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The Barber of Seville
8 years ago
General
So after years and years of "The Rabbit of Seville", when I heard that the local opera company was putting on "The Barber of Seville" I figured I had to go see it. After all, with the music so ingrained in my life... it would be good to see the real thing, right? It's the classic story of count loves rich pupil, rich pupil loves count but her guardian has his eye on her. So Count Almaviva enlists the help of the local town barber to help woo Rosina and foil Bartolo's plot to marry her. How could that possibly go wrong?
So how was it? Well first, it's an Opera Buffa, a "comic opera". From the first scene, we have Almaviva trying to serenade Rosina from the town square, but the musicians were up late drinking and are still half-asleep, falling over and generally out of sorts.
Figaro makes his debut with the Make way for the factotum of the city we should all know from cartoons: "Make way for the factotum of the city". (A factotum is defined as a person who serves in a wide range of capacities) You know, the classic "Fiiii-gaaa-roooo!". It's a song all about all the services he provides and how everyone wants Figaro. The part where he's calling out his name like others are calling him... that's exactly what it is. "Figaro!" "I'm here!" "Hey! Figaro!" "I'm here!" And then into, "Figaro here, Figaro there, Figaro high, Figaro low..." It's a funny song when you understand the lyrics! Nothing but a pure ego trip.
(By the way, if you're the kind of person that thinks Whoopi Goldberg needed to be at the beginning of the Warner Bros. cartoon collection DVDs telling people that the stereotype humor in cartoons wasn't right then and isn't right now... I'd be careful with that link. Magical Maestro is some classic Tex Avery... Nuf said)
And then when Almaviva goes to enlist Figaro's help, they have a duet where they barter the price called "At the idea of that metal". And every time Almaviva drops a gold coin into Figaro's hand, his expression is so full of such pleasure that by the end it's nearly orgasmic.
There's even what we'd consider a meta-joke: in the second act, Almaviva is disguised as a substitute music teacher for Rosina and when he asks her what she'd like to sing, she says an aria from "The Useless Precaution". The full title of this opera is "The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution". So Rosina said she wanted to sing an aria from the opera... that she is a character in!
So if you ever get the chance to see The Barber of Seville and don't mind reading supertitles, I'd say give it a shot. It's rather accessible to non-opera buffs (like me) and quite funny and lighthearted.
This is definitely not the only opera to show up in cartoons. And classical music in a cartoon is not exclusively Warner Bros. domain either. Anyone remember when Tom and Jerry ended up in a performance of Carmen? The gag when Jerry throws Tom's "violin" into fast-forward cracks me up every time! And we almost get a taste of the classic aria from Carmen... until the singer runs away screaming about a mouse.
Interesting to note, the overture of The Barber of Seville (which is what "The Rabbit of Seville" is based on) has nothing to do with any of the music in the opera. Ordinarily an overture is a montage of the music from the piece you're about to see (Family Guy tends to do this on their "Road to..." specials) but Rossini recycled the overture from two previous operas that he had composed. Strange, but true...
Also... if you don't think the cartoons have any influence on people, in the local news piece about the performance, the two people from the opera company being interviewed made direct reference to The Rabbit of Seville. One of them was even making the motions of Bugs Bunny massaging Elmer's scalp as he sung the part from the overture. It's ingrained in our very beings by now!
So how was it? Well first, it's an Opera Buffa, a "comic opera". From the first scene, we have Almaviva trying to serenade Rosina from the town square, but the musicians were up late drinking and are still half-asleep, falling over and generally out of sorts.
Figaro makes his debut with the Make way for the factotum of the city we should all know from cartoons: "Make way for the factotum of the city". (A factotum is defined as a person who serves in a wide range of capacities) You know, the classic "Fiiii-gaaa-roooo!". It's a song all about all the services he provides and how everyone wants Figaro. The part where he's calling out his name like others are calling him... that's exactly what it is. "Figaro!" "I'm here!" "Hey! Figaro!" "I'm here!" And then into, "Figaro here, Figaro there, Figaro high, Figaro low..." It's a funny song when you understand the lyrics! Nothing but a pure ego trip.
(By the way, if you're the kind of person that thinks Whoopi Goldberg needed to be at the beginning of the Warner Bros. cartoon collection DVDs telling people that the stereotype humor in cartoons wasn't right then and isn't right now... I'd be careful with that link. Magical Maestro is some classic Tex Avery... Nuf said)
And then when Almaviva goes to enlist Figaro's help, they have a duet where they barter the price called "At the idea of that metal". And every time Almaviva drops a gold coin into Figaro's hand, his expression is so full of such pleasure that by the end it's nearly orgasmic.
There's even what we'd consider a meta-joke: in the second act, Almaviva is disguised as a substitute music teacher for Rosina and when he asks her what she'd like to sing, she says an aria from "The Useless Precaution". The full title of this opera is "The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution". So Rosina said she wanted to sing an aria from the opera... that she is a character in!
So if you ever get the chance to see The Barber of Seville and don't mind reading supertitles, I'd say give it a shot. It's rather accessible to non-opera buffs (like me) and quite funny and lighthearted.
This is definitely not the only opera to show up in cartoons. And classical music in a cartoon is not exclusively Warner Bros. domain either. Anyone remember when Tom and Jerry ended up in a performance of Carmen? The gag when Jerry throws Tom's "violin" into fast-forward cracks me up every time! And we almost get a taste of the classic aria from Carmen... until the singer runs away screaming about a mouse.
Interesting to note, the overture of The Barber of Seville (which is what "The Rabbit of Seville" is based on) has nothing to do with any of the music in the opera. Ordinarily an overture is a montage of the music from the piece you're about to see (Family Guy tends to do this on their "Road to..." specials) but Rossini recycled the overture from two previous operas that he had composed. Strange, but true...
Also... if you don't think the cartoons have any influence on people, in the local news piece about the performance, the two people from the opera company being interviewed made direct reference to The Rabbit of Seville. One of them was even making the motions of Bugs Bunny massaging Elmer's scalp as he sung the part from the overture. It's ingrained in our very beings by now!
