«Since Napoleon’s death, there has been another man about whom people talk every day in Moscow as well as in Naples, in London as well as in Vienna, in Paris as well as in Calcutta… The glory of this man knows no other bounds than those of civilisation, and he is not thirty-two years old!»
Stendhal, preface to À vie de Rossini, Montmorency, 30^{th>/sup> September 1823.}

COMEDY
MIND-BLOWING
TRICKERY
“FIGARO, FIGARO”

Libretto by Cesare Sterbini

In Seville, the happy barber Figaro helps Count Almaviva to conquer the beautiful Rosina. But the latter, seduced by the intentions and serenades of this mysterious troubadour, is the ward of the old Doctor Bartolo who greedily watches over her, hoping, with the help of the cunning Don Basilio, to marry her as soon as possible… A series of incredible adventures will eventually make love triumph!

From 1815, Gioachino Rossini’s fame is extraordinary. As musical director of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, he fell in love with the prima donna, the Spanish mezzo-soprano Isabella Colbran, mistress of the famous impresario Barbaja. He married her in 1822 in Bologna. He travelled to all the great cities of Italy, composed for Rome and had Il Barbiere di Siviglia performed, based on Beaumarchais’ French comedy with a revolutionary spirit, which Paisiello and so many other composers had already treated.

The work is brilliant, hilarious and of a formidable vocal difficulty. Rossinian singing flourishes wonderfully here, as Rosina’s famous aria,  “Una voce poco fa” shows. Composed in only a few days and using several passages from one of his earlier dramas, Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, Il Barbiere was very poorly received.

Numerous incidents on the stage, the novelty of the music, the hostility and the cabals of Paisiello’s supporters make the premiere a bitter failure. However, the triumph, never denied thereafter, is soon to come and Rossini, receiving the highest honors, becomes the greatest living Italian composer.

• LAST PERFORMANCE AT THE ORW
  OCTOBER 2015
• NOUVELLE PRODUCTION
  OPÉRA ROYAL DE WALLONIE-LIÈGE
• WITH THE SUPPORT OF TAX SHELTER OF THE FEDERAL BELGIAN GOVERNMENT AND BEL ARTS FUND

PALAIS DES BEAUX-ARTS DE CHARLEROI
SAT. 04 NOV
8PM