STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
2018/19 SEASON
Esther Nelson Stanford Calderwood General & Artistic Director David Angus Music Director John Conklin Artistic Advisor
October 10, 2018
Dear Educator, Boston Lyric Opera is pleased to invite high school and college students to attend Final Dress Rehearsals throughout our Season. We look forward to seeing you and your students at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre for BLO's production of Rossini's classic, The Barber of Seville. The experience of seeing and hearing live, professional opera is second to none. And we encourage you to explore the world of the opera in your classroom as well. We are proud to offer this Study Guide to support your discussions and preparations for The Barber of Seville. We’ve included special insights into this particular production as well as the opera’s history with connections to Social Studies and English Language Arts. Boston Lyric Opera’s mission is to build curiosity, enthusiasm, and support for opera. This Study Guide is one way in which we support the incredible work of educators like you, who are inspired by this beautiful art form and introduce it to your students. As we continue to develop additional Study Guides this Season, we want your feedback. Please tell us about how you use this guide and how it can best serve your needs by emailing education@blo.org. If you’re interested in additional opera education opportunities with Boston Lyric Opera, please visit blo.org/education to discover more about our programs. We look forward to seeing you at the theater!
Sincerely,
Rebecca Ann S. Kirk Manager of Education Programs
TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY OF OPERA: AN OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 THE BARBER OF SEVILLE SYNOPSIS.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 THE PLAY AND THE PLAYWRIGHT............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 COMMEDIA DELL’ ARTE & OPERA BUFFA....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 THE ITALIAN MOZART....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 FIGARO: THE BARBER........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 DISGUISES & COMEDY...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 17 LISTEN UP!..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 RESOURCES....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
THE HISTORY OF OPERA Toccata from L’Orfeo. Claudio Monteverdi Favola in musica. Reprint of the First Edition of the Score, Venice 1609, via Wikimedia Commons
People have been telling stories through music for millennia throughout the world. Opera is an art form with roots in Western Europe dating back hundreds of years. Here is a brief timeline of its lineage.
RENAISSANCE 1573 The Florentine Camerata was founded in Italy, devoted to reviving ancient Greek musical traditions, including sung drama. 1598 Jacopo Peri, a member of the Camerata, composed the world’s first opera – Dafne, reviving the classic myth. 1607 Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) wrote the first opera to become popular, Orfeo, making him the premier opera composer of his day and bridging the gap between Renaissance and Baroque music. His works are still performed today. BAROQUE
1600-1750
1637 The first public opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, was built in Venice, Italy. 1673 Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), an Italian-born composer, brought opera to the French court, creating a unique style, tragédie en musique, that better suited the French language. Blurring the lines between recitative and aria, he created fast-paced dramas to suit the tastes of French aristocrats. 1689 Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) simple and elegant chamber opera, Dido and Aeneas, premiered at Josias Priest’s boarding school for girls in London. 1712 George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a German-born composer, moved to London, where he found immense success writing intricate and highly ornamented Italian opera seria (serious opera). Ornamentation refers to stylized, fast-moving notes, usually improvised by the singer to make a musical line more interesting and to showcase their vocal talent.
Dido and Aeneas, 1747, Pompeo Batoni, via Wikimedia Commons
1730-1820
CLASSICAL
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1750s A reform movement, led by composer Christoph Gluck (1714-1787), rejected the flashy ornamented style of the Baroque in favor of simplicity refined to enhance the drama. 1767 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote his first opera at age 11, beginning his 25-year opera career. Mozart mastered, then innovated in several operatic forms. He wrote operas serias, including La Clemenza di Tito, and operas buffas (comedic operas) like Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). He then combined the two genres in Don Giovanni, calling it dramma giocoso. Mozart also innovated on the form of Singspiel (German sung play), featuring spoken dialogue, as in Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
1805 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) although a prolific composer, wrote only one opera, Fidelio. The extremes of musical expression in Beethoven’s music pushed the boundaries in the late Classical period and inspired generations of Romantic composers.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
1790-1910
Giuseppe Verdi
Giacomo Puccini
Richard Wagner
ROMANTIC — THE GOLDEN AGE OF OPERA 1816 Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) composed Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), becoming the most prodigious opera composer in Italy by age 24. He wrote 39 operas in 20 years. A new style created by Rossini and his contemporaries, including Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini, would, a century later, be referred to as bel canto (beautiful singing). Bel canto compositions were inspired by the nuanced vocal capabilities of the human voice and its expressive potential. Composers employed a strategic use of register, the push and pull of tempo (rubato), extremely smooth and connected phrases (legato), and vocal glides (portamento). 1842 Inspired by the risqué popular entertainment of French vaudeville, Hervé created the first operetta, a short comedic musical drama with spoken dialogue. Responding to popular trends, this new form stood in contrast to the increasingly serious and dramatic works at the grand Parisian opera house. Opéra comique as a genre was often not comic, rather realistic or humanistic. Grand Opera, on the contrary, was exaggerated and melodramatic. 1853 Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) completed La Traviata, a story of love, loss, and the struggle of average people, in the increasingly popular realistic style of verismo. Verdi enjoyed immense acclaim during his lifetime, while expanding opera to include larger orchestras, extravagant sets and costumes, and more highly trained voices.
A scene from a 19th-century version of the play The Barber of Seville by Pierre Beaumarchais. Its origins in the commedia dell’arte are shown in this picture which portrays Figaro dressed in the costume and mask of Harlequin. 1884, via Wikimedia Commons
1865 Richard Wagner’s (1813-1883) Tristan und Isolde was the beginning of musical Modernism, pushing the use of traditional harmony to its extreme. His massively ambitious, lengthy operas, often based in German folklore, sought to synthesize music, theater, poetry, and visuals in what he called a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The most famous of these was an epic four-opera drama, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which took him 26 years to write and was completed in 1874. 1871 Influenced by French operetta, English librettist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) began their 25-year partnership, which produced 14 comic operettas including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Their works helped inspire the genre of American musical theater. 1874 Johann Strauss II, influenced largely by his father, with whom he shared a name and talent, composed Die Fledermaus, popularizing Viennese musical traditions, namely the waltz, and shaping operetta. 1896 Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) La Bohème captivated audiences with its intensely beautiful music, realism, and raw emotion. Puccini enjoyed huge acclaim during his lifetime for his works.
Mikado theatre poster, Edinburgh, 1885, via Wikimedia Commons
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Hammerstein and Kern
Leonard Bernstein
Scott Joplin
20TH CENTURY 1911 Scott Joplin, “The King of Ragtime,” wrote his only opera, Treemonisha, which was not performed until 1972. The work combined the European late-Romantic operatic style with African American folk songs, spirituals, and dances. The libretto, also by Joplin, was written at a time when literacy among African Americans in the southern United States was rare.
20TH CENTURY
1922 Alban Berg (1885-1935) composed the first completely atonal opera, Wozzeck, dealing with uncomfortable themes of militarism and social exploitation. Wozzeck is in the style of 12-tone music or Serialism. This new compositional style, developed in Vienna by composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), placed equal importance on each of the 12 pitches in a scale, removing the sense of the music being in a particular key. 1927 American musical theater, commonly referred to as Broadway, was taken more seriously after Jerome Kern’s (1885-1945) Show Boat, words by Oscar Hammerstein, tackled issues of racial segregation and the ban on interracial marriage in Mississippi. 1935 American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937), who was influenced by African American music and culture, debuted his opera, Porgy and Bess, in Boston, MA, with an all-African American cast of classically trained singers. 1945 British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) gained international recognition with his opera Peter Grimes. Britten, along with Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), was one of the first British opera composers to gain fame in nearly 300 years. 1957 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), known for synthesizing musical genres, brought together the best of American musical theater, opera, and ballet in West Side Story—a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in a contemporary setting.
Porgy and Bess by the New York Harlem Theatre, 2009
1987 John Adams (b. 1947) composed one of the great minimalist operas, Nixon in China, the story of Nixon’s 1972 meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Musical Minimalism strips music down to its essential elements, usually featuring a great deal of repetition with slight variations. TODAY Still a vibrant and evolving art form, opera attracts contemporary composers such as Dominick Argento (b. 1927), Philip Glass (b. 1937), Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960), Thomas Adès (b. 1971), and many others. These composers continue to be influenced by present and historical musical forms in creating new operas that explore current issues or reimagine ancient tales.
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So Young Park as Queen of the Night Photo: Eric Antoniou.
THE SCIENCE AND ART OF OPERA WHY DO OPERA SINGERS SOUND LIKE THAT? Opera is unique among forms of singing in that singers are trained to be able to sing without amplification, in large theaters, over an entire orchestra, and still be heard and understood! This is what sets the art form of opera apart from similar forms such as musical theater. To become a professional opera singer, it takes years of intense physical training and constant practice—not unlike that of a ballet dancer—to stay in shape. Additionally, while ballet dancers can dance through pain and illness, poor health, especially respiratory issues and even allergies, can be severely debilitating for a professional opera singer. Let’s peek into some of the science of this art form.
HOW THE VOICE WORKS Singing requires different parts of the body to work together: the lungs, the vocal cords, the vocal tract, and the articulators (lips, teeth, and tongue). The lungs create a flow of air over the vocal cords, which vibrate. That vibration is amplified by the vocal tract and broken up into words by consonants produced by the articulators. Breath: Any good singer will tell you that good breath support is essential to produce quality sound. Breath is like the gas that goes into your car. Without it, nothing runs. In order to sing long phrases of music with clarity and volume, opera singers access their full lung capacity by keeping the torso elongated and releasing the lower abdomen and diaphragm muscles, which allows air to enter into the lower lobes of the lungs. This is why we associate a certain posture with opera singers. In the past, many operas were staged with singers standing in one place to deliver an entire aria or scene, with minimal activity. Modern productions, however, often demand a much greater range of movement and agility onstage, requiring performers to be physically fit, and disproving the stereotype of the “fat lady sings.”
Vibration: If you run your fingers along your throat you will feel a little lump just underneath your chin. That is your “Adam’s Apple,” and right behind it, housed in the larynx (voice-box), are your vocal cords. When air from the lungs crosses over the vocal cords it creates an area of low pressure (google The Bernoulli Effect), which brings the cords together and makes them vibrate. This vibration produces a buzz. The vocal chords can be lengthened or shortened by muscles in the larynx, or by increasing the speed of air flow. This change in the length and thickness of the vocal cords is what allows singers to create different pitches. Higher pitches require long, thin cords, while low pitches require short, thick ones. Professional singers take great pains to protect the delicate anatomy of their vocal cords with hydration and rest, as the tiniest scarring or inflammation can have noticeable effects on the quality of sound produced.
Resonance: Without the resonating chambers in the head, the buzzing of the vocal cords would sound very unpleasant. The vocal tract, a term encompassing the mouth cavity, and the back of the throat, down to the larynx, shapes the buzzing of the vocal cords like a sculptor shapes clay. Shape your mouth in an ee vowel (as in eat), then sharply inhale a few times. The cool sensation you feel at the top and back of your mouth is your soft palate. The soft palate can raise or lower to change the shape of the vocal tract. Opera singers always strive to sing with a raised soft palate, which allows for the greatest amplification of the sound produced by the vocal cords. Different vowel sounds are produced by raising or lowering the tongue. Say the vowels: ee, eh, ah, oh, oo and notice how each vowel requires a slightly lower tongue placement. This area of vocal training is particularly difficult because none of the anatomy is visible from the outside!
Articulation: The lips, teeth, and tongue are all used to create consonant sounds, which separate words into syllables and make language intelligible. Consonants must be clear and audible for the singer to be understood. Because opera singers do not sing with amplification, their articulation must be particularly good. The challenge lies in producing crisp, rapid consonants without interrupting the connection of the vowels (through the controlled exhale of breath) within the musical phrase.
Perfecting every element of this complex singing system requires years of training, and is essential for the demands of the art form. An opera singer must be capable of singing for hours at a time, over the top of an orchestra, in large opera houses, while acting and delivering an artistic interpretation of the music. It is complete and total engagement of mental, physical, and emotional control and expression. Therefore think of opera singers as the Olympic athletes of the stage, sit back, and marvel at what the human body is capable of! 7
Contralto
Somewhat equivalent to the lower female alto role in a chorus, mezzosopranos (mezzo translates as “middle”) are known for their full and expressive qualities. While they don’t sing frequencies quite as high as sopranos, their ranges do overlap, and it is a “darker” tone that sets them apart. One of the most famous mezzo-soprano lead roles is Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen.
Occasionally women have an even lower range that overlaps with the highest male voice. This voice type is rare, and they often play male characters, referred to in opera as trouser roles.
Tenor
The highest male voice; tenors often sing the role of the hero. One of the most famous tenor roles is Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliet. Occasionally men have cultivated very high voices singing in a range similar to a mezzo-soprano, but using their falsetto. Called the Countertenor, this voice type is often found in Baroque music. Countertenors replaced castrati in the heroic lead roles of Baroque opera after the practice of castration was deemed unethical.
A middle-range male voice, baritones can range from sweet and mild in tone, to darker dramatic and full tones. A famous baritone role is Rigoletto in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Baritones who are most comfortable in a slightly lower range are known as Bass-Baritones, a hybrid of the two lowest voice types.
Baritone Bass
Mezzo-Soprano
Opera singers are cast into roles based on their tessitura (the range of notes they can sing comfortably). There are many descriptors that accompany the basic voice types, but here are some of the most common ones:
The lowest male voice, basses often fall into two main categories: basso buffo, which is a comic character who often sings in lower laughter-like tones, and basso profundo, which is as low as the human voice can sing! Doctor Bartolo is an example of a bass role in The Barber of Seville by Rossini.
Bass
C
The highest female voice; some sopranos are designated as coloratura, as they specialize in being able to sing very fast moving notes that are very high in frequency and light in tone, often referred to as “color notes.” One of the most famous coloratura roles is The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Soprano
DIFFERENT VOICE TYPES
D
Baritone
E
F
G
A
Tenor Contralto
B
110 HZ
C
D
E
Mezzo-Soprano
F
G
A
Soprano
B
C
220 HZ
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
440 HZ
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
D
880 HZ
Each of the voice types (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass) also tends to be sub-characterized by whether it is more Lyric or Dramatic in tone. Lyric singers tend toward smooth lines in their music, sensitively expressed interpretation, and flexible agility. Dramatic singers have qualities that are attributed to darker, fuller, richer note qualities expressed powerfully and robustly with strong emotion. While its easiest to understand operatic voice types through these designations and descriptions, one of the most exciting things about listening to a singer perform is that each individual’s voice is essentially unique, thus each singer will interpret a role in an opera in a different way. 8
E
F
THE PHYSICS OF OPERA SINGERS What is it about opera singers that allows them to be heard above the orchestra? It’s not that they simply sing louder. The qualities of sound have to do with the relationship between the frequency (pitch) of a sound, represented in a unit of measurement called hertz, and its amplitude, measured in decibels, which the ear perceives as loudness. Only artificially produced sounds, however, create a pure frequency and amplitude (these are the only kind that can break glass). The sound produced by a violin, a drum, a voice, or even smacking your hand on a table, produces a fundamental frequency as well as secondary, tertiary, etc. frequencies known as overtones, or as musicians call them, harmonics. For instance, the orchestra tunes to a concert “A” pitch before a performance. Concert “A” has a frequency of about 440 hertz, but that is not the only pitch you will hear. Progressively softer pitches above that fundamental pitch are produced in multiples of 440 at 880hz, 1320hz, 1760hz, etc. Each different instrument in the orchestra, because of its shape, construction, and mode in which it produces sound, produces different harmonics. This is what makes a violin, for example, have a different color (or timbre) from a trumpet. Generally, the harmonics of the instruments in the orchestra fade around 2500hz. Overtones produced by a human voice—whether speaking, yelling, or singing—are referred to as formants. As the demands of opera stars increased, vocal teachers discovered that by manipulating the empty space within the vocal tract, they could emphasize higher frequencies within the overtone series—frequencies above 2500 hz. This technique allowed singers to perform without hurting their vocal chords, as they are not actually singing at a higher fundamental decibel level than the orchestra. Swedish voice scientist, Johann Sundberg, observed this phenomenon when he recorded the world-famous tenor Jussi Bjoerling in 1970. His research showed multiple peaks in decibel level, with the strongest frequency (overtone) falling between 2500 and 3000 hertz. This frequency, known as the singer’s formant, is the “sweet spot” for singers so that we hear their voices soaring over the orchestra into the opera house night after night.
Listen Up!
Prof. Tecumseh Fitch, evolutionary biologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Vienna, explains the difference between a fundamental frequency and formant frequency in the human voice. For an opera singer, the lower two formants (peaks on a graph) determine the specific vowel sound. The third formant and above add overtones that are specific to each particular singer’s voice, like a fingerprint. When two people sing the same note simultaneously, the high overtones allow your ear to distinguish two voices. 9
Boston Opera House
A RESONANT PLACE The final piece of the puzzle in creating the perfect operatic sound is the opera house or theater itself. Designing the perfect acoustic space can be an almost impossible task, one which requires tremendous knowledge of science, engineering, and architecture, as well as an artistic sensibility. The goal of the acoustician is to make sure that everyone in the audience can clearly understand the music being produced onstage, no matter where they are sitting. A perfectly designed opera house or concert hall (for non-amplified sound) functions almost like gigantic musical instrument. Reverberation is one key aspect in making a singer’s words intelligible or an orchestra’s melodies clear. Imagine the sound your voice would make in the shower or a cave. The echo you hear is reverberation caused by the large, hard, smooth surfaces. Too much reverberation (bouncing sound waves) can make words difficult to understand. Resonant vowel sounds overlap as they bounce off of hard surfaces and cover up quieter consonant sounds. In these environments, sound carries a long way but becomes unclear or, as it is sometimes called, wet–as if the sound were underwater. Acousticians can mitigate these effects by covering smooth surfaces with textured materials like fabric, perforated metal, or diffusers, which absorb and disperse sound. These tools, however, must be used carefully, as too much absorption can make a space dry–meaning the sound onstage will not carry at all and the performers may have trouble even hearing themselves. Imagine singing into a pillow or under a blanket. The shape of the room itself also contributes to the way the audience perceives the music. Most large performance spaces are shaped like a bell–small where the stage is, and growing larger and more spread out in every dimension as one moves farther away. This shape helps to create a clear path for the sound to reach every seat. In designing concert halls or opera houses, big decisions must be made about the construction of the building based on acoustical needs. Even with the best planning, the perfect acoustic is not guaranteed, but professionals are constantly learning and adapting new scientific knowledge to enhance the audience’s experience.
Boston Symphony Hall, opened in 1900, with acoustical design by Harvard physicist Wallace Clement Sabine, was the first concert hall to be designed with scientific acoustic principles in mind. Each seat was mathematically designed and placed for acoustical perfection.
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THE BARBER OF SEVILLE SYNOPSIS ACT I: Disguised as a poor student named Lindoro, Count Almaviva serenades the love of his life, Rosina, outside Dr. Bartolo’s house where she lives. Figaro, the town’s barber and cunning “jack-of-all-trades,” explains to the Count that Dr. Bartolo is Rosina's guardian. Almaviva and Figaro plot how to get into Dr. Bartolo's house so he can meet the beautiful Rosina. They decide to dress the Count as a drunken soldier who is seeking lodging. Meanwhile, inside, Rosina writes a love letter to Lindoro before her singing class with Don Basilio. Dr. Bartolo is wary of Lindoro, as he plans to marry Rosina himself. He decides to move up the wedding date. Figaro meets Rosina and suggests she write a letter to Lindoro that he will deliver—which she’s already written! Count Almaviva, disguised as a drunken soldier, enters the house, and Bartolo tries to make him leave immediately. However, he creates enough of a disturbance to whisper to Rosina that he is, in fact, Lindoro, and passes her a letter. Soon the police arrive, responding to the noise and prepare to arrest the “drunken soldier,” but Almaviva proves to the officer that he is, in fact, nobility in disguise, and they let him go. Figaro is amused. ACT II: Count Almaviva returns to Dr. Bartolo’s house, this time disguised as Don Alonso, a substitute music teacher, to give Rosina her voice lesson. Dr. Bartolo is suspicious; so to confuse him, Almaviva (as Don Alonso) gives him the letter Rosina wrote to Lindoro, pretending to be on Bartolo’s side. Still a little wary, Bartolo insists on chaperoning the voice lesson, and when Figaro arrives to give Bartolo a shave, he demands they all stay in the music room together. Bewildered, Don Basilio, the real music teacher, arrives. Almaviva quickly bribes him to leave. Dr. Bartolo, unnerved, angrily tells everyone to leave. He decides to marry Rosina that very evening and orders Basilio to call the notary. Dr. Bartolo shows Rosina the letter she sent to Lindoro and convinces her that he’s only toying with her affections. Devastated, Rosina agrees to marry Bartolo. During a thunderstorm, Figaro and Count Almaviva (as Lindoro) climb up to Rosina’s balcony. At first Rosina is upset, but Almaviva reveals his true identity and confesses his undying love. Figaro urges the lovers to escape, but before they can, Basilio returns with the notary. Almaviva bribes Basilio to be a witness and orders the notary to authorize his marriage to Rosina immediately. Dr. Bartolo barges in, but it is too late. The couple is wed.
Still Confused? Maybe this will help
CHARACTERS Figaro, baritone The town’s barber and former servant of Count Almaviva Count Almaviva, tenor A young nobleman in love with Rosina Rosina, mezzo-soprano A young lady and ward of Dr. Bartolo Dr. Bartolo, bass Rosina’s guardian Don Basilio, bass Rosina’s music teacher
Costume designs by Gianluca Falaschi for BLO
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A scene from the play The Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais. Its origins in the commedia dell'arte are shown in this picture which portrays Figaro dressed in the costume and mask of Harlequin, 1884.
THE PLAY AND THE PLAYWRIGHT Pierre-Augustin Caron was a clever Frenchman who lived during a revolutionary time. A talented watchmaker, he married into wealth, twice, but each wife died shortly into their marriage. After his first marriage, he added “de Beaumarchais” to the end of his name, as he believed it sounded more aristocratic. He endeared himself to the French court, soon gave up watchmaking, served as a musical advisor, and later Secretary-Councilor to the royal family. Beaumarchais was a keen observer of the class struggles playing out between the working class, aristocrats, and nobility. He was well aware of how these grievances were influencing revolutionary uprisings across the Western world. America was in the throes of a revolution, and the French people were increasingly agitated, suggesting a revolution in Paris was also looming. As a middle-class man who had worked his way up to aristocracy, Beaumarchais both understood the ruling classes and sympathized with the middle and working classes. Some of his first publications recounting personal court battles garnered him an instant revolutionary celebrity, yet he was able to walk between worlds using his good favor and charm with the King to both retain status and notoriety as well as work around the censors. Capitalizing on this, he began to write comedic plays for the Comédie Française in Paris. The Barber of Seville, or the Useless Precaution, was originally imagined as a comedic opera with music by Antoine-Laurent Baudron, the resident composer at the Comédie Française. The first draft in this form was pitched in 1772, but was swiftly rejected by the theater-owner. Beaumarchais rewrote it as a play in the traditional Italian commedia dell’arte style in 1773, but for political reasons it didn’t premiere until 1775. Its opening was a flop, but with a few quick revisions by Beaumarchais, the play hit its stride by the third night and soon became wildly popular. Capitalizing on this success, Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello adapted the play into an opera, realizing its original artistic vision and furthering its notoriety across Europe. (Rossini, of course, is the composer we think of who adapted The Barber of Seville into an opera. Read more on how his production eclipsed Paisiello's on page 15.) Beaumarchais followed his success penning a sequel, The Marriage of Figaro, or A Crazy Day, in 1778. Initially barred by censors, through Beaumarchais’ charismatic persistence with the King of France, it premiered to the public in 1784, and quickly surpassed the popularity of The Barber of Seville. Beaumarchais completed his trilogy of plays with The Guilty Mother, or The Other Tartuffe, premiering in 1792, but it was never as popular as either of the first two plays. 12
1775 Beaumarchais’ Le Barbier de Séville premieres & outbreak of the American Revolutionary War 1776 The Declaration of Independence is signed 1782 Giovanni Paisiello premieres his opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia in St. Petersburg 1783 America gains its independence 1784 Beaumarchais’ play Le Mariage de Figaro premieres in Paris 1786 Mozart’s operatic version, Le Nozze di Figaro premieres in Vienna Pierre Agustin Caron de Beaumarchais, 1755.
Declaration of Independence. John Trumbull, 1826.
Posthumous portrait of Mozart, painted by Barbara Kraft at the request of Joseph Sonnleithner in 1819, long after Mozart died
1787 United States Constitution is ratified 1789 The Fall of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution 1791 Mozart’s final opera, Die Zauberflöte, premieres in Vienna; Mozart dies two months later 1792 Beaumarchais’ third play in the Figaro trilogy, La Mère Coupable, premieres in Paris & Gioacchino Rossini is born 1799 Beaumarchais dies 1805 Rossini composes his first opera 1816 Rossini’s opera Almaviva premieres in Rome; it would quickly be renamed Il Barbiere di Siviglia 1825 Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia is the first opera to be performed in Italian in America, debuting in New York City 1829 Rossini’s last opera, Guillaume Tell, premieres in Paris 1868 Rossini dies
Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis as Rosina Théâtre Italien, Paris, 1819
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Scene from the Commedia dell'arte. 1580s Avignon. Musée Calvet.
COMMEDIA DELL’ ARTE & OPERA BUFFA In writing The Barber of Seville, Beaumarchais used a very wellrecognized theatrical style called commedia dell’arte, which has its roots in 14th century Italy. Traveling troupes would perform in the streets and town squares throughout the Italy; it was the convention then for women to play women’s roles (unlike Shakespearean theater in England). These comedic stories consisted of stock characters who wore recognizable masks engaging in witty, cleverly-timed banter with everyday themes and bawdy language. Commedia dell’arte was also very physical, using exaggerated pantomime, acrobatic feats, and staged brawls. With these distinct attributes, audiences could understand and appreciate exactly what was happening even if they didn’t speak the same local dialect. In The Barber of Seville, Figaro is inspired by The Servant (Arlecchino or Harlequin), Dr. Bartolo is The Wealthy Older Man (Pantalone), Don Basilio is The Scholar (Il Dottore), and Count Almaviva and Rosina are The Young Lovers (Innamorati). Each of these characters has very prescribed characteristics and behaviors. They even have predictable ways they will interact with each other so that the audience knows what to anticipate. For example, The Scholar is known as an obstacle to The Young Lovers and a comic foil to The Wealthy Older Man. Opera buffa was a comedic opera style inspired by commedia dell’arte that emerged in the beginning of the 18th century as a response to opera seria. Italian opera seria was “high brow” drama with intricate, sophisticated musical patterning and flowery poetic language that followed a strict form and convention with storylines involving mythical, royal, and supernatural themes. Opera seria was written almost exclusively for court theaters to
entertain nobility, royalty, and aristocrats. Opera buffa was created in contrast to opera seria in order to bring opera to the common people. Opera buffa stories were inspired by popular culture and used everyday language. At first, they were short one-act operas and gradually became full-length evening affairs. Composers paid more attention to how the music told the story and wove the elements of theater more tightly into the music by using recitative in a new way: as a clear way to propel the storyline. With this new spoken-sung text between arias and duets, audiences could better understand the plot and felt more invested in the story. By the time The Barber of Seville was written, both the conventions and forms of opera buffa and commedia dell’arte were ingrained in the culture. Beaumarchais artfully crafted his comedy from these long-standing tropes, and by the time Rossini—the Italian opera celebrity of his day and opera buffa king—composed the opera, the result was simultaneously brand new and deeply familiar to audiences, likely contributing to the opera’s status as a timeless classic. DISCUSS: Can you think of examples in popular culture where artists are still influenced by commedia dell’arte and opera buffa conventions?
The Hero of Your Own Story Scholars have noted the many ways in which the biographies and character of Beaumarchais and Rossini—each larger-than-life men of their time—have striking similarities to the character of Figaro. More than a stock character out of commedia dell’arte, Figaro takes on nuance and complexity of each of his creators. It is difficult to tell in this case whether art imitates life or vice versa, as Rossini was known to perform Figaro’s aria “Largo al Factotum” with bombastic enthusiasm at social gatherings. For Beaumarchais, seeing the character of Figaro through three plays, he becomes a kind of mouthpiece for Beaumarchais delivering social commentary through comedic device. The Shaving Scene. Il Barbiere di Siviglia The Victrola book of the opera. 1917. Wikimedia Commons. 14
Gioacchino Rossini, 1865. By Étienne Carjat
THE ITALIAN MOZART Gioacchino Rossini, who would become most famous for his opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, was a child of musical parents: Rossini’s father was a horn player and his mother was a singer. Like Mozart, he began his musical study very young—but informally, by being around his parents rehearsing and performing. By the time Rossini was ten, he was playing piano and singing solos in church. He briefly went to conservatory, where he showed tremendous promise, but dropped out in order to work and support his family. It is thought that this necessity was one of the reasons he quickly became a prolific composer. He completed his first opera at age 13. Rossini was known to write very quickly and often borrow from his previous compositions, turning out 39 operas over the next 24 years. In 1816, Rossini was 24 years old and already had 16 operas under his belt. He faced a publicity challenge adapting The Barber of Seville into an opera, as Beaumarchais’ trilogy of plays were hugely popular across Europe. In addition, composer Giovanni Paisiello had already adapted it into an opera that was wildly successful in 1782, and Mozart soon followed with his adaptation of the second of the trilogy, The Marriage of Figaro, in 1786. However, as the idol of Italian music, known widely as “Signor Crescendo,” Rossini was confident of his ever-growing fame and assured of his success. He wrote the opera in under two weeks working with librettist Cesare Sterbini—their second opera together. Sterbini adapted the libretto from both Beaumarchais’ play and Paisiello’s opera, whose libretto was written by Petrosellini, an opera buffa specialist. Rossini originally titled the work Almaviva, and it premiered in Rome on February 20, 1816. Not unlike Beaumarchais’ premiere of his play, the first performance of Rossini’s opera was a disaster! Fans of Paisiello’s work are said to have sabotaged the performance by creating a disturbance in the audience. However, the second performance was
a success, and the work gained momentum and fame nearly instantly from there. It opened across Europe within two years, and in 1825, became the first opera to be performed in Italian in America. Rossini retired from opera composing at the age of 37—having achieved comfortable wealth and fame by then. He settled in Paris and continued to compose other works over the course of his life on commission or for his own amusement, but never wrote another opera. In his later years, Rossini was known to be somewhat of a bon vivant, enjoying the luxury of fine cuisine—both cooking and eating—and maintaining an active social life. He lived to be 76 years old, and is often referred to posthumously as “The Italian Mozart,” giving weight to the enormous musical legacy he contributed. Wait, I know that music! You will probably begin to listen to The Barber of Seville and immediately find the overture very familiar. The popularity of Rossini’s opera has indeed survived to present day, and his music—the overture in particular— often is used in commercials, movies, and other media. You may even associate this bouncy, energetic melody with a certain lovable Bugs Bunny! REFLECT: Rossini was a man of many talents who lived a long life. What talents and interests do you have that you might want to pursue as a career and others that you may want to cultivate as hobbies?
The Gourmand Rossini was well-known as a great amateur chef and lover of rich food (known today as a "foodie") in his later years living in Paris. It was common for dishes to be named after him either created by famous Parisian chefs, or for dishes he created to be known as “alla Rossini.” He was particularly fond of truffles (as in the very expensive culinary mushrooms) and foie gras (goose liver paté), so many of his signature dishes included these ingredients! The most famous is called Tournedos alla Rossini as seen here. Tournedos alla Rossini 15
FIGARO: THE BARBER In Figaro’s first aria, “Largo al Factotum,” he boasts, “I’m the factotum for all this great, big town!” The Latin word factotum is a noun meaning someone who does all kinds of jobs, or a “jack-of-all-trades.” Why would a barber be announcing himself in this way? In fact, barbers have a history of offering many diverse services—both formal and informal—besides trimming men’s hair. The profession of barbering can be traced back to ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. By the Middle Ages, it was common for barbers to offer services in dentistry, dermatology, and minor surgical procedures in addition to grooming including the trimming of hair, beards, and nails. Barbers often acted as confidants as well, making barbershops centers of local news and gossip. So when Figaro sings of
Barber shop in Porto, Lisbon
being a factotum, available for hire, he is indeed a man of many talents. He is also cunning and persuasive in marketing all his diverse services—which in this opera include disguise, deception, persuasion, and match-making—all as long as he is handsomely compensated! DISCUSS: Figaro is working-class while Almaviva is upper -class. Yet, who has the power in the story of The Barber of Seville and in what way(s)? Justify your answer with examples. How do power struggles play out in today's society?
Ambroise Paré, as an apprentice barber-surgeon in a busy shop in Paris. Wood engraving by E. Morin after J. Ansseau 16
Venice carnival masquerade.
DISGUISES & COMEDY In The Barber of Seville, Count Almaviva initially disguises himself as a poor student, Lindoro, to mask his true social standing in favor of winning the love of Rosina in spite of his riches—he wants her to fall in love with him as a man rather than as a count. Soon Figaro persuades him to further disguise himself, first as a drunk soldier and then as a music teacher in order to gain access to Rosina’s home. The audience is captivated by this dramatic irony, as we are in on the ruse and watch anxiously to see whether the man beneath the guise is discovered—we can see both sides from our point of view. Using disguise as a comedic device in operatic and/or theatrical works is quite common. In many of Mozart’s operas, for example, characters are disguised as someone else including in Così Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, and Le Nozze di Figaro. Shakespeare is one of the most well-known playwrights who was a master of disguise when it came to plot twists with his characters as well. Why is this such an effective dramatic tool, especially in comedy? In addition to the fact that it brings the audience closer to identifying with and caring about the characters, disguise often helps a character toward what he or she most desires. Sometimes
it is less about concealing aspects of the character and more about becoming someone who has more access. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, for example, the main character Viola is a woman who dresses as a man in order to gain access to a man’s world. Almaviva disguises himself in order to enter Rosina’s house and woo her without the suspicion of her guardian, Dr. Bartolo. Sometimes disguise is about having the anonymity to be more freely one’s self. In that instance, a disguise can actually be revealing, showing more deeply who the character truly is inside. Often this will give a character more confidence to act in ways they would hesitate to otherwise. Operas and plays sometimes have a masked ball scene for this reason—to set up a scenario where everyone is anonymous. Almaviva chooses to become Lindoro in order to hide his nobility and reveal his true heart to Rosina. DISCUSS: Do Almaviva’s disguises help him achieve what he most desires? Which ones are most effective? REFLECT: In what ways do you use disguise in your life to become either someone who has more access to what you desire, or to give you anonymity in order to increase your confidence to do things you may not ordinarily do?
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LISTEN UP! Act I: The Overture The Barber of Seville has one of the most famous overtures in all of the opera canon and is often performed by symphony orchestras on its own. Not only will you likely recognize it, but it is a key example of why Rossini was called “Signor Crescendo.” The overture builds excitement as it builds in dynamics. Often, overtures introduce the musical themes, or motifs, in an opera and foreshadow the story. Rossini wrote this overture very quickly and reused pieces from two previous opera overtures that he had already written, so in fact the themes in the overture are not directly found in the rest of the opera. Since Rossini often borrowed from his own work, however, the overture is still written in his style. Read the Synopsis and discuss how you think Rossini’s overture sets up the story musically:
Act I: Rosina’s Aria “Una voce poco fa” Rossini originally wrote this aria for a contralto—the lowest of the female voice types. However, as the opera and the aria became famous, it was not uncommon for mezzo-sopranos to sing the role of Rosina, and even sometimes it was transposed up a whole step for a soprano to sing. Individual singers often added their own musical flourishes called cadenzas, or ornamentation. Adelina Patti, a famous opera singer, once performed “Una voce poco fa” for Rossini and added so many musical flourishes of her own that when she finished, Rossini allegedly sarcastically asked who the composer of the piece was! Listen to three different versions sung by a contralto, mezzosoprano, and soprano. What differences do you notice?
Bel Canto “Una Voce Poco Fa” is an exemplar of bel canto, a style of singing that originated in Italy and peaked during the first part of the 19th century—right around when Rossini’s The Barber of Seville premiered. Translated literally as “beautiful singing,” the bel canto tradition is marked by a beautiful, even tone throughout the voice, legato (smooth) phrasing, and florid, highly ornamented passages.
Listen Up!
Ewa Podleś, Contralto:
Listen Up!
Cecilia Bartoli, Mezzo-Soprano:
Listen Up!
Kathleen Battle, Soprano:
Listen Up!
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Act I: Figaro’s Aria “Largo al factotum” This is the grand entrance of Figaro, the beloved town barber. This piece is arguably one of the most famous baritone arias of all times, and one that reflects the mastery of Rossini’s composition. It is also a great example of what is known as a “patter song,” a common form used in opera buffa and later in operetta and musical theater. Listen as Figaro sings at a very fast tempo near the end using the consonants of the words to match the rhythmic patterning of the notes. Often the works are rhyming or alliterative, not unlike rap or spoken word.
Listen Up!
Act II: The Singing Lesson In this scene, Almaviva, who is pretending to be Lindoro, is disguised as Don Alonso, the substitute voice teacher for Rosina. Rosina sings to him, giving an opportunity for the singer to show off her vocal talents by adding her own musical flourishes. For a while, it was also fashionable for this scene to turn into somewhat of a cabaret or mash-up, where singers would add in bits of other songs that the audience would recognize. This famous scene is also an opportunity for the character of Rosina to flirt. Listen to the end of the aria by two artists and how they show off their voice in different ways:
Cecilia Bartoli, Mezzo-Soprano:
Listen Up!
Kathleen Battle, Soprano:
Listen Up!
Act II: The Thunderstorm Rossini inserted a musical interlude in the second act for atmosphere as well as to indicate the passage of time by creating a thunderstorm with the orchestra. True to his nickname, “Signor Crescendo” added dramatic tension with the music before the climax of the opera and its resolution. It is a great example of how orchestral music can tell a story and evoke a mood even without a melody and words. Can you hear the thunderstorm in this piece? What instruments does he use to illustrate different parts of the storm?
Listen Up!
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RESOURCES
GENERAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR LISTENING • What instruments are playing? • How fast is the music? Are there sudden changes in speed? Is the rhythm steady or unsteady? • Key/Mode: Is it major or minor? (Does it sound bright, happy, sad, urgent, dangerous?) • Dynamics/Volume: Is the music loud or soft? Are there sudden changes in volume (either in the voice or orchestra)? • What is the shape of the melodic line? Does the voice move smoothly or does it make frequent or erratic jumps? Do the vocal lines move noticeably downward or upward? • Does the type of voice singing (baritone, soprano, tenor, mezzo, etc.) have an effect on you as a listener? • Do the melodies end as you would expect or do they surprise you? • How does the music make you feel? What effect do the above factors have on you as a listener? • What is the orchestra doing in contrast to the voice? How do they interact? • What kinds of images, settings, or emotions come to mind? Does it remind you of anything you have experienced in your own life? • Do particularly emphatic notes (low, high, held, etc.) correspond to dramatic moments? • What type of character fits this music? Romantic? Comic? Serious? Etc.
OTHER STUDY GUIDES Canadian Opera Company
Nashville Opera
Calgary Opera
Opera Australia
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Pacific Opera Victoria
Metropolitan Opera Guild
Sarasota Opera
Minnesota Opera
WEBSITES Classic FM: The Barber of Seville Song Facts: “Largo al Factotum”
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VIDEO Watch the opera The Barber of Seville Sing along with Figaro’s “Largo al Factotum” in Italian
AUDIO Listen to the whole opera of The Barber of Seville
BOOKS AND ARTICLES Ardoin, J. (2018). The Barber of Pesaro. Retrieved from San Francisco Opera: https://sfopera.com/1516-season/the-barber-of-seville/program-articles/the-barber-of-pesaro/ Billington, M. (2006, January 5). How to stage a revolution. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/jan/06/classicalmusicandopera Gallaher, R. (2011, January 17). Five Reasons Why ‘The Barber of Seville’ Should Be Your First Opera. Retrieved from Cuty Arts Magazine: https://www.cityartsmagazine.com/blog-2011-01-five-reasons-why-barber-seville-should-be-your-first-opera/ Glimmerglass Opera. (2008, August 15). Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville'. Retrieved from National Public Radio: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12451040 Huizenga, T. (2010, November 25). Composers In The Kitchen: Gioachino Rossini's Haute Cuisine. Retrieved from Deceptive Cadence from National Public Radio classical: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2010/11/24/131568241/composers-in-the-kitchen-gioachino-rossini-s-haute-cuisine Jamieson, L. (2017, March 18). Disguise in Shakespeare. Retrieved from ThoughtCo.: https://www.thoughtco.com/disguise-in-shakespeare-2985303 Moussou, M. R. (2017, August 10). The Barber of Seville at 201. Retrieved from Huffpost: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-barber-of-seville_us_583b22a5e4b050dfe6187d19 Rahim, S. (2012, March 21). The opera novice: The Barber of Seville by Rossini. Retrieved from The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9155446/The-opera-novice-The-Barber-of-Seville-by-Rossini.html Salazar, D. (2017, October 28). The Greatest Disguises in Opera. Retrieved from OperaWire: http://operawire.com/the-greatest-disguises-in-opera/ San Francisco Opera. (2018). Where have you heard The Barber of Seville before? Retrieved from San Francisco Opera Blog: https://sfopera.com/blog/where-have-you-heard-the-barber-of-seville-before/ Schwartz, L. (2018, July 23). Boston Midsummer Opera Conductor Susan Davenny Wyner On Rossini's 'Barber Of Seville'. Retrieved from The ARTery: http://www.wbur.org/artery/2018/07/23/boston-midsummer-opera-barber-seville Terry, N. S. (n.d.). Disguise and Misdirection in Comedic Literature. Retrieved from University of Houston: http://www.uh.edu/honors/Programs-Minors/honors-and-the-schools/houston-teachers-institute/curriculum-units/pdfs/2008/comedy/ terry-08-comedy.pdf Woolfe, Z. (2011, July 1). The puzzle of Rossini's brief career. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/arts/music/rossini-and-his-abrupt-farewell-to-opera.html Zwiebach, M. (2012, August 17). Top 10 'alla Rossini' Recipes. Retrieved from San Francisco Classical Voice: https://www.sfcv.org/article/top-10-alla-rossini-recipes
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NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE OPERA You will see a full dress rehearsal–an insider’s look into the final moments of preparation before an opera premieres. The singers will be in full costume and makeup, the opera will be fully staged, and a full orchestra will accompany the singers, who may choose to “mark,” or not sing in full voice, in order to save their voices for the performances. A final dress rehearsal is often a complete run-through, but there is a chance the director or conductor will ask to repeat a scene or section of music. This is the last opportunity the performers have to rehearse with the orchestra before opening night, and they therefore need this valuable time to work. The following will help you better enjoy your experience of a night at the opera: • Arrive on time! Latecomers will be seated only at suitable breaks in the performance and often not until intermission. • Dress in what you are comfortable in so that you may enjoy the performance. For some, that means dressing up in a suit or gown, for others, jeans and a polo shirt fit the bill. Generally “dressy-casual” is what people wear. Live theater is usually a little more formal than a movie theater. Please do not take off your shoes or put your feet on the seat in front of you. • Respect your fellow opera lovers by not leaning forward in your seat so as to block the person’s view behind you, and by turning off (not on vibrate) cell phones and other electronic devices that could make noise during the performance. Lit screens are also very distracting to your neighbors, so please keep your phone out of sight until the house lights come up. • Taking photos or making audio or video recordings is strictly forbidden. • Do not chew gum, eat, drink, or talk while the rehearsal is in session. If you must visit the restroom during the performance, please exit quickly and quietly. • At the very beginning of the opera, the concertmaster of the orchestra will ask the oboist to play the note “A.” You will hear all the other musicians in the orchestra tune their instruments to match the oboe’s “A.” • After all the instruments are tuned, the conductor will arrive. Be sure to applaud! • Feel free to applaud or shout Bravo! at the end of an aria or chorus piece if you liked it. The end of a piece can be identified by a pause in the music. Singers love an appreciative audience! • It’s OK to laugh when something is funny! • When translating songs and poetry in particular, much can be lost due to a change in rhythm, inflection and rhyme of words. For this reason, opera is usually performed in its original language. In order to help audiences enjoy the music and follow every twist and turn of the plot, English supertitles are projected.
• Sit back, relax and let the action on stage pull you in. As an audience member, you are essential to the art form of opera—without you, there is no show!
HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE OPERA!
Boston Opera House
• Listen for subtleties in the music. The tempo, volume, and complexity of the music and singing depict the feelings or actions of the characters. Also, notice repeated words or phrases; they are usually significant.