Rossini
Performed by THE COVENT GARDEN OPERA COMPANY
Relayed from THE PRINCE OF WALES
THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM
Act II—A Room in the house of Dr. Bartolo
Conductor, JOHN BARBIROLLI
THE Barber is the Figaro of Mozart's merry opera, and though Rossini's appeared long afterwards, the play by Beaumarehais on which it is founded preceded the one which Da Ponte adapted for Mozart. It shows us Figaro helping to win the lady Rosina for his patron, the Count Almaviva, despite the jealous care in which she is kept by her old guardian, Dr. Bartolo.
In the second act, the Count, disguised as a soldier, makes his way into Bartolo's house, on the plea that he has been billeted there : he contrives to have a few whispered words with his lady bofore ho is discovered and turned out. His next ruse, also an invention of Figaro's, is to announce himself as a singing master; he has come to give Rosina a lesson in place of Basilio, who, he says, is ill. Under the guiso of instruction in singing, tho young people plan an elopement, and the Count is given the key of the balcony window. The scene is one of tho merriest in comic opera, and the prima donna has always taken advantage of her lesson to sing a brilliant piece of her own choice which is not in the score. Complications ensue when Basilio himself turns up, in bland ignorance of his supposed illness, and again the Count has to retire. Bartolo has meanwhile secured a love-letter written by the Count to Rosina, and by assuring her that it is meant for another lady, so works on her jealous feelings that she agrees, in pique, to marry her old guardian. In the nick of time, however, Almaviva arrives by way of the balcony, explains the deception, and marries the lady under Bartolo's very nose. But even the old doctor is made happy by having the dowry handed over to him : that has all along mattered more to him than the bride, and Almaviva is wealthy enough without it.