“Always do The Barber! Always The Barber!” suggested Beethoven to Rossini when they met in Vienna. “I confess that I cannot help but believe that The Barber of Seville, for the abundance of true musical ideas, for comic verve, and for the truth of declamation, is the most beautiful opera buffa that exists,” wrote Verdi to a French critic in 1898. Rossini never knew a greater success than The Barber. Even today, that work, which debuted in 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome, is the most famous opera buffa in the world. Virtually every number in it is a musical gem: “Largo al factotum” (Figaro), “La calunnia” (Don Basilio), “Una voce poco fa” (Rosina), the concerted piece “Zitti zitti, piano piano,” and more.

Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville returns to Teatro La Fenice for the Carnevale di Venezia 2024 with surtitles in Italian and English. The production is by the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice.