PREPARATIONS FOR THE BARBER.
_Torvaldo e Dorliska_ was followed, after but a short interval, by _Il
Barbiere_, for which a contract was signed the very day, Dec. 26, on
which _Torvaldo_ was brought out. The contract was in the following
terms:--
"_Nobil Teatro di Torre Argentina_, Dec. 26th, 1815.
"By the present act, drawn up privately between the parties, the value
of which is not thereby diminished, and according to the conditions
consented to by them, it has been stipulated as follows:--
"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 theatre indicated, and to the
libretto which shall be given to him by the said manager, whether this
libretto be old or new. The Maestro Rossini engages himself to deliver
his score in the middle of the month of January, and to adapt it to the
voices of the singers; obliging himself, moreover, to make, if
necessary, all the changes which may be required, as much for the good
execution of the music as to suit the capabilities or exigencies of the
singers.
"The Maestro Rossini also promises and binds himself to be at Rome and
to fulfil his engagement not later than the end of December of the
current year, and to deliver to the copyist the first act of his opera,
quite complete, on the 20th January, 1816. The 20th January is mentioned
in order that the partial and general rehearsals may be commenced at
once, and that the piece may be brought out the day the director wishes,
the date of the first representation being hereby fixed for about the
5th of February. And the Maestro Rossini shall also deliver to the
copyist, at the time wished, his second act, so that there may be time
to make arrangements, and to terminate the rehearsals soon enough to go
before the public on the evening mentioned above; otherwise the Maestro
Rossini will expose himself to all losses, because so it must be and not
otherwise.
"The Maestro Rossini shall, moreover, be obliged to direct his opera
according to the custom, and to assist personally at all the vocal and
orchestral rehearsals as many times as it shall be necessary, either at
the theatre or elsewhere, at the will of the director; he obliges
himself also to assist at the three first representations, to be given
consecutively, and to direct the execution at the piano; and that
because so it must be, and not otherwise. In reward for his fatigues the
director engages to pay to the Maestro Rossini the sum and quantity of
400 Roman scudi, as soon as the first three representations which he is
to direct at the piano shall be terminated.
"It is also agreed that in case of the piece being forbidden, or the
theatre closed by the act of the authority, or for any unforeseen
reason, the habitual practice in such cases, at the theatres of Rome and
of all other countries shall be observed.
"And to guarantee the complete execution of this agreement, it shall be
signed by the manager, and also by the Maestro Gioachino Rossini; and,
in addition, the said manager grants lodgings to the Maestro Rossini
during the term of the agreement, in the same house that is assigned to
Signor Luigi Zamboni."
It is not certain, however, that Rossini received as much as 400 scudi
(about 80_l._) for his _Barber_, for Rossini, consulted long afterwards
as to the correctness of the figures given in the contract, said he was
under the impression that he had only received 300 scudi, or about
60_l._[3] For the copyright of the music he received not a farthing. He
did not even take the trouble to get it engraved; and two of the pieces,
the overture (for which the overture to _Elisabetta_, previously known
as the overture to _Aureliano in Palmira_, was afterwards substituted)
and the scene of the music lesson (which Rossini had treated as a trio
for the music-master, his pupil, and the pupil's guardian), were somehow
lost in the theatre.
What the manager, on his side, purchased from Rossini, was the right of
representation for two years; after which the work might be played by
any one, as it might from the first moment be engraved by any one,
without payment of any kind. The manuscript could not naturally find its
way into the publisher's hands without the composer's consent. But as a
matter of custom composers received nothing from the publishers. In
England, curiously enough, operatic composers have hitherto, with
scarcely an exception, looked exclusively to the publishers for their
profits, and have received nothing from the managers. The
representation, according to the English view, serves to advertise the
work, and to cause a demand at the music shops for the principal pieces.
In Italy the engraved music did not apparently find many purchasers. The
public cared above all things to hear the music executed on the stage;
and with a view to the gratification of this desire the directors found
it necessary to provide them constantly with new works, which they
moreover found it necessary to order and to pay for.
The manager of the Argentina Theatre had experienced some trouble in
procuring a suitable subject for the libretto he wished Rossini to set.
The censorship was exercised with great severity, or rather with great
scrupulosity, by the so-called Patriarch of Constantinople--_Patriarchus
in partibus infidelium_ and if, instead of Beaumarchais' _Barber of
Seville_, Cesarini had proposed the same author's _Marriage of Figaro_,
it is tolerably certain that the Patriarch would have refused to license
so revolutionary a drama. When the politically harmless _Barber of
Seville_ was suggested, the censor at once approved. But it was now for
Rossini to hesitate. To object, he had by the terms of his agreement no
right; since he had undertaken to set any libretto that might be given
to him, "new or old." The masters of the eighteenth century accepted
readily for their operas themes which had been treated again and again,
and even actual libretti to which, several times over, music had been
composed. Almost every composer, for instance, had tried his hand on
Dido Abandoned, or on the Descent of Orpheus into the Infernal Regions;
and we have seen that the story of Dido and the story of Orpheus were
both treated by Rossini in his early days. Rossini, however, had now
ideas of his own on the subject of musical setting, on the subject of
dramatic propriety, and probably also on that of the propriety of taking
for his theme one that had already been dealt with very successfully by
a composer of high repute. Doubtless, in spite of his agreement, he
would have refused altogether to take the _Marriage of Figaro_ as
subject of an opera, for we know by his recorded conversations with
Ferdinand Hiller, that he regarded Mozart as the greatest of all
dramatic composers. He felt, too, some delicacy, perhaps even some
diffidence, in adopting the verses on which the illustrious Paisiello
had already worked. He explained to Cesarini how impossible it would be
for him to attack the identical libretto which Paisiello had set; and it
was arranged that Sterbini, the poet who had furnished Rossini with the
"words" (as musicians say),[4] of _Torvaldo e Dorliska_, should perform
a like service for him in connection with the _Barber_. Sterbini and
Rossini understood one another as librettist and composer always should
do; and they lived together in the same house--"the house assigned to
Luigi Zamboni," as the contract has it--until the work was finished. The
admirable unity of the _Barber_, in which a person without previous
information on the subject could scarcely say whether the words were
written for the music or the music for the words, may doubtless in a
great measure be accounted for by the fact that poet and musician were
always together during the composition of the opera; ready mutually to
suggest and to profit by suggestions. Nor was it a slight advantage that
the two operatic partners were living together "in the house assigned to
Luigi Zamboni." Signor Luigi Zamboni was to take the part of Figaro; and
we may be sure that "Largo al fattotum," set to music as soon as it was
written, was handed to Zamboni as soon as it was composed.
Poet and composer had with them Beaumarchais' comedy of the _Barber of
Seville_, and Paisiello's opera founded thereupon. Paisiello's opera was
already known to Rossini, but he does not seem to have been quite
familiar with Beaumarchais' comedy. Sterbini read it to him from
beginning to end, and it was then decided what in Beaumarchais' comedy
should be adopted--the principal dramatic scenes had of course to be
taken--and what in Paisiello's libretto should be rejected. The queer
incidental scenes for La Jeunesse who does nothing but sneeze, and
L'Eveille who does nothing but yawn, were cut out; and the work was so
divided as to give Rossini the opportunity of composing a far greater
number of musical pieces than are to be found in Paisiello's work. In
dialogue scenes where Paisiello had contented himself with making the
interlocutory personages exchange long passages of recitative, Rossini
allowed the characters on the stage to declaim, but supported their
declamation, not by a succession of chords, but by brilliant themes for
the orchestra. No such thoroughly musical opera had before been
composed. The series of melodies was almost continuous, and the
characters on the stage only ceased to sing for tuneful strains to be
executed by the instrumentalists. This transfer of the current of melody
from the voices to the instruments was new in Italy; but brilliant
examples of it are of course to be found in Mozart's operas which were
performed for the first time in Italy, just before Rossini's _Barber of
Seville_. Sterbini was a most accommodating poet. He was quite prepared
to carry out the composer's ideas, and did not object to alter, curtail
or add to his verses with a view to increasing the effectiveness of
Rossini's music. After writing "Largo al fattotum," with the rapidity of
an improvisator he handed the verses to Rossini, remarking--as Leopold
II. remarked to Mozart with regard to the number of notes contained in
the _Seraglio_--that there were "too many." "Precisely the right
number," was virtually Rossini's reply; and inspired by their vivacity
and their rhythmical flow, he, in fact, set them all. Something of the
light-hearted elastic character of the constantly changing air must
doubtless be attributed, not only to the verve with which Sterbini had
written the words, but also to the impulsiveness and volubility with
which Rossini knew beforehand that Zamboni would sing them.
Rossini worked so quickly that at times he found himself ahead of his
poet--though, as regards the mere putting down on paper, the writing of
verses is but trifling labour compared to that of composing music. Thus,
without waiting for verses, he found a melody or devised a form for the
next musical piece in the order agreed upon, and thereupon asked the
obliging Sterbini to furnish him with suitable "words." Besides a
leading singer in the next room, the poet and composer had by their side
a number of copyists, to whom Rossini threw the sheets of music as he
finished them. For thirteen days the joint authors had scarcely time to
eat, and M. Azevedo asserts that they slept but little, and then only on
a sofa, when it so happened that they could no longer keep their eyes
open. For thirteen days Rossini did not shave; and when some one
observed how strange it was that the _Barber_ should have caused him to
let his beard grow, he replied, that if he had shaved he should have
gone out, and that if he had gone out he should not have returned as
soon as he ought to have done. It seems incredible that in thirteen days
the whole of the _Barber_ should have been composed in score; but it is
certain that the contract binding Rossini to compose it was only signed
on the 26th December, and that he directed the first, second, and third
performances of _Torvaldo e Dorliska_ on the 27th, 28th and 29th. Some
days, too, were lost in discussing various subjects for the proposed
opera with the Roman censorship; and finally, when the _Barber of
Seville_ had been decided upon, Rossini had to read the comedy and to
compare it with the libretto of Paisiello's opera, and to arrange with
his own librettist a new distribution of scenes. The date of the first
representation had been fixed for February 5th, and it was customary at
the Italian theatres to allow fifteen days for rehearsals. He must then
have finished the work in less than a month--between December 29th and
January 24th; and one month is the time given by M. Castil-Blaze in his
_Histoire du Theatre Italien_. Stendhal, however, says (after Carpani)
that the _Barber_ was composed in thirteen days; and this statement is
repeated--not, it must be presumed without verification--by M. Azevedo.
On one point connected with the production of the new _Barber_, Stendhal
and Azevedo are quite at variance. According to the former, Rossini, as
a matter of politeness, went through the unnecessary form of asking
Paisiello's leave to reset the work, and received from him full
permission to do so; the ancient master nourishing the hope that in
recomposing a work which had already, as he believed, received its
permanent musical form, the young composer would bring himself to grief.
M. Azevedo denies that Rossini asked Paisiello's consent in the matter.
But he adds that the venerable maestro knew of Rossini's intention, and
not only looked forward to the failure of his youthful rival, but was
even prepared to lend a helping hand thereto.