Author: PELLEGRINI, Felice 1774-1832
Title: Bust-length portrait lithograph after Parent of Pelligrini as Figaro in Rossini's opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Théâtre Italienne
Publication: Paris: Pacini, [ca. 1819]
Description:
Ca. 7" x 4". Matted, framed, and glazed. Overall size 14" x 12.5".
Slightly worn, browned, and foxed.
Provenance
The collection of the distinguished American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne (b. 1934).
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, to a libretto by Cesare Sterbini after Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais's Le barbier de Séville and a libretto often attributed to Giuseppe Petrosellini for Giovanni Paisiello's Il barbiere di Siviglia (1782, St Petersburg), was first performed in Rome at the Teatro Argentina on 20 February 1816.
"Il barbiere di Siviglia is perhaps the greatest of all comic operas. Beethoven thought well of it; Verdi wrote to Camille Bellaigue in 1898: 'I cannot help thinking that Il barbiere di Siviglia, for the abundance of true musical ideas, for its comic verve and the accuracy of its declamation, is the most beautiful opera buffa there is'. Rossini was faced with one of the best librettos he ever set, one in which the characters are keenly sketched and the dramatic situations are planned for a maximum of effective interaction among those characters. Add to this that the libretto was based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, featuring the incomparable Figaro, and it is no surprise that Rossini took fire. The opera soon gained an enormous success that has never diminished." Philip Gossett in Grove Music Online
"Horne had a voice of extraordinary range, rich and tangy in timbre, with a stentorian chest register and an exciting top ... In concert she once achieved the feat of singing in a single programme Rossini arias and Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene, proof of her exceptional versatility. Throughout her lengthy career she was an admired recitalist, singing lieder, mélodies, Spanish and American songs with equal aplomb." Alan Blyth in Grove Music Online.
Seller ID: 30323
Subject: Art & Photographs