I'd be lying if the image of a grey rabbit with ADHD and an aptitude for trouble won't be in my head all the while I write this thing. This is the stuff of cartoons and virtually all other creative vehicles the funny people have run the world over with. The reason is really very simple: this one's an opera that bumps Broadway's "The Odd Couple" into the 'drama' category, and hilarity is not something one comes by often in pre- 20th Century classical music (Heck, we opera crazies aren't used to getting it from even the new generation of music masters, what with orchestras and operatic voices being ideal for communicating big, big emotion...), but it's not because only Mozart is to be credited with side- splitting ideas (a very faulty theory). Most just didn't think they could get away with it. Critics were a lot more important back when than they are now, and the serious stuff was their thing. However, this particular carnival has been popular for about two hundred years now, making Rossini one of the opera world's Jason Derulos.
Coloring Book
Everything is fun to Figaro. The world is his canvas, his ball, his coloring book. Everyone is at the mercy of his scissors and proverbial paint brush and crayons, with which he designs and redesigns the lives of his closest friend, the Count Almaviva, and all who come into contact with him. He's only a barber, but when does a guy's profession have anything to do with anything, especially in opera, unless it can be used to some outrageous effect, be it sunny or dark? And this isn't Broadway's "Sweeney Todd." Figaro is too much all around, much too shrewd, much too rude, the perfect pal to a man in need like his bud, who harbors a practically psychedelic passion for Rosina, in and of herself a farcical force to be reckoned with. One serenade by the Count at the girl's window and a tornado of events begins to form, a tornado of many bright hues that the three send to splatter the life and pride of a certain dirty old doctor, Bartolo, who pretends to be Rosina's mentor and keeps her locked up in his house but, in fact, doesn't want to marry her, himself, for anything other than her dowry when she comes of age (Oh, the golden 1800s). After many a "Hey! What's the deal with all the noise?" and a few near- arrests, with a fault in Figaro's system of Almaviva disguises thrown in, Figaro's page starts to look like a Picasso painting. Understanding without understanding the mess to be a bit ahead of its time, the barber acts quick to get Almaviva and Rosina alone together with a legal document. By the time Bartolo arrives to stop the three, his plot against Almaviva and a whole lot of shaving cream having burst in his face, he is on time only to clap for the new bride and groom, which, of course, he refuses to do, at least until he is offered Rosina's dowry as an alternative to settling matters the Medieval way. All ends with Shakespeare-ly merriment. Yes, merriment. Not joy, not happy- happiness. Merriment. Mirth. Get with the old times, people!
Rossini's Good Stuff: "Largo" and Beyond
Rossini is one of those composers whose best- known music is like constantly chaotic dance, vibrant as a kid's wildest dream. It's not surprising that animators have used it for years to color the mischief they continue to put into the heads of the half people. Secretly, even the theatre patrons in suits and gowns have a need to play, and the cast of "Barber" are definitely peeps you'd want to join you at the jungle gym. Even above the overture, Figaro's first aria is probably the most famous number in all of comic opera, and it really gets the show rolling with a big "FIIIIIIIIIIIGARRROOOOO!" and "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, FIIIIIIGARRROOOOOOOOOO!" Then someone shoves a motor down the guy's throat and his lips start moving so fast you find yourself trying to mimic him, even in the concert hall. Have a listen to "Largo al Factotum" and tell me it isn't true! Then there are the sarcastic strains of Rosina's solo, "Una Voce Poco Fa," one of the bubblier girl- power tunes out there, in which the lady sings about how tired she is of her all-silk-leather-and-fluff prison warden. Ensemble numbers abound, and the hectic energy of every one of them gets lodged in your brain like a bullet.
One of Bel Canto's Big Ones
"The Barber of Seville" is one of the three operas that complete a big picture of everything Bel Canto opera had to offer. Before Wagner, whose music has laid the foundation for orchestral film soundtracks, 21st century opera, jazz, and even some corners of the pop and Broadway genres as we know them, classical singing involved a lot of vocal jumping and flipping, and, in addition, expression of emotion that shoved the Classical Era's supreme elegance just a few feet to the side. Singers started really having to sound funny or sad or nuts or whatever else librettists' stories called for, but still hit every note with a level of pleasantness. The trio of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini is, to this day, the go-to for 'everyone's operas' in the style, the biggest hits of which are Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," Bellini's "Norma," and, of course, the big Figaro farce you've been reading about here. Let those titles listed be your teasers of what's coming to the "Everyone's Operas" series on the next couple of Wednesdays.
Opera is not all tears and tragedy, indeed, but don't be a Bartolo and let yourself be fooled into thinking the best work of opera's ultimate crazies, the composers the rest of us freaks adore, is only laugh-out-loud, toe-tapping fun and games. A very different carnival is coming your way next week. Until then, check out this site's Facebook page for a super party a la "Il Barbiere di Siviglia." Happy opera loving, all!
Coloring Book
Everything is fun to Figaro. The world is his canvas, his ball, his coloring book. Everyone is at the mercy of his scissors and proverbial paint brush and crayons, with which he designs and redesigns the lives of his closest friend, the Count Almaviva, and all who come into contact with him. He's only a barber, but when does a guy's profession have anything to do with anything, especially in opera, unless it can be used to some outrageous effect, be it sunny or dark? And this isn't Broadway's "Sweeney Todd." Figaro is too much all around, much too shrewd, much too rude, the perfect pal to a man in need like his bud, who harbors a practically psychedelic passion for Rosina, in and of herself a farcical force to be reckoned with. One serenade by the Count at the girl's window and a tornado of events begins to form, a tornado of many bright hues that the three send to splatter the life and pride of a certain dirty old doctor, Bartolo, who pretends to be Rosina's mentor and keeps her locked up in his house but, in fact, doesn't want to marry her, himself, for anything other than her dowry when she comes of age (Oh, the golden 1800s). After many a "Hey! What's the deal with all the noise?" and a few near- arrests, with a fault in Figaro's system of Almaviva disguises thrown in, Figaro's page starts to look like a Picasso painting. Understanding without understanding the mess to be a bit ahead of its time, the barber acts quick to get Almaviva and Rosina alone together with a legal document. By the time Bartolo arrives to stop the three, his plot against Almaviva and a whole lot of shaving cream having burst in his face, he is on time only to clap for the new bride and groom, which, of course, he refuses to do, at least until he is offered Rosina's dowry as an alternative to settling matters the Medieval way. All ends with Shakespeare-ly merriment. Yes, merriment. Not joy, not happy- happiness. Merriment. Mirth. Get with the old times, people!
Rossini's Good Stuff: "Largo" and Beyond
Rossini is one of those composers whose best- known music is like constantly chaotic dance, vibrant as a kid's wildest dream. It's not surprising that animators have used it for years to color the mischief they continue to put into the heads of the half people. Secretly, even the theatre patrons in suits and gowns have a need to play, and the cast of "Barber" are definitely peeps you'd want to join you at the jungle gym. Even above the overture, Figaro's first aria is probably the most famous number in all of comic opera, and it really gets the show rolling with a big "FIIIIIIIIIIIGARRROOOOO!" and "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, FIIIIIIGARRROOOOOOOOOO!" Then someone shoves a motor down the guy's throat and his lips start moving so fast you find yourself trying to mimic him, even in the concert hall. Have a listen to "Largo al Factotum" and tell me it isn't true! Then there are the sarcastic strains of Rosina's solo, "Una Voce Poco Fa," one of the bubblier girl- power tunes out there, in which the lady sings about how tired she is of her all-silk-leather-and-fluff prison warden. Ensemble numbers abound, and the hectic energy of every one of them gets lodged in your brain like a bullet.
One of Bel Canto's Big Ones
"The Barber of Seville" is one of the three operas that complete a big picture of everything Bel Canto opera had to offer. Before Wagner, whose music has laid the foundation for orchestral film soundtracks, 21st century opera, jazz, and even some corners of the pop and Broadway genres as we know them, classical singing involved a lot of vocal jumping and flipping, and, in addition, expression of emotion that shoved the Classical Era's supreme elegance just a few feet to the side. Singers started really having to sound funny or sad or nuts or whatever else librettists' stories called for, but still hit every note with a level of pleasantness. The trio of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini is, to this day, the go-to for 'everyone's operas' in the style, the biggest hits of which are Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," Bellini's "Norma," and, of course, the big Figaro farce you've been reading about here. Let those titles listed be your teasers of what's coming to the "Everyone's Operas" series on the next couple of Wednesdays.
Opera is not all tears and tragedy, indeed, but don't be a Bartolo and let yourself be fooled into thinking the best work of opera's ultimate crazies, the composers the rest of us freaks adore, is only laugh-out-loud, toe-tapping fun and games. A very different carnival is coming your way next week. Until then, check out this site's Facebook page for a super party a la "Il Barbiere di Siviglia." Happy opera loving, all!
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