The Barber of Seville is not the original title of this opera, although it is based on the play The Barber of Seville, or The Vain Precaution. At first, the opera was called "Almaviva, or Vain Precaution" ("Almaviva, ossia l'inutile precauzione"). Rossini gave his work such a name because an opera with a title identical to Beaumarchais's play had already been written - its author was Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), and it had long been popular on the opera stage since 1782. In addition to Paisiello, by that time Alexander Reinagle (1794), Nicolas Isoire (1796), Francesco Molarchi (1816) and many others had written the plot of The Barber of Seville.
Rossini in 1816 undertook to write a new opera for the Argentina theater in Rome for the carnival. However, censorship banned one by one all the librettos he proposed. There was very little time left before the carnival, and then it was decided to use the theme allowed by the censors. This is how the idea of "The Barber of Seville" was born. Rossini turned to Paisiello for permission, and he answered kindly, not doubting the failure of the young composer's opera. The new libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini. Rossini composed quickly. But the speed with which The Barber of Seville was written (the composer used many of his previous works) is amazing. The writing and instrumentation took less than three weeks.
The premiere was unsuccessful, as it was actually thwarted by Paisiello's fans. The second and subsequent performances of the opera, which took place in the same week, were much more successful. Since then, the opera has not left the stage. The current production at the Samara Opera and Ballet Theater is already the eighth: The Barber of Seville was staged here in 1931, 1936, 1940, 1946, 1952, 1963 and 1976.
The overture we always hear when the opera is performed today is not original. The original overture was a medley of popular Spanish melodies. Her score strangely disappeared shortly after the first performance of the opera. Then Rossini, known for his laziness, pulled out from his chest some old overture, which he wrote seven years earlier for the now forgotten opera L'Equivoco stravagante. She had already served him well when he had to reduce the overtures to two other operas, Aurelian and Palmyra and Elisabeth, Queen of England. But if its lively, light melodies hardly seem suitable for the tragedy about the Queen of England, then the Barber of Seville is approached very organically.
