STUDY GUIDE 2015 – 2016

The Barber of Seville ADAPTED FROM ROSSINI’S IL BARBIERE DI SEVIGLIA

BY JENNIFER CRESSWELL

Table of Contents The Barber of Seville……………………………………………………………………….. 3 Setting Cast of Characters Plot Synopsis Resident Artists………………………………………………………………………………5 Setting the Scene: Where are we? …………………………………………………………...6 FIGARO! ……………………………………………………………………………..……. 7 Maestro Rossini and his Music………………….…………………………………..……… 8 What is Opera?........................................................................................................................ 9 A Creative Team Voice Types Student Activities……………………………………………………………...……..…........14 Grades K-3 Grades 4-8

 

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The Barber of Seville ADAPTED FROM ROSSINI’S IL BARBIERE DI SEVIGLIA BY JENNIFER CRESSWELL

SETTING 17th Century in Seville, Spain CHARACTERS In order of vocal performance Figaro – a barber and jack-of-all-trades Count Almaviva – a charming count who wants to find someone who will love him for who is inside, not for his money Rosina – beautiful ward of Dr. Bartolo, she is feisty and wants to find love Dr. Bartolo – Rosina’s guardian, wants to marry her

SYNOPSIS Scene 1: Count Almaviva, dressed in disguise as a poor young student named Lindoro, is serenading Rosina outside her window. Figaro appears and the Count asks his help in encouraging Rosina to fall in love with him. There is just one catch - he doesn't want Rosina to know that he is a wealthy count, but wants her to fall in love with him for who he is on the inside. Figaro agrees, since the Count is rich and can pay him for his services. The Count runs and hides as Dr. Bartolo comes out of his house. He overhears Bartolo telling Figaro that he is in love with his ward, Rosina, and plans to marry her by the end of the day. Figaro comes up with a plan that will enable Count Almaviva to enter Dr. Bartolo's house; he will disguise himself as "Don Alonso," a substitute for Rosina’s music teacher, Don Basilio. Scene 2: Alone in the courtyard, Rosina admits to herself that she has fallen in love with the poor student who serenades her outside her window each morning. She resolves to marry him and writes a note to him. Figaro passes by and she convinces him to deliver

 

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the note. Just as she passes it to him, Dr. Bartolo returns and demands to know what is going on. Rosina will not say a word and he locks her in the house as punishment. Scene 3: Count Almaviva arrives at Dr. Bartolo's home, disguised as the substitute music teacher, "Don Alonso." When called to her music lesson, Rosina recognizes him at once, but plays along to fool Dr. Bartolo. Figaro shows up unexpectedly, insisting that he must shave Dr. Bartolo that afternoon. As he distracts Bartolo, the Count and Rosina plan their elopement. Bartolo eventually catches on and banishes Figaro and the Count immediately. He lies to Rosina and tells her that Figaro and the Count were only tricking her. She believes him, and offers to marry him. Dr. Bartolo runs off to draw up a marriage contract. While he is gone, Figaro and Count Almaviva return. The Count reveals his true identity to Rosina, who is overjoyed and the two agree to marry as soon as possible. Dr. Bartolo returns, but he is too late, and accepts the situation. Led by Figaro, all four characters accept their lives happily. THE END

 

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2015-2016 Toledo Opera Resident Artists Devon Desm ond, baritone (Figaro) A native of Toledo, baritone Devon Desmond is currently a voice student at the University of Toledo. His credits include Toby in The Medium, Top in The Tender Land, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, Tom/John in The Face on the Ballroom Floor, and the title role in Gianni Schicchi. As an actor, Mr. Desmond has performed as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, for which he was nominated to compete in the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival. Brandon M orales, baritone (Bartolo) Born in San Antonio, TX, baritone Brandon Morales has performed with many opera companies across the United States. Highlights include the title role in Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea, and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro. In Ohio, Mr. Morales has performed with Dayton Opera, NANOWorks Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, Queen City Chamber Opera, Clermont Philharmonic and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Recently, Mr. Morales toured with Opera Saratoga, Portland Opera, and Cincinnati Opera performing the roles of the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other recent roles include Dr. Malatesta in San Antonio Opera Piccola's Don Pasquale and Friedrich von Telramund in the Wagner Society of Cincinnati's concert of Lohengrin. With Cincinnati Opera, Mr. Morales has performed several comprimario roles and work-shopped new operas with Ricky Ian Gordan and Terence Blanchard. Giles Sim m er, soprano (Rosina) Giles Simmer is a native of Atlanta who now calls Detroit her home. She has performed with a number of regional opera companies such as Opera Grand Rapids, Arbor Opera Theatre, Comic Opera Guild, and the Michigan Opera Theatre. She also joined Opera MODO for their first Detroit season in the roles of Le Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon and Julia Child in Hoiby’s Bon Appetit. Giles has been recognized in several national voice competitions including the William C. Byrd Competition, the Orpheus National Music Competitions, Opera Maya Papaya Competition, and the NATS Voice Competition. Giles earned her B.A. in Music from Hillsdale College and her M.M. in Vocal Performance at Western Michigan University. Sasha Noori, tenor Tenor Sasha Noori received both his Bachelors and M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Toledo where he was awarded the Barbara Rondelli Perry award. While at the University of Toledo he sang roles that included Martin in The Tender Land, Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte, and Orfeo in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Mr. Noori has often performed at the Toledo Art Song Festival where he has presented a variety of German Lieder, French Mélodie, and American art songs. He sings in the chorus of both Toledo Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre. M adeline Harts, pianist Madeline Harts is thrilled to begin her second year as a Toledo Opera Resident Artist; in 2014-2015 she was appointed as Soprano Resident Artist and is now continuing as the Piano Resident Artist this season. Madeline is a coloratura soprano from Buffalo, New York and has appeared in Toledo Opera productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, Susannah, Faust, Aïda, Don Giovanni, and debuted as the Shepherd Boy in last year’s production of Tosca. Ms. Harts has sung with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and is a chorister at the historic Mariners Church of Detroit. She studied piano at Buffalo Community Music School and holds degrees in Voice Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College (BM) and Voice Performance from Bowling Green State University (MM). Ms. Harts is also the Director of Community Engagement and Assistant Director of Arts Education for Toledo Opera.  

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Setting the Scene: Where are we?

Seville Has a warm climate and is the fourth largest city in Spain. Is home to the famous sport of Bullfighting, flamenco music and dancing.

 

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! FIGARO ! The Master Barber Listen to the aria Largo al factotum at http://www.toledoopera.org

Largo al factotum – Make way for the factotum! This is the original title of Figaro’s aria and factotum actually means, “do everything” in Latin. In his aria, Figaro talks about how he is a servant to the people – he does everything for them! He is ready day and night and always on hand to help ladies and gentlemen with all their problems – from wigging and hair cutting to writing notes and pulling teeth. He sings the aria in a style called “patter singing” which involves lots of words in quick succession and lots of tongue twisters. It is one of the most difficult baritone arias to perform. Wash  and  cut   hair  

Make  wigs  

Shaving  

Dentist  

Tattoo   artist  

Doctor/Surgeon   Matchmaker  

Give   manicures/   pedicures  

Mail  service  

What did barbers do? Today we know that barbers cut hair, but back in Figaro’s time there was a slew of other chores that barbers were in charge of – many of which Figaro mentions in his aria!

 

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Maestro Rossini and his Music Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) is often referred to as one of the greatest composers of opera that ever lived. He was known primarily for an operatic style of is own invention called bel canto or beautiful singing. This bel canto singing is made up of beautiful florid passages that contain lots of scales and arpeggios, often moving quickly in succession. Rossini composed 39 operas over the span of his lifetime, and The Barber of Seville is widely considered his most popular work. The story of the fun and multi-talented barber, Figaro playing match maker between the lovely Rosina and disguised Count Almaviva is continuously performed all over the world and has been adapted for movies, the stage, and even a Looney Tunes cartoon. Rossini began composing opera when he was just 13 years old and was heavily influenced by the music of Haydn and Mozart. Other operas that Rossini is famous for are La Cenerentola (Cinderella), The Lady of the Lake, and William Tell.

“Give me a laundry list and I’ll set it to music.” “Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind.”

 

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WHAT IS OPERA?

An Opera is a Story Told in Song Everyone enjoys movies and musicals, but have you ever thought about what people did for fun before these things existed? The answer is Opera!

What is an opera? In many ways an opera is like a play or a movie. Actors tell an audience a story by pretending to be characters in a situation, often with costumes, props, and scenery to help define the time and place of what is happening. The big difference is in an opera the words are sung, often accompanied by one or more instruments, like a piano or even a whole orchestra.

What’s the difference between opera and musicals? There are two big differences between opera and musicals. Firstly, in musicals actors frequently have scenes without singing where lines are spoken. In opera, however, nearly all the lines are sung. Secondly, the style of singing is different. In a musical, singers work with microphones and speakers to amplify or make their voices louder so they can be heard easily in large theaters, like they do in pop recordings or in church. But in an opera, singers have to fill large theaters with their voices without amplification, and they often have to sing louder, over large group of instruments, and for longer periods of time in one breath than would be required in a musical. As a result, opera singers tend to sing louder, and with a different tone, or sound, than you’re used to hearing or could do yourself without years of special training. Despite these differences, operas and musical theater shows have a lot in common, and the two art forms have existed side-by-side throughout history.

How is an opera made? Creating operas is done through lots of teamwork, with many people working hard to create one work of art. The Composer and Librettist First, a librettist will identify a story he or she wants to tell, and write a libretto (Italian for “little book”), like the script in a play, containing all the words that will be sung in the opera. Often this libretto will adapt a story that is very popular among audiences in another genre, like a play, a book, a piece of mythology, or a historical event. Just like adapting a book to a movie, the librettist has to make choices about what to include and what to leave out so that the story will work well in a theater. Most importantly, however, he or she has to come up with words that work as lyrics, not just as sentences. This includes devices like rhyming, alliteration, and lines with similar numbers of syllables.

 

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A composer will then take the words and start setting them to music, deciding what notes the singers will sing and what the instrumentalists will play, using the music to enhance the drama of the words and situation. Once the score (a book containing all the musical notes and words together) is finished it gets handed off to a creative team that makes the composer and librettists’ ideas a reality. The Theatre Team A director, set, costume, lighting, and makeup designers decide how the action will happen across the stage, what the scenery and costumes will be, what colors and types of lights to use in different scenes, and how the appearance of the actors will be altered to make them look like their characters, all to draw the audience into the story. Carpenters, painters, seamstresses build the sets and costumes, electricians hang and connect lights above and on the sides of the stage. The Performers Finally, all these elements come together with singers (who have to memorize their parts, just like actors), a conductor (who leads the orchestra), and orchestra working together to present the opera. The singers are the performers that act on stage and create the opera through song, while the orchestra and conductor are in the orchestra pit. The team rehearses for weeks, making sure all the actors know their parts individually and together, coordinating and balancing the sound from the singers and the instrumentalists, and practicing the changes of scenery, costumes, and lighting. YOU! The Audience Finally, after much work, the opera gets enjoyed by an audience who may find themselves rapt with attention or cheering. To cheer for an opera, audiences use Italian words and clapping to show how much they appreciate and like the work that the whole cast has done. “Bravo!” is used for boy actors, “Brava!” is for girl actors, and “Bravi tutti!” is to cheer for everyone.

BRAVO!!!

 

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A Creative Team

  Buongiorno!       I  am  Rossini!  

Composer – writes the music for the operas

Director – directs the opera, tells performers where to go  

Musicians – play the musical score for the opera

Singers – Perform and sing the operas

Conductor – leads the orchestra and singers

It takes an entire team of people to put together an opera for performance. These are some members of the creative team that make an opera possible.

 

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Voice Types High Soprano: Rosina

Mezzo Soprano (Alto): Berta, she is not featured in our show

Tenor: Count Almaviva

Baritone: Figaro

Bass: Bartolo

Low

 

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STUDENT AND CLASS ACTIVITIES GRADES K-3

Before the Opera: 1. Listening Activity: Listen to the audio example of opera voices, can you hear a difference between the voices? (Visit www.toledoopera.org/clips for all audio clips and videos.) 2. What is an opera? This question can be answered in one sentence.

3. What does Figaro do as a factotum? (after watching the video of Figaro’s aria, Largo al factotum by visiting www.toledoopera.org/clips) In the opera, Figaro is a very busy man! He cuts hair, makes wigs, pulls teeth, and even delivers mail. What tasks do you do every day that make you busy?

After the Opera: 1. Personal Response to the Performance: Describe in writing and/or drawing what you liked best about the performance of The Barber of Seville. For example: My favorite character in the opera was: My favorite part or scene in the opera was:

 

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2. Circle Story: Using the Circle Story template, draw and write about four events that happened in sequence in The Barber of Seville, putting the first event in section #1 and continuing with the second event in section #2. You may think of the sections as the beginning of the story, two middle events and the end. Kindergarten students can focus their drawing on only one event and their individual drawings can then be sequenced as a whole class activity.                                                      

 

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GRADES 4-8

Before the Opera: 1. Listening Activity: Listen to the audio example of opera voices, can you hear a difference between the voices? Visit www.toledoopera.org/clips for all audio clips. 2. Semantic Map: What Is Opera? A short definition of opera would be “a story told in song.” However an opera is so much more. Complete the map by writing Opera in the circle and then naming the different elements that go into developing and performing an opera. You can also put items under an element (different types of singers such as sopranos or tenors; story types such as comedy and tragedy).

 

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3. Watch the video of Figaro’s aria, Largo al factotum (located at www.toledoopera.org/clips). Based on what you heard in the aria, what does Figaro do in his job as a factotum? Today’s equivalent of a factotum might be a person who has many roles to play in his or her work and family life or someone who multi-tasks! Can you think of someone in your life that is a factotum? Write a few sentences about who this person is and name the different roles that they fulfill.

 

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After the Opera: 1. Listen to each audio selection of artists from the opera. Match the voice type to the character and picture. (Visit www.toledoopera.org/clips for audio examples.) Tenor

Figaro  

Soprano

Bartolo  

Baritone

Count   Almaviva  

Bass

Rosina  

2.  Comprehension Strategy

Plot Relationships Chart

Completing a Plot Relationships Chart helps you identify the major parts of the opera’s story and develop an understanding of the relationships among characters, goals, problems and solutions. For The Barber of Seville, complete charts for two of the characters: Figaro, Rosina, Bartolo or Count Almaviva. You can write a summary using the information in each chart. .

 

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Plot Relationships Chart Somebody

Wanted (Goal)

But (Problem)

So (Solution)

Summary:

Teaching  Comprehension  Copyright © Thinking Works ® This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

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  3. Those who write reviews of live performances of an opera consider various aspects of the particular production that they experienced. Write your own review of The Barber of Seville by responding to the following items. -Give the music (vocal and piano performance) a grade, providing support for your grade. -Give the dramatic elements (staging and acting) a grade, providing support for your grade. -Give the visual elements (scenery and costumes) a grade, providing support for your grade.  

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