Overture: The Barber of Seville

The funny thing about the overture to The Barber of Seville is that, basically, it basically has nothing to do with The Barber of Seville. It was actually written for a very different kind of work, the “dramma serio”Aureliana in Palmira, in 1813. Two years later it passed on from there to the “dramma” Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra. It found its permanent place with the “commedia” Il barbiere di Siviglia only after the original overture got lost. The two are now so closely associated, however, that it is difficult to think of one without the other, although in fact - with its dramatically scored and rather serious Andante maestoso introduction and its main Allegro vivo beginning with an urgent theme in a minor key - the overture is not a typical introduction to a comic opera. In compensation, it offers particularly impressive examples of the famous “Rossini crescendo” both in the middle and towards the end.

Rossini wrote scarcely anything for solo violin. His major interest was vocal music, opera above all, and he did little else. He did it very successfully, of course, and nowhere more successfully than in The Barber of Seville which, though a failure on its first performance in Rome in 1816, has since become much the most popular of all Rossini’s operas. Verdi thought it the most beautiful opera buffa ever written. Its Overture, however, like that now associated with Schubert’s Rosamunde, originally belonged to a different work, the rather more serious Aureliana in Palmira written for Milan in 1813.

The Barber of Seville Overture also resembles the Rosamunde Overture in that it has a slow (Andante maestoso) introduction before getting into its stride in the main (Allegro vivo) section of the construction. Rossini makes a special feature of the woodwind too. The most expressive material in the introduction is scored for oboe with bassoon and horn to accompany it. Although the urgent main theme of the quicker section is the responsibility of the violins (doubled by piccolo), the more relaxed second subject is introduced by oboe and repeated, even more effectively, by a solo horn. All sections of the orchestra are involved in two characteristic Rossini crescendos, the second of which leads into the still quicker closing bars.

The Overture to The Barber of Seville is Spanish only by association. It was written in 1813 for a not so comic opera called Aurelian in Palmyra, which is set in ancient Syria, was then transferred to the less exotic location of Elizabeth, Queen of England and was attached to The Barber of Seville only when the overture that was specifically intended for it got lost. Since the original overture was based on Spanish themes supplied by Manuel Garcia, the Spanish tenor who created the role of Count Almaviva in Rome in 1816, it must have displayed more local colour than the present piece. However, what is now known as the Overture to The Barber of Seville has been associated for so long with the most popular of all operas set in Spain that it has become Spanish by adoption.

While it is not a typical comic-opera overture, with its dramatically scored and rather serious Andante maestoso introduction and its main Allegro vivo beginning with an urgent theme in a minor key, it is a highly attractive example of its kind. The match of melodic inspiration and instrumental colouring is irresistible - the gently expressive line drawn by violins and flute in the slow introduction, for example, or the delightful second subject of the Allegro vivo introduced by oboe, answered by flute and clarinet and daringly repeated by first horn. Although the themes of the Allegro vivo are not developed, but just repeated in a slightly different form, there are impressive examples of the famous “Rossini crescendo” in the middle of the piece and just before the accelerated ending.

Not very long ago it was customary, almost obligatory, to begin an orchestral concert with an overture - usually an opera overture and more often than not one by Rossini or Weber. The Overture to The Barber of Seville takes its place at the head of this programme not to revive an old cliché, however, but to allow it to be heard alongside a work which pays it a sincere if not entirely serious compliment. Even so, its appearance here is a timely reminder of how useful Rossini overtures can be in the concert hall.

There is rarely any problem, for example, about wrenching them from their dramatic context: with the outstanding exception of William Tell, Rossini overtures have little or nothing to do with the operas they are named after. The Barber of Seville Overture has so little to do with the Barber of Seville opera that it was actually written for a very different kind of work. It was attached first to the “dramma serio” Aureliana in Palmira in 1813 and was passed on to the “dramma” Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra two years later. It found its permanent place with the “commedia” Il barbiere di Siviglia only after the original overture (thought to have been based on Spanish tunes provided by the first Almaviva, Manuel Garcia) got lost. The two are now so closely associated that it is difficult to think of one without the other, although in fact - with its dramatically scored and rather serious Andante maestoso introduction and its main Allegro vivo beginning with an urgent theme in a minor key - the overture is not a typical introduction to a comic opera.

Another valuable quality of the Rossini overture in the concert hall is the irresistible match of melodic inspiration and instrumental colouring - like the gently expressive line drawn by violins and discreetly doubled by flute in the introduction to this particular work or the delightful second subject of the Allegro vivo introduced by oboe, answered by flute and clarinet and daringly repeated by first horn. And, while there is nothing as symphonically minded as a development between the exposition and the recapitulation, there are impressive examples of the “Rossini crescendo” both here and just before the quicker coda.