Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
Within two decades, from 1810 to 1829, Rossini wrote
thirty-eight opera, and then no more in the remaining years of his life. About
ten of his operatic overtures survive in the concert-room, among them that
attached to The Barber of Seville. Rossini wrote the opera early in 1816,
taking a bare four weeks, maybe even less, in the joyous task, for the first
performance was on February 20, in Rome. Initially, the opera was a failure,
but neither it nor its famous Beaumarchais plot bears any relation to the
Overture to the opera, said to have been composed on Spanish popular themes, is
lost. The present Overture came to The Barber by way of Rossini’s Aureliano in
Palmira (first performed in Milan, May 22, 1813) and Elisabetta, Regina
d’Inghilterra (first performed in Naples, October 4, 1815)
An Andante maestoso (E Major, common-time) with dramatic
contrasts, leads to a pulsing Allegro vivace (E minor, alla breve) with a
jaunty middle section and a more suave closing section which rises to a climax
before a recapitulation of the opening part of the Allegro and a return to the
tonic major in time for a sparkling coda..
Programme Note C Felix Aprahamian,
1983
