumarchais’s play, not least in the figure of the barber who acts as go-between. Figaro’s name may even derive from the Spanish pícaro, the term by which the witty ‘rogues’ who populate the picaresque novel are known.

Rossini’s librettist, Cesare Sterbini, emphasized the composer’s intention of avoiding the ‘temerarious rivalry with the immortal author who preceded him’ — that is, with Giovanni Paisiello and his Barbiere di Siviglia from 1782. Nonetheless, the new operatic version of the subject inevitably competed with the earlier work, soon putting it permanently in the shade. Verdi was convinced that with ‘the abundance of original musical ideas, its comic verve and the accuracy of its declamation’, Rossini’s Barbiere was ‘the most beautiful opera buffa there is’. Compared to the ‘naturalness’ of Paisiello’s opera, in Rossini’s work everything is energized, sharpened or exaggerated, charged with dramatic vibrancy and incisive theatricality. And thus the comedy in Rossini’s work is also closer to its origins in the commedia dell’arte than the French play on which it is based.
All too aware of the familiarity of the basic plot, staged in countless variations since antiquity, Beaumarchais’s résumé was pertinently concise: ‘An amorous old man intends to marry his pupil tomorrow; a young, more adroit lover forestalls him and that very day makes her his wife under the nose of her tutor and in his own house.’ Strikingly, this description omits the title character: Figaro, who helps Count Almaviva to gain the hand of his inamorata Rosina and outwit her guardian, Dottor Bartolo, who for his part has joined forces with the scheming music teacher Basilio.
Effervescing with self-confidence and vitality, Figaro’s entrance aria implies that not a single thing can be accomplished in all of Seville if the ‘city’s factotum’ doesn’t have a hand in it. In the duet with the Count we then hear how ‘at the thought of this metal’ — the gold that beckons as a reward — Figaro’s spirit is transformed into a ‘volcano’ erupting with ideas: Almaviva is to disguise himself as a soldier and turn up at Bartolo’s house with a billeting chit, and worse the wear for drink at that… While these ideas are not at all as ‘delicious’ as their inventor believes, they undoubtedly determine the course of events — in fact, Figaro becomes something like a co-author of the piece, especially given that he frequently steps out of the action in order to comment on it from a distance, making it seem like theatre within theatre.
The meta-theatrical dimension that characterizes Il barbiere di Siviglia is being further expanded in Rolando Villazón’s production — thus opening up new potential for comedy and moments of poetry. An additional protagonist is being introduced, played by the great (and fastest in the world) quick-change artist Arturo Brachetti, whose work draws not least on the tradition of the commedia dell’arte: a daydreamer who seeks escape in old movies, especially those starring a particular diva with whom he has become enamoured. But what if the movie characters suddenly step out into the real world to find themselves in an opera?

Christian Arseni
Translation: Sophie Kidd

History

Premiere of this production: 20 February 1816, Teatro Argentina, Rome

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (Italian: Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione) is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy Le Barbier de Séville (1775). The première of Rossini's opera (under the title Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione) took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli.

Synopsis

Place: Seville, Spain
Time: 18th century

Act 1
The square in front of Bartolo's house

In a public square outside Bartolo's house a band of musicians and a poor student named Lindoro are serenading, to no avail, the window of Rosina ("Ecco, ridente in cielo"; "There, laughing in the sky"). Lindoro, who is really the young Count Almaviva in disguise, hopes to make the beautiful Rosina love him for himself – not his money. Almaviva pays off the musicians who then depart, leaving him to brood alone. Rosina is the young ward of the grumpy, elderly Bartolo and she is allowed very little freedom because Bartolo plans to marry her once she is of age and thus appropriate her not inconsiderable dowry.

Figaro approaches singing (Aria: "Largo al factotum della città"; "Make way for the factotum of the city"). Since Figaro used to be a servant of the Count, the Count asks him for assistance in helping him meet Rosina, offering him money should he be successful in arranging this. (Duet: "All'idea di quel metallo"; "At the idea of that metal"). Figaro advises the Count to disguise himself as a drunken soldier, ordered to be billeted with Bartolo, so as to gain entrance to the house. For this suggestion, Figaro is richly rewarded.

A room in Bartolo's house with four doors

The scene begins with Rosina's cavatina, "Una voce poco fa" ("A voice a little while ago"). (This aria was originally written in the key of E major, but it is sometimes transposed a semitone up into F major for coloratura sopranos to perform, giving them the chance to sing extra, almost traditional, cadenzas, sometimes reaching high Ds or even Fs.)

Knowing the Count only as Lindoro, Rosina writes to him. As she is leaving the room, Bartolo and Basilio enter. Bartolo is suspicious of the Count, and Basilio advises that he be put out of the way by creating false rumours about him (this aria, "La calunnia è un venticello" – "Calumny is a little breeze" – is almost always sung a tone lower than the original D major).

When the two have gone, Rosina and Figaro enter. Figaro asks Rosina to write a few encouraging words to Lindoro, which she has actually already written. (Duet: "Dunque io son...tu non m'inganni?"; "Then I'm the one...you're not fooling me?"). Although surprised by Bartolo, Rosina manages to fool him, but he remains suspicious. (Aria: "A un dottor della mia sorte"; "To a doctor of my class").

Count Almaviva, disguised as a soldier and pretending to be drunk, enters the house and demands to be quartered there. In fear of the drunken man, Berta the housekeeper rushes to Bartolo for protection. Bartolo tells the "soldier" that he (Bartolo) has an official exemption which excuses him from the requirement to quarter soldiers in his home. Almaviva pretends to be too drunk and belligerent to understand, and dares Bartolo to brawl. While Bartolo searches his cluttered desk for the official document which would prove his exemption, Almaviva whispers to Rosina that he is Lindoro in disguise, and passes a love-letter to her. Bartolo suspiciously demands to know what is in the piece of paper in Rosina's hands, but she fools him by handing over her laundry list. Bartolo and the Count argue loudly. Basilio enters; then Figaro, who warns that the noise of the argument is rousing the whole neighborhood. Finally, the noise attracts the attention of the Officer of the Watch and his troops, who crowd into the room. Bartolo demands that the Officer arrest the "drunken soldier". The Officer starts to do so, but Almaviva quietly reveals his true identity to the Officer, and he (the Officer) backs off and stands down. Bartolo and Basilio are astonished and mystified; Figaro laughs quietly at them. (Finale: "Fredda ed immobile, come una statua"; "Cold and still, just like a statue"). The confusion intensifies and causes everyone to suffer headaches and auditory hallucinations ("Mi par d'esser con la testa in un'orrida fucina; dell'incudini sonore l'importuno strepitar."; "My head seems to be in a fiery forge: the sound of the anvils deafens the ear.")

Act 2
A room in Bartolo's house with a piano

Almaviva again appears at the doctor's house, this time disguised as a priest who is also a singing tutor and pretending to act as substitute for the supposedly ailing Basilio, Rosina's regular singing teacher. Initially, Bartolo is suspicious, but does allow Almaviva to enter when the Count gives him Rosina's letter. He describes his plan to discredit Lindoro whom he believes to be one of the Count's servants, intent on pursuing women for his master. While Almaviva pretends to give Rosina her singing lesson, Figaro arrives to shave Bartolo. Bartolo demurs, but Figaro makes such a scene he agrees, but in order not to leave the supposed music master alone with Rosina, the doctor has Figaro shave him right there in the music room. When Basilio suddenly appears, he is bribed by a full purse from Almaviva and persuaded to leave again, with much discussion of how ill he looks. (Quintet: "Don Basilio! – Cosa veggo!"; "Don Basilio! – What do I see?"). Figaro begins to shave Bartolo, but Bartolo overhears the lovers conspiring, and angrily drives everybody away.

The scene returns to the location of act 1 with a grill looking out onto the square. Bartolo orders Basilio to have the notary ready to marry him to Rosina that evening. He also explains his plot to come between the lovers. Basilio leaves and Rosina arrives. Bartolo shows Rosina the letter she wrote to "Lindoro", and persuades her that this is evidence that Lindoro is merely a flunky of Almaviva and is toying with her at Almaviva's behest. Rosina believes him and agrees to marry him.

During an instrumental interlude, the music creates a thunder storm to indicate the passage of time. The Count and Figaro climb up a ladder to the balcony and enter the room through a window. Rosina shows Almaviva the letter and accuses him of betraying her. Almaviva reveals his identity and the two reconcile. While Almaviva and Rosina are enraptured by one another, Figaro keeps urging them to leave. Two people are heard approaching the front door, who later turn out to be Basilio and the notary. However, when the Count, Rosina, and Figaro attempt to leave by way of the ladder, they discover it has been removed. The marriage contract requires two witnesses; Figaro is one, but another is needed. The Count makes Basilio an offer he can't refuse: the choice of accepting a bribe and being a witness to his marriage or receiving two bullets in the head (an easy choice, Basilio says). He and Figaro witness the signatures to a marriage contract between the Count and Rosina. Bartolo barges in, accompanied by the Officer and the men of the watch, but too late; the marriage is already complete. The befuddled Bartolo (who was the one who had removed the ladder) is pacified by being allowed to retain Rosina's dowry. The opera concludes with an anthem to love ("Amor e fede eterna, si vegga in noi regnar!").

Venue Info

Haus für Mozart - Salzburg
Hofstallgasse 1

When it became clear that the ambitious plans to build a festival theater in Hellbrunn could not be realized, the idea of transforming parts of the Hofstallkaserne into a theater hall came to the fore. After only four months of construction, a provisional festival theater was opened in 1925 on the terrain of the Great Winter Riding School with the Salzburg World Theater. Already in 1926 a first reconstruction phase of the insufficient Festspielhaus provisional by Clemens Holzmeister. Adaptations were made again in 1927, and now operas were also presented: Beethoven's Fidelio was performed here in 1927 as the first music theater work.

The later so-called "Small Festspielhaus" experienced numerous other renovation phases: 1937 was the rotation of the auditorium by 180 degrees, making a stage house cultivation was necessary. To accomplish this, Governor Franz Rehrl had his birthplace demolished in Toscaninihof. Benno von Arent redesigned the Festspielhaus in 1939 and replaced the wood paneling with a gilded plaster ceiling. The unfavorable visual and acoustic conditions required a further conversion in the years 1962/63. The Salzburg architects Hans Hofmann and Erich Engels gave the hall the form that it had until 2004.

For many years, the Salzburg Festival pursued the plan to create a "House for Mozart", which takes into account the stage works of the composer in every respect: with optimal acoustics and the best visibility from all seats. With the necessary intimacy of the room but at the same time a sufficient seating capacity had to go along. What seems like a squaring of the circle, the team of architects Holzbauer & Valentiny accomplished: The former Small Festival House was transformed in three phases from September 2003 in a "House for Mozart". The auditorium of the Kleine Festspielhaus was widened, shortened and lowered. Two new auditorium seats were created, which extend to the stage on both sides of the hall. Thus, the effect is achieved that not bare walls, but festive people frame the stage from three sides.

The foyer areas have changed considerably compared to the former Kleines Festspielhaus. High, floor-to-ceiling windows open the view to the cityscape in the main foyer - in return, the brightly lit interior of the theater in the evening looks outward. The main foyer is dominated by a 17-meter-high gilded louvre wall, through whose openings a Mozart's head created from Swarovski crystals can be seen. The terrace in front of the hall building was never open to the public since its construction in 1924. With the new building, it has now become part of the pause foyers. The arcade below was glazed and allows the auditorium to be opened from two sides instead of just one. This is the first time you can step directly from the Festspielhaus into the magnificent city landscape.

The new festival lounge on the roof, the SalzburgKulisse (made possible by the patron Gerhard Andlinger), has become a major attraction: the name itself already hints at the magnificent view that offers itself there to the old town of Salzburg. The furnishings of this lounge are made of pear-clad walls, and the tapestries in the niches are by Anton Kolig and Robin Andersen, two contemporaries of Anton Faistauer.

The Faistauer foyer (made possible by the patron Herbert Batliner) became a jewel of the new building: the famous frescoes of this room, created by the Salzburg painter Anton Faistauer in 1926, were removed after the Nazi invasion, in part wantonly destroyed, and could be reapplied until 1956. For the inauguration of the house for Mozart they were fundamentally restored and the room was also restored architecturally to its historical form.

The Holzmeister ensemble from the years 1924/37 has been preserved in its proportions on the outer façade. The visual impression of the façade is determined by the representative hall exits to the terrace designed by the sculptor Josef Zenzmaier. He created large bronze reliefs that were placed above the portals and depict scenes from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute , The stone masks of Jakob Adlhart are now clearly visible in front of the entree of the house: under the new concrete roof with cantilevered gold and cantilevered out. Throughout the house, rough-sprayed concrete surfaces contrast with fine gold leaf and create an aesthetic tension.

From the back stage, a large iron gate opens into the Toscaninihof. The six concrete reliefs "Mask-Holding Genii" attached to the left and right of it were knocked off in 1938, but reconstructed in 1979 by their creator Jakob Adlhart. Above this, an organ is attached, which was recorded before the construction of the Great Festival Hall in the bad weather performances of Everyman.

On the occasion of the celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday in the so-called Mozart Year, the House of Mozart was ceremoniously opened on 26 July 2006 with the premiere of Le nozze di Figaro (directed by Claus Guth, conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt).