About the work
Il barbiere di Siviglia is an opera buffa (dramma giocoso) by Giovanni Paisiello to a libretto by Giuseppe Petrosellini, based on Pierre Beaumarchais' play 'Le Barbier de Séville, ou la précaution inutile' (1775). It premiered on 26 September 1782 (15 September by the Julian calendar then used in Russia) at the Hermitage court theatre in St Petersburg, where Paisiello served as Kapellmeister to Catherine II.
Plot
Count Almaviva disguises himself as the poor student 'Lindoro' to win the young Rosina, whose jealous guardian, the physician Bartolo, wants to marry her himself. With the help of the resourceful barber Figaro, the count repeatedly gains access to the house; after mistaken identities and a foiled abduction attempt by Bartolo, Almaviva and Rosina marry in secret before a notary.
Cultural significance
For decades the opera was considered the definitive setting of Beaumarchais' story and was staged from Vienna to Madrid and London; for a Vienna revival in 1789 Mozart wrote the substitute aria 'Schon lacht der holde Frühling' (K. 580) for Rosina. Only Gioachino Rossini's opera of the same name (1816) eventually displaced Paisiello's version from the repertoire — its premiere initially provoked outrage among Paisiello's admirers.