Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The First Performance Of IL Barbiere Di Siviglia

2002; Universidad Externado de Colombia; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/oso/9780195116373.003.0027

2346-2159

Piero Weiss,

Musicology and Musical Analysis

Abstract In 1823 there appeared in Bologna a pamphlet entitled (we translate) Notes Concerning Maestro Rossini by a Lady, Formerly a Singer, in Response to What Was Written about Him in the Summer of 1822 by the English Journalist in Paris and That Same Year Reported in a Milan Gazette. The author was Geltrude Righetti-Giorgi (1793-1862), who had created the role of Rosina at the famously disastrous first performance of II barbiere di Siviglia (Rome, 20 February 1816); as we shall see, the prior existence of another Barbiere, by Paisiello, was only one of the reasons for the failure. The “English Journalist” in Righetti-Giorgi’s title takes a little explaining. The great French novelist Stendhal (pseudonym of Henri Beyle, 1783-1842) was a devotee of Italian opera, having lived in Italy for many years. On his return to France, he undertook to write what was to be the first full-length study of Rossini’s life and music; published in 1824, his Vie de Rossini was an instant success. The composer was just thirty-two at the time; he had settled in Paris and was about to enter on the final stage of his career, which would culminate with Guillaume Tell five years later. Stendhal’s biography, then, was timely; it was also highly entertaining. Unfortunately it is quite inaccurate and thus unsuitable for representation among these documents. Prior to that, however, in January 1 822, Stendhal had contributed an anonymous article on Rossini to The Paris Monthly Review, an English-language periodical.