A Book of Operas | Page 8

waltz or Massenet's "Sevillana" with Tosti's "Mattinata," to
which she also plays an exquisite accompaniment.

But this is a long digression; I must back to my intriguing lovers, who
have made good use of the lesson scene to repeat their protestations of
affection and lay plots for attaining their happiness. In this they are
helped by Figaro, who comes to shave Dr. Bartolo in spite of his
protests, and, contriving to get hold of the latter's keys, "conveys" the
one which opens the balcony lock, and thus makes possible a plan for a
midnight elopement. In the midst of the lesson the real Basilio comes to
meet his appointment, and there is a moment of confusion for the
plotters, out of which Figaro extricates them by persuading Basilio that
he is sick of a raging fever, and must go instantly home, Almaviva
adding a convincing argument in the shape of a generously lined purse.
Nevertheless, Basilio afterwards betrays the Count to Bartolo, who
commands him to bring a notary to the house that very night so that he
may sign the marriage contract with Rosina. In the midst of a tempest
Figaro and the Count let themselves into the house at midnight to carry
off Rosina, but find her in a whimsy, her mind having been poisoned
against her lover by Bartolo with the aid of the unfortunate letter. Out
of this dilemma Almaviva extricates himself by confessing his identity,
and the pair are about to steal away when the discovery is made that the
ladder to the balcony has been carried away. As they are tiptoeing
toward the window, the three sing a trio in which there is such obvious
use of a melodic phrase which belongs to Haydn that every writer on
"Il Barbiere" seems to have thought it his duty to point out an instance
of "plagiarism" on the part of Rossini. It is a trifling matter. The trio
begins thus:--
[Musical excerpt--"Ziti, ziti, piano, piano, non facciamo confusionne"]
which is a slightly varied form of four measures from Simon's song in
the first part of "The Seasons":--
[Musical excerpt--"With eagerness the husbandman his tilling work
begins."]
With these four measures the likeness begins and ends. A venial
offence, if it be an offence at all. Composers were not held to so strict
and scrupulous an accountability touching melodic meum and tuum a
century ago as they are now; yet there was then a thousand-fold more

melodic inventiveness. Another case of "conveyance" by Rossini has
also been pointed out; the air of the duenna in the third act beginning
"Il vecchiotto cerca moglie" is said to be that of a song which Rossini
heard a Russian lady sing in Rome. I have searched much in Russian
song literature and failed to find the alleged original. To finish the story:
the notary summoned by Bartolo arrives on the scene, but is persuaded
by Figaro to draw up an attestation of a marriage agreement between
Count Almaviva and Rosina, and Bartolo, finding at the last that all his
precautions have been in vain, comforted not a little by the gift of his
ward's dower, which the Count relinquishes, gives his blessing to the
lovers.
I have told the story of "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" as it appears in the book.
It has grown to be the custom to omit in performance several of the
incidents which are essential to the development and understanding of
the plot. Some day--soon, it is to be hoped--managers, singers, and
public will awake to a realization that, even in the old operas in which
beautiful singing is supposed to be the be-all and end-all, the action
ought to be kept coherent. In that happy day Rossini's effervescent
lyrical arrangement of Beaumarchais's vivacious comedy will be
restored to its rights.

CHAPTER II
"LE NOZZE DI FIGARO"
Beaumarchais wrote a trilogy of Figaro comedies, and if the tastes and
methods of a century or so ago had been like those of the present, we
might have had also a trilogy of Figaro operas--"Le Barbier de Seville,"
"Le Mariage de Figaro," and "La Mère coupable." As it is, we have
operatic versions of the first two of the comedies, Mozart's "Nozze di
Figaro" being a sequel to Rossini's "Il Barbiere," its action beginning at
a period not long after the precautions of Dr. Bartolo had been rendered
inutile by Figaro's cunning schemes and Almaviva had installed Rosina
as his countess. "Le Nozze" was composed a whole generation before

Rossini's opera. Mozart and his public could keep the sequence of
incidents in view, however, from the fact that Paisiello had acquainted
them with the beginning of the story. Paisiello's opera is dead, but
Rossini's is very much alive, and it might prove interesting, some day,
to have the two living