DeCurtis_A1

Nicholas DeCurtis

Art & Technology

Professor Roundtree

23 September, 2018

The Barber of Seville - Gioachino Rossini (1816)

In 1816, Gioachino Rossini composed his version of the story that was originally written as a play nearly one-hundred years earlier by Frenchman Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais under the title “Le Barbier de Séville ou La Précaution Inutile”. The four-part play was the perfect libretto to later be adapted into an opera by Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello in 1782. Yet Rossini’s composition of the opera in 1816 for an Italian arts festival became the one that has been reproduced and adored for hundreds of years. The Barber of Seville is a comic opera that tells the story of two lovers separated by circumstance and how through their passion for each other along with the assistance of a friend they are able to thwart opposition and be together at last. Figaro, the “jack-of-all-trades” works to help the hopeless romantic Count Almaviva who seeks the hand of Rosina, beautiful ward of the malicious Dr. Bartolo. I watched a production of this opera performed by the New York City Opera in 1976, and they did an excellent job of conveying the story through a simple yet effective set design, comedic and symbolic costuming, and a truly powerful cast.

There are only two main settings where the story is told; the inside of Bartolo’s house and the street just outside. Therefore, the NYC Opera constructed a double-sided set that was placed on some type of rotation device that enabled the scene to be changed within a matter of seconds. During the scene changes the lights are dimmed and the sets are reversed, rotated, and fit into place. This ingenious design enables quick transitions between the interior and exterior scenes, which ultimately keeps the opera flowing smoothly with little down time. To touch further on set design and direction, the way the components are arranged on stage does a lot to enhance the story. Rosina’s room is isolated from the rest of the stage by a small staircase and bars that she often frames herself in to further illustrate how she is a prisoner. The costume designs are goofy yet symbolic, and each of the character’s dressings provide more information as to who they are and what they do. Some examples are Figaro’s red and white striped shirt that resembles a barber’s pole, the Count’s initial outfit adorned with books, and Dr. Bartolo’s many keys on his clothes and as his cane. This not only helps the audience easily identify characters from a distance but also enables viewers to analyze deeper into character’s dispositions/traits. For example, dressing Bartolo with keys all over him provides insight to his possessiveness over Rosina. All of these details come together in the performance and The NYC Opera clearly put a lot of thought into the construction of their set, direction of the cast, and execution of their production.

While the audience watching the same performance I did were ecstatic, I found out that the initial reaction audiences of early 19th century had toward Rossini’s opera were of relative anger and displeasure. Due to visual similarities between Rossini’s version and the famed Paisiello version, certain audience members thought Rossini had purposely ripped off the revered composer. What they didn’t know was that Rossini had written to Paisiello asking his permission to give his try at composing the piece, and the older composer granted him the opportunity because he was confident that his version was better. Rossini decided to premiere his version under the title Almaviva, but fans of Paisiello immediately recognized the story and interrupted the performance with catcalling, booing, and other misconduct. Technical difficulties pursued: instruments were out of tune, an actor fell, and a cat wandered on stage, causing the first performance of the opera to be a complete embarrassment to Rossini. Nevertheless, the absence of the Paisiello-adoring saboteurs at the following performances enabled the audience to hear the beautiful music he had created. The opera quickly gained popularity and within a few months was being performed throughout Europe and eventually in America.

  In order to turn the Barber of Seville into a video game, I would construct the scenes as missions in which Almaviva would be the main playable character. The musical score would be used to enhance the emotion, pace, and intensity of each mission and the costume/set design would mirror the looks of the opera production. While Figaro would still be the guiding force in the story through his instructions, the game design would allow for the player to choose their approach to how they free Rosina from Dr. Bartolo. Multiple dialogue response options would provide players with the ability to choose how they respond to other characters, enabling the player to gain allies (or enemies) that could help or hinder at later points in the mission. Players would also be able to choose their disguise and approach to the mission based on key informational points briefed by Figaro. Greater variety of the interactable objects at hand would provide a wider approach to the main objective of freeing Rosina. For example, a player could utilize Figaro’s knowledge of apocrathy to create a sleep-potion by gathering items from the in-game environment. Then, in order to slip the potion to Bartolo the player could use disguises and sneaking or persuasive conversation with other characters. Once Bartolo is rendered unconscious, the player would be able to pickpocket Rosina’s room key or have another character steal it if they’ve made an ally. These types of interactions would take place at the story’s key junction points, ultimately leading to the player creating their own solution out of prefabricated options.

This is an important piece in the chronology of the art of opera because it shows how a story evolves through the storyteller, the audience, and the times. This leads to a myriad of possible interpretations, applications, and understandings that can vary from context to context. For example, Rossini’s tedious attention to detail led him to be the first Italian composer to include ornaments and marks on his music that gave readers specific instruction on exactly what to sing. This began a shift from the “bel canto” period of Italian opera in which singers put their personal expression into what they sang. Rossini’s more regimented approach would undoubtedly influence how composers wrote music in the future. Additionally, the discipline and detail in his writing have timelessly locked in Rossini’s sound and style. The Barber of Seville was also the first opera to be sung in Italian in America, and this must have inspired much national/cultural pride among Italian people. Another interesting fact I discovered is that due to the lack of appropriate technology during the initial release of the opera, scene changes were significantly slower, and so many productions revised the piece into a three act structure. This is further evidence to how much the art of opera has been shaped independently through composers and dependently by the changing world. From Beaumarchais’ play to the operas of Paisiello and Rossini, The Barber of Seville is a story that has been told throughout the years in different renditions and styles, all the while remaining an iconic piece.

Works Cited

Behrens, Frank. “The Three Barbers of Seville.” Art Times, Sept. 2005.

“Pathways for Understanding: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia.” Edited by J.D McClatchy, The Met Guild,   2014, www.metguild.org.

Schwarm, Betsy, and Linda Cantoni. “The Barber of Seville.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 Sept. 2014, www.britannica.com/topic/The-Barber-of-Seville.

“Study Guide for the Barber of Seville.” Edited by Marilyn Egan, Pittsburgh Opera Education, 2016, www.pittsburghopera.org.