How to Write an Opera in Thirteen Days
By Charlotte Bauvillard
Intern, Boston Lyric Opera
?SIGNOR PUCA SFORZA CESARINI, manager of the above-named theatre, engages Signor Maestro Gioachino Rossini for the next carnival season of the year 1816; and the said Rossini promises and binds himself to compose, and produce on the stage, the second comic drama to be represented in the said season at the theater indicated, and to the libretto which shall be given to him by the said manager, whether the libretto is old or new. The maestro Rossini engages to deliver...to the copyist the first act of his opera, quite complete. On the 20th of January 1816...the date of the first representation being hereby fixed for about the 5th of February...In reward for his fatigues the director engages to pay to the maestro Rossini the sum and quantity of four hundred Roman scudi ($400).?
December, 26th 1815
When Rossini signed this agreement with the manager of the Theatre Argentina, he was taking on a major challenge. Firstly, he had agreed to set to music any libretto that was given to him and he had no idea what that would be. The manager had to arrange that matter with the censor before informing the composer of the decision. Secondly, Rossini was still heavily involved in his last opera, Torvaldo e Doliska, which was produced on the evening of the 26th. of December and the two following evenings. In fact, he was not free to begin work on his new commission until December 29th, yet the first act was to be furnished before January 20th, and the opera had to be presented to the public on February 5th.
This gave rise to the legend that Rossini wrote The Barber of Seville in just thirteen days. Whilst it is not known exactly how long he spent working on the opera, it is clear that The Barber of Seville was finished in much less than a month and that Rossini wrote 600 pages of music in less than 15 days.
Once The Barber of Seville had been chosen by the manger and the censor, the construction of the new libretto was entrusted to the poet Sterbini. As no time was to be lost, Rossini suggested that he and Sterbini should live together until the work was completed in ?the house assigned to Luigi Zamboni?, the actor who was to play Figaro in the original production of The Barber of Seville.
For the next fortnight or so, the two men worked intensely on the opera. One account suggests that they barely had time to eat, sleep or change their clothes, and that simply collapsed on a sofa to rest when they could no longer keep their eyes open. Whether or not they actually had time to leave the house, it is certain that The Barber of Seville is the result of one continuous artistic effort. As rapidly as Sterbini wrote the verses, Rossini set them to music. Sometimes Rossini found he was getting ahead of Sterbini and would suggest words for the music that he already had in his head. As each sheet of music was finished, it would be thrown to one of the copyists sitting in the same room, who would immediately set about reproducing the work for the actors and musicians. Undoubtedly the chief lodger of the house (and future Figaro), Luigi Zamboni, would occasionally look in to see how his part was developing!
Rossini is said to have told someone that during the thirteen days he devoted to the composition of The Barber of Seville he did not once have the time to go out and get shaved.
?It seems strange?, was the rather obvious reply, ?that through the 'Barber' you should have gone without shaving.?
?If I had got shaved,? explained Rossini, ?I should have gone out, and if I had gone out I should not have come back in time.?
Although it may seem incredible to us that a masterpiece like The Barber of Seville should be produced in such a frantic rush, this style of working was not actually that unusual in Italy at the time that Rossini was composing. He had composed Torvaldo e Doliska in little more than a fortnight, and composers were used to writing pieces for different theatres one after the other in quick succession. When someone mentioned to Donizetti that Rossini had written an opera in 13 days, the composer remarked, ?Very possible, Rossini is so lazy!?
One way that composers coped with the time pressure was to borrow from their own earlier works and even from those of other people. Rossini, who often borrowed heavily from himself, introduced into The Barber of Seville themes and musical pieces extracted form his lesser known and less successful previous works. For example, the overture was originally composed in 1814 for Aureliano in Palmira, then changed for Elizabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, and finally attached to The Barber of Seville. The air that Bertha, the duenna, sings, is nothing but a Russian contra-dance, which was in vogue in Rome at this time. Rossini is said to have introduced it in compliment to a captivating Muscovite lady. Adapting music to suit new composition in this way certainly must have helped Rossini to meet his frequent tight deadlines. Nevertheless, one cannot help but be impressed that a work of such genius could be produced in such a short time.
Courtesy of Boston Lyric Opera
