Gioachino Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville premiered in 1816.
Its Italian title is Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L’inutile precauzione, and its first performance took place at Rome’s Teatro Argentina on 20 February 1816. Cesare Sterbini wrote the libretto, based on Pierre Beaumarchais’s comedy Le Barbier de Séville.
The story follows Count Almaviva’s attempts to marry Rosina with help from the clever barber Figaro. Figaro’s entrance aria, “Largo al factotum,” is one of opera’s most recognizable comic showpieces. The opera’s fast ensembles, mistaken identities, and energetic crescendos typify Rossini’s comic style.
The premiere was famously unsuccessful, partly because of audience hostility and stage mishaps. The work soon became a repertory favorite. It is often confused with Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which uses characters from the second play in Beaumarchais’s trilogy and premiered in 1786.