Il
barbiere di Siviglia is the
only one of Rossini’s thirty-nine operas to have remained
in the repertoire since its composition. It was one of
the works the composer squeezed in during his contract
as Musical Director of the Royal Theatres at Naples where
he was supposed to present two new works every year. In
the first two years of his contract he composed no fewer
than five operas for other cities, including four for Rome.
After the successful premiere of his first Naples opera, Elisabetta,
regina d’ Inghilterra on 4 October 1815, Rossini travelled
to Rome to present Torvaldo e Dorliska to open the
Carnival Season at the Teatro Valle on 26 December. Whilst
there, on 15 December, he signed a contract with the rival
Teatro de Torre Argentina for a comic opera to be presented
during its Carnival Season, the score to be delivered by
mid-January! After one unsuitable subject was put aside,
and by now in some haste, it was decided to base the new
opera on Beaumarchais’s Le Barbier de Séville. This
was despite the fact that the widely respected Paisiello
had already composed an opera based on that story in 1782.
Rossini moved to ensure Paisiello took no offence and the
opera was presented as Almaviva, ossia L’inutile precauzione (the
useless precaution), later reverting to the title by
which we now know it. Despite Rossini’s efforts Paisiello’s
supporters created a disturbance on the first night and
turned it into a fiasco. On the second night the composer
was tactfully ill and did not attend the theatre, as stipulated
in his contract. The performance was an unprecedented success
and the cast and supporters walked to Rossini’s lodgings
carrying candles and singing tunes from the opera.
During
the 1955-56 La Scala season the newly slimmed Callas, then
as much on the front pages as on the arts pages of the Italian
daily papers, was the diva of the moment. During that season
she appeared no less than thirty-seven times in operas as
varied as Norma, La Traviata and Fedora as
well as Il barbiere. As an informed brief booklet
essay by Michele Di Libero explains, Callas took on the role
of Rosina determined to unravel it fully and get out of it
more than any recent predecessor. To this end the original
tessitura for mezzo was restored with the addition of the
traditional embellishments and fioritura. The critical press
was divided. Some found her interpretation crude, making
criticism of coarse poise and aggressiveness in interpretation
and questioning whether Callas’s Rosina would have remained
under Bartolo’s subjugation. There were also questions raised
as to whether a coloratura soprano, with spinto roles in
her repertoire, was laying bare her shortcomings in her lower
register. Listening carefully, her Rosina is certainly a
viperous handful for Bartolo. As to failings in the lower
register, she is certainly more comfortable in the coloratura
of Una voco poco fa (CD 1 tr. 11) than in parts of
her act two Contro un cor che accende amore (CD 2
tr.7). As in so many of her interpretations Callas’s vocal
inflection, characterisation and insights are well thought
out. In this role, as in so many others, the singer broke
conventions and boundaries. This approach may have influenced
the comments of contemporary commentators seeing an interpretation
beyond the norm of the time. With the Rossini revival some
way off they were perhaps not fully aware of or in sympathy
with the inner substance of this opera. The audience received
her act 1 showpiece aria with warm, but not over-enthusiastic
applause, but warmed to her act 2 aria.
Just
as on the later EMI recording, with the same duo of Gobbi
and Alva, Callas reacts well to them in duet and trio. She
is not overawed by Gobbi’s biting tone as Figaro nor the
urgency and appealingly plangent singing of Alva as the Count.
Callas and Gobbi are histrionically and vocally as matched
in Dunque io son (CD 1 tr. 16) as one could ask; likewise
with Alva’s Count in the act 2 duet (CD 2 tr. 6). Singing
in a large theatre, Gobbi’s tone is a little raw at the very
top of his voice in his Largo al factotum (CD 1 tr.
6). Elsewhere his tone is well covered and his vocal acting
is outstanding. The lukewarm response to Callas’s act 1 aria
is strange in comparison with that to Nicola Rossi
Lemeni’s uninspiring rendering of La calunnia (CD
1 tr.14) when the applause, mixed with some booing, goes
on for nearly one and a half minutes. Although I have read
about it, I had never heard the La Scala claque before, and
that is what I suggest this response is. I suppose the singers
at that famous theatre, and at others in Italy, got used
to it, and if they thought it necessary, paid for it! In
those circumstances, and with those practices, the audience
response does not necessarily reflect the quality of what
it has just heard!
As
I have indicated, three of the same principals recorded the
work for EMI under Alceo Galliera in 1958. Together with
the remake of Tosca in 1964 it is one of the few Callas-Gobbi
collaborations caught in stereo. Unlike too many of her other
recordings in the second half of the 1950s and early 1960s
she is in good voice and characterises well. Regrettably,
as with this recording, it applies the usual theatre cuts,
missing out several important interplays, particularly in
act 2. The Galliera issue is spirited and characterful, fully
reflecting the spirit of the opera. Good as Galliera is Giulini
is better. For whatever reason Walter Legge did not often
cast the Italian maestro as first choice for the recording
studio and this despite the critical admiration of his recordings
of Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.
Giulini’s conducting is fleet and brings out the rhythmic
brio of Rossini’s wonderful score to perfection as is immediately
obvious from the overture (CD 1 tr. 1). Likewise his handling
of the finales is full of brio and pulsating rhythm as is
his Temporale storm music (CD 2 tr.15). Yes, enjoy the stereo
and the absence of excessive audience involvement in Galliera’s
studio version, but I also urge you to listen to this Giulini
version too. The sound is remarkably good, better than many
mid-1950s mono recordings made under the Columbia/Callas/La
Scala contract. On the basis of this recording I will certainly
be on the lookout for any other gems from the archive
of the Instituto Discografico Italiano.
Robert J Farr
Count Almaviva,
Luigi Alva (ten); Figaro, a barber, Tito Gobbi (bar); Bartolo,
a doctor and ward of Rosina, Melchiore
Luise (buffa-bar); Rosina, Maria Callas (sop); Basilio, a
singing teacher, Nicola Rossi Lemeni (bass); Berta, Dr. Bartolo’s
housekeeper, Anna Maria Canali (mezzo); Fiorello, servant
of Count Almaviva, Pierluigi Latinucci (bass) 
