In the first decade of the nineteenth century, the twenty-year-old Gioachino Rossini had already conquered the theatrical scenes with Tancredi and L'Italiana in Algeri. At the end of 1815 he signed a contract with the impresario of the Argentina Theater in Rome to write an opera, to be included in the following year's Carnival program, entitled Almaviva, ossia L'inutile precauzione. The subject was well known because it was taken from the comedy Le barbier de Séville by Beaumarchais which had already been set to music by many other authors: among them the famous Giovanni Paisiello, whose Barber of Seville (1782) had raged in theaters throughout Europe. The enterprise of proposing the remake of a famous title while he was still alive Paisiello was extremely reckless and so Rossini, to protect himself from possible accusations, chose a different title - Almaviva in fact - and decided to print a warning to the public in the booklet. in which he declared that out of respect for the older master he had asked the poet Cesare Sterbini to write a new libretto for the occasion. But the precaution proved useless because at its debut, on February 20, 1816, the opera was booed and the evening degenerated into a brawl as told by Rossini himself. The Pesaro-based composer, however, was not deceived about the value of his work, and after the first performances, his Barber received the much deserved acclaim he deserved, outclassing Paisiello's work and quickly becoming the most loved and represented work. A few years later, a musician of the caliber of Giuseppe Verdi would have given Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia the title of "the most beautiful comic opera that exists, for the abundance of musical ideas, for comic verve and for the truth of declamation".

Thanks to Fondazione CR Firenze, the performance of 09/14/2022 is offered to the public with a 50% discount on tickets for each sector

Staging by Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

The performance of September 8 ,2022, will be broadcast live on Rai Radio 3

PRESS RELEASE