Barber of Seville.”  Strange as it may seem, it was at first condemned, not on its merits, but because the composer had trenched, as it was supposed, upon the ground already occupied by the favorite Paisiello, though he applied to the latter before writing it, and received his assurances that he had no objection to his use of the same subject.  “Otello” followed the “Barber” at Naples in 1816, and “Cenerentola” in 1817, and both were extraordinarily successful.  The “Gazza Ladra” was produced at Milan in 1817, and was followed by “Armida” at Naples in the same year.  His next great work was the oratorio, “Moses in Egypt,” which is also given as opera.  The “Donna del Lago,” based upon Walter Scott’s “Lady of the Lake,” was produced at Naples in 1819.  The same year he opened the Carnival in Milan with “Bianca e Faliero,” and before its close he produced “Maometto secondo” at Naples.  During the next two or three years his muse was very prolific, and in 1823 appeared another of his great works, “Semiramide,” which made a furor at Venice.  That year he went to London and gave concerts, in which he sang, and thence to Paris, which now became his home.  His greatest work for Paris was “William Tell,” which was produced in 1829, and it was also his last, though by an arrangement with the Government of Charles X. it was to be the first of a series of five.  The revolution of 1830 destroyed his plans.  In 1836 he heard Meyerbeer’s “Huguenots,” and resolved to write no more.  Four years before this he had written the “Stabat Mater,” but it was not produced complete until 1842.  From this time on he lived at his villa at Passy the life of a voluptuary and died there Nov. 13, 1868.  The catalogue of his works is immense, including fifty operas alone, of which in a necessarily brief sketch it has been possible to mention only those best known.

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.

“Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” an opera buffa in two acts, words by Sterbini, founded on Beaumarchais’s comedy, was first produced at the Argentina Theatre, Rome, Feb. 5, 1816, with the following cast:—­

ROSINA            Mme. GIORGI RIGHETTI. 
BERTAO            Mlle. ROSSI. 
FIGARO            Sig.  LUIGI ZAMBONI. 
COUNT ALMAVIVA    Sig.  GARCIA. 
BARTOLO           Sig.  BOTTICELLI. 
BASILIO           Sig.  VITTARELLI.

The story of the writing of “The Barber of Seville” is of more than ordinary interest.  Rossini had engaged to write two operas for the Roman Carnival of 1816.  The first was brought out Dec. 26, 1815, and the same day he bound himself to furnish the second by Jan. 20, 1816, with no knowledge of what the libretto would be.  Sterbini furnished him with the story of the “Barber” by piecemeal, and as fast as the verses were given him he wrote the music.  The whole work was finished in less than three weeks.  Its original title was “Almaviva, ossia l’inutile precauzione,” to distinguish it from Paisiello’s