L’Italiana in Algeri Page 1

L’Italiana in Algeri

“The Italian Girl in Algiers”

D

ramma giocoso, “humorous drama”

in Italian in two acts

Music

by

Gioacchino Rossini

Libretto: substantially adapted from

Angelo Anelli’s libretto for Luigi Mosca’s

earlier opera, L’Italiana in Algeri (1808).

Premiere: Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 1813.

Adapted from the

Opera Journeys Lecture Series

by

Burton D. Fisher

Story Synopsis

Page 2

Principal Characters in the Opera

Page 2

Story Narrative with Music Highlights

Page 3

Rossini and L’Italiana in Algeri

Page 15

Opera Journeys™ Mini Guide Series

Published © Copywritten by

Opera Journeys

www.operajourneys.com

L’Italiana in Algeri Page 2

Story Synopsis

Mustafà, the Bey of Algiers, has tired of his wife,

Elvira: he commands his captain, Ali, to find an
immediate replacement for her. Simultaneously, he
orders Lindoro, an Italian recently captured and
enslaved, to marry Elvira and leave Algiers.

A storm causes a shipwreck, and among the

prisoners is Isabella, accompanied by a suitor,
Taddeo. Isabella is in search of her long lost lover,
Lindoro.

Isabella is brought to Mustafà: he immediately falls

in love with her, envisioning her as the beautiful
replacement of Elvira. Isabella is determined to escape
from Algiers and rescue her beloved Lindoro. She
initiates Mustafà into a secret society: the Pappatacci,
its most important ritual that its members, in order to
be model husbands, must “Eat and be silent.” While
Mustafà dutifully abides by his Pappatacci oath,
Isabella and Lindoro escape.

Mustafà realizes that he has been deceived, but

the experience awakens him: he renounces the
resourcefulness of Italian women, and takes Elvira
back as his wife, begging her forgiveness.

The story concludes with a moral: A good woman

is always going to have her way, so men must accept
it.

Principal Characters in the Opera

Mustafà, Bey of Algiers

Bass

Elvira, wife of Mustafà

Soprano

Lindoro, an Italian slave of Mustafà

Tenor

Isabella, a young Italian lady

Soprano

Zulma, slave, confidante,
and lady-in-waiting to Elvira Mezzo-Soprano
Ali, (or Haly)
Captain of the Algerian pirates

Bass

Taddeo, companion of Isabella

Bass

Eunuchs, Algerian pirates, Italian slaves,

and women of the harem.

TIME AND PLACE: Early 19

th

century.

Algiers, in Algeria,

the Barbary coast of North Africa.

L’Italiana in Algeri Page 3

Story Narrative with Music Highlights

Act 1 – Scene 1: The palace of Mustafà, the Bey
of Algiers.

Elvira, the Bey’s Italian wife, tells a group of

eunuchs that her husband has become bored with her:
he has denounced her and has commanded her to
leave Algiers. Zulma, her lady-in-waiting, together
with the court eunuchs, express sympathy for her
anguish and try to console her, urging her to have
courage and not yield to despair. Elvira swears that
she would do anything to have her honor and dignity
restored, but most of all, return to Mustafà’s good
graces.

Mustafà and his entourage arrive: he is heedless

to Elvira’s pleas and arrogantly confirms his might and
power; nothing can dissuade him from his decision to
abandon Elvira.

Delle donne l’arroganza,

Mustafà dismisses all except Ali, the Captain of

his pirates, reiterating to him that Elvira bores him to
death. He has decided to free the handsome young
Italian slave, Lindoro: he shall become Elvira’s new
husband, and he will ship both to Italy.

Mustafà, finding all the women in his harem

capricious and unsatisfying, seeks another woman –
an Italian woman - to satisfy his lust and fancy. He
orders Ali to find him a replacement for Elvira, allowing
him six days to find a suitable substitute; if he fails, he
will be impaled.

Meanwhile, the enslaved Lindoro despairs, longing

for home as well as his beloved Isabella.

Languir per una bella,

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Mustafà briskly interrupts the lamenting

Lindoro to inform him that he has arranged his
marriage and his freedom, assuring him that his
new wife is the soul-mate he has yearned for; a
dazzling and astounding woman. Mustafà
proceeds to describe the attributes of this rare,
perfect woman: she has money, grace, charm,
beauty, and is a tender woman with loving
passion; she possesses beautiful eyes, a
magnificent complexion, and has a slender figure.

Lindoro, who has just lamented his lost love,

becomes perplexed and confounded, telling Mustafà
that this new wife could never possess his heart. In a
rollicking interchange, both men trade opinions on the
desirability of the proposed match.

Duet: Se inclinassi a prender moglie,

Act I – Scene 2: The seashore.

During a storm, a ship is stranded off the coast.

Ali and his pirates capture the survivors and bring
them to land. They praise their booty: hearty Italian
slaves, and beautiful women. Among them is the
exceptionally beautiful Isabella whom Ali immediately
envisions as a perfect gift for his lecherous master;
the replacement he seeks for Elvira..

Isabella is accompanied by Taddeo, her traveling

companion and infatuated admirer. She has come to
Algiers to find and rescue her beloved Lindoro,
abducted by the Algerian pirates: she mourns her
misfortune in becoming shipwrecked.

Cruda sorte!

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Isabella is a woman possessing courage and

resourcefulness: she expresses her
determination to overcome her dilemma; now she
has become the victim of men, but she will use
her wiles to tame and vanquish them.

While Isabella affirms to Taddeo that she is

fearless and resolved to escape from their captivity,
they are confronted by Ali and his pirates who plan to
seize and enslave Taddeo. Isabella intervenes, telling
them that Taddeo cannot leave her side because he is
her uncle and protector. Ali decides to bring them
both to the Bey, confident that he will be providing his
master with the brightest new star in his harem.

Isabella, now alone with Taddeo, expresses her

confidence and resolve: if she is forced to become
the Bey’s mistress, she will find a way to surmount
her dilemma. At the same time, she rebukes the lustful
Taddeo, rejecting him and ordering him to stop his
amorous advances toward her: he indeed knows that
she has but one passion; her beloved Lindoro.

Taddeo laments his bad fortune: in the end, he

has become merely Isabella’s protective “uncle,” and
now a captive slave fated to end his life inside a harem.

Duet: Ai capricci della sorte

Nevertheless, Isabella and Taddeo decide to unite:

they will become allies rather than fight amongst each
other, Isabella assuring the worrying Taddeo that with
his trust and faith in her, she will find a way out of their
predicament.

Act I – Scene 3: A hall in Mustafà’s palace

Zulma, acting as an intermediary between Elvira

and Lindoro, is confused and bewildered because
Lindoro refuses to marry the charming Elvira, and
likewise, Elvira refuses to marry this handsome young
man. Elvira expresses her resolve: although Mustafà

L’Italiana in Algeri Page 6

has spurned her, she is determined to remain his
wife.

Mustafà arrives and announces the

wonderful news that an Italian ship has
propitiously arrived in the harbor, and Lindoro
can board the ship in freedom, as long as Elvira
accompanies him. Despondently, Lindoro
contemplates his misfortune: he must marry
Elvira to achieve freedom, and at the same time, he
will no longer be free to marry his real beloved,
Isabella.

Ali arouses Mustafà’s excitement by informing him

that they have captured a beautiful Italian girl,
describing her as the woman he has longed for, and
the perfect replacement for his wife. With arrogant
pride, Mustafà gloats as he anticipates meeting the
signorina, a new conquest that will contribute to his
fame. He commands Ali to immediately bring him the
rare Italian beauty.

Già d’insolito ardore

Zulma is perplexed and bewildered, unable to

understand how Elvira can still love Mustafà after he
heartlessly decreed her banishment: Elvira confirms
that she loves him in spite of his cruelty and unkindness.

Lindoro announces that their ship is ready to sail.

Elvira sighs in sorrow, but Lindoro advises her not to
fret, assuring her that in Italy she will find a host of
young admirers, men who will adore her beyond her
wildest dreams.

Act I – Scene 4: A magnificent hall in Mustafà’s
palace

Mustafà is seated royally as he awaits the

presentation of the Italian girl: he is surrounded by
eunuchs and the women of his harem. The eunuchs
wait impatiently and with expectation, relishing the

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opportunity to witness Mustafà revealing his
great secrets: he will prove to them that he is
indeed the great tamer of women.

Ali presents Isabella: la bella Italiana, “The

beautiful Italian girl.”

Trio: O che muso,

Isabella observes this lecherous, hilarious dolt, and

recoils in horror. Mustafà is immediately mesmerized,
seduced, and enchanted by the beautiful Isabella, but
even though crazed with lust, he decides to behave
with dignity: he will be calm, reserved, self-possessed,
and indifferent.

Isabella, with craft and cunning, launches her plan

to defeat the vulnerable Mustafà. She tells him that
she is poor, unhappy, weak, helpless, and desperately
in need of his protection: he alone can console her
bleeding heart. Mustafà yields to Isabella’s
enchantment, becoming ensnared by her wiles, and
losing all of his will power.

Taddeo intrudes to announce that as Isabella’s

uncle, he must remain with her. Irritated and annoyed,
Mustafà orders Taddeo impaled at once. However,
Isabella intervenes, and seductively charms the Bey
into revoking his order to execute Taddeo.

Elvira, Lindoro, and Zulma, arrive to say their

farewells, flattering Mustafà and telling him that their
parting fills them with emotion and devotion: they will
always remember his kindness.

Isabella is stunned to see Lindoro. Likewise,

Mustafà is mystified as he watches the long-lost lovers,
who, with suppressed ardor, express delight, yet their
confusion and frustration.

Isabella is told that Elvira is Mustafà’s former wife,

the woman he no longer wants and has abandoned,
and that Mustafà has freed the slave, Lindoro, so he
can marry Elvira. Isabella becomes appalled by the
barbarity of their customs, telling Mustafà that he must
change them, cunningly advising him that she could

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never love a man who treated his wife the way
he has treated Elvira. Mustafà, seeking to please
the woman whose love he now craves, concedes
to Isabella: Elvira and Lindoro will remain, but
acceding to Isabella’s wishes, he will assign
Lindoro to become Isabella’s slave.

The entire company erupts into agitated

excitement: the omnipotent Mustafà has been tamed,
but all suspect duplicity. In their confusion and
bewilderment, they envision themselves sinking in a
ship that is being tossed about in a stormy ocean.

Act II – Scene 1: A hall in the palace.

The eunuchs muse about Mustafà’s defeat: he was

once the great tamer of woman, but he has now
transformed into a besotted lover, a victim of the clever
Italian girl: Elvira is in disbelief; Ali is anxious but moved
to laughter; and Zulma concludes that the Italian girl
may yet reform Mustafà and ultimately teach him
virtue.

Mustafà arrives and commands the ladies to tell

the signorina that he wishes to have coffee with her
in her room. Mustafà is resigned to a new strategy: he
will cater to Isabella’s womanly pride and then she
will no longer resist him. All leave.

Isabella arrives and rues her misfortune;

imprisoned in a harem, and Lindoro, the man she loves,
unfaithful and about to marry another.

Lindoro appears, and the lovers are alone for

the first time. Lindoro convinces Isabella that Mustafà
forced this unfortunate fate upon him, however, he
only promised to be Elvira’s escort, not her husband.
Their love and faith is restored, and they plot their
escape. Isabella convinces Lindoro to place his
absolute trust in her ingenuity to devise a clever ruse
to guarantee their freedom.

Left alone, Lindoro expresses his joy and

happiness: at last he and Isabella have become united;
his suffering was not in vain, and now, fortune smiles
upon him.

Ah come il cor di giubilo

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Mustafà returns, followed by Taddeo, Ali,

the eunuchs, and two moors who carry a turban,
an enormous Turkish garment, and a saber.

Taddeo begs Mustafà to be merciful and save

him from the barbarians who are chasing him and want
to impale him. Mustafà decides to use Isabella’s
“uncle” to help him become ingratiated with his niece.
He bestows upon Taddeo the title of Kaimakan, a
luogotenènte, or lieutenant; Taddeo has become one
of Mustafà’s bodyguards. Taddeo, fearful of his new
duties, reluctantly accepts the honor and is
congratulated by the eunuchs who bless him as their
friend and protector.

The Moors dress Taddeo in lavish Turkish clothes

that include a large turban and saber. Taddeo finds
the Turkish garments quite unbearable, but rather than
complain, he decides to be prudent and avoid
Mustafà’s anger, concluding that it is better to be a
Kaimakan than be dead and buried.

Ho un gran peso sulla testa

Taddeo goes off to perform his first duty, his

survival dependent on convincing Isabella to be
gracious to Mustafà.

Act II – Scene 2:
Another part of the palace. Isabella stands before
a large mirror as she dresses in Turkish attire.

Elvira and Zulma advise Isabella that Mustafà

wishes to join her for coffee. Isabella orders her slave,
Lindoro, to bring 3 coffees, but Elvira cautions her
that Mustafà will become enraged if Lindoro is
present. Isabella tells them not to worry because she
fears him not, and she will take full charge of the
situation. Zulma and Elvira depart.

As Isabella resumes dressing before the mirror.

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Mustafà, Taddeo, and Lindoro, secretly observe
her, however, she is well aware of their presence
and sings a love song, a song directed to her
beloved Lindoro, that deceives Mustafà into
believing that she sings about her love for him.
Aside, Isabella vows revenge against Mustafà:
in this battle of the sexes she will force him to
surrender, and she will repay him for his cruelty.
Ultimately, she is determined and resolved to
rescue her beloved Lindoro.

Per lui che adoro

Mustafà, after overhearing Isabella’s words of

love, erupts into eager expectation. He orders
Lindoro, and his new Kaimakan, Taddeo, to bring
Isabella to him.

Lindoro returns with Isabella, whispering to

Mustafà confidentially that Isabella adores him, but
that he should court her gently and graciously.
Mustafà, anticipating a private moment with Isabella,
orders Taddeo that when he sneezes, he is to leave
immediately.

Mustafà, Isabella, Taddeo, Lindoro, and Elvira,

sing in a quintet, Ti presento di mia man: Mustafà
presents Taddeo to Isabella as his Kaikaman; Lindoro
points out to Mustafà that Isabella is beautifully attired,
an obvious invitation for him to court her; and Isabella
addresses Mustafà as mio caro, “my darling.”
Immediately, Mustafà sneezes, his signal to Taddeo
to leave, however, Taddeo misses his cue and remains,
provoking Mustafà to seethe with anger and threaten
him.

Mustafà tries vainly to be alone with Isabella but

two Moors arrive with coffee. Isabella invites Elvira
to join them for coffee, her attempt to reconcile Elvira
with her husband: coffee à deux has now become
coffee à quatre. Frustrated, Mustafà explodes into
anger, condemning all as traitors and swearing revenge
because his plan to be intimate with Isabella has ended
in chaos and confusion.

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Ali muses about the wiles of Italian women,

predicting that in spite of Mustafà’s bravado, he will
fail, unable to cope with the wily Isabella. Ali has
traveled the world, concluding that Italian women are
strikingly superior to all other women, far
surpassing all the rest with their intelligence and
charm.

Le femmine d’Italia son disinvolte e scaltre,

Mustafà has become aggravated and annoyed at

Isabella who has frustrated his initiatives, but Lindoro
reassures him that Isabella indeed loves him very much.
He advises Mustafà that Isabella has planned a
splendid banquet to honor him and bequeath him into
the order of Pappatacci, “Papa dummy,” literally, one
who eats greedily and keeps silent.

Lindoro explains that Pappatacci is a rare and

very exalted title that cannot be inherited, and is
bestowed as a unique tribute to a man who is so
attractive to women, that they cannot cease their
swooning and sighing.

Lindoro explains the duties of a Pappatacci: its

members lead a life devoted exclusively to eating,
drinking, and sleeping, and they must vow to keep
silent during whatever dramas play around them.
Mustafà becomes delighted, flattered, and honored.

The ‘Pappataci’ trio:
Mustafà, Taddeo, and Lindoro

Isabella exhorts the Italian slaves, urging them to

be brave and courageous, and not despair or be
frightened: they must place their trust and faith in her,
and in the end, they will be rescued and see their
homeland.

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Rondo: Pensa alla patria

Isabella, alone with Lindoro, affirms her love

Isabella, alone with Lindoro, affirms her love

for him: their love will give them courage, and
they will succeed in escaping from Algiers.

Mustafà anxiously awaits his initiation into the

Pappatacci.

The Pappatacci band arrives, the horn players

resounding the call to begin the ceremony. Mustafà
sincerely hopes that he will be worthy and be accepted
into the order: if he succeeds, they will receive his
gratitude.

Isabella ceremoniously addresses Mustafà,

assuring him that if he achieves the honored rank of
Pappatacci, all the ladies will faint at his feet.

Taddeo reads from a scroll, and Mustafà repeats

his oath:

Di veder e non veder.
“What I see I shall not see.”

Di sentir e non sentir.
“What I hear I shall not hear.”

Per mangiar e per goder.
“While I eat and drink with glee.”

Di lasciare fare e dir.
“Letting nothing interfere.”

Io qui giuro e poi scongiuro.
“So I swear upon my honor.”

Pappatacci Mustafa

The chorus congratulates him that he has

progressed well. Mustafà is ready for his final test.

Giuro inoltre all’occasion.
“While I drink and while I eat.”

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Di portar torcia e lampion.
“I shall never leave my seat.”

E se manco al giuramento.
“I will do what I have sworn.”

Più non abbia un pel sul mento.
“Or my whiskers shall be shorn.”

All celebrate Mustafà’s induction into the

Pappatacci. Lindoro announces that it is time for
dinner. Mustafà is ordered to start eating dinner and
abide by the first rule of the exclusive order: just eat,
drink, and ignore what is happening around him.

Isabella tests Mustafà’s capacity for silence and

flirts with Lindoro. Mustafà turns to anger but is
reprimanded by Taddeo: he must keep his
Pappatacci vows and eat, keep his eyes shut, and
be silent.

In the background, a ship appears at the port.
While the Pappatacci ceremony proceeds,

Isabella and Lindoro begin to leave. Taddeo betrays
them and advises Mustafà that he has been tricked,
however, Mustafà diligently abides by the Pappatacci
rules and continues to eat and drink: What I see I
shall not see. What I hear I shall not hear. So I
swear upon my honor. Pappatacci Mustafà!

Suddenly Mustafà realizes that the Italians have

escaped and calls for his soldiers and eunuchs, but
they are drunk and asleep. Mustafà concedes that
Italian girls are too clever for him. He has learned his
lesson and begs Elvira’s forgiveness, and promises to
reinstate her as his wife.

All the Algerians bid farewell and wish good

fortune to Isabella, Lindoro, and the Italians. Isabella
has been victorious. She rescued her lover, and taught
Mustafà and the Algerians a profound lesson: a strong
minded woman can never be defeated, and will always
win and conquer.

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L’Italiana in Algeri Page 15

Rossini…………..........and L’Italiana in Algeri

G

ioacchino Antonio Rossini, 1792 –1868, was
the most important Italian opera composer during

the first half of the nineteenth century: the primo
ottocento.

Rossini’s entire generation proclaimed him the

undisputed king of opera composers, living or dead,
and in the eyes of the Italian opera world, he was
idolized and adored, towering significantly over
Mozart, Gluck, or even Beethoven.

Though Rossini is best known for his opera

buffas, his comic and satiric operas, he also composed
opera serias, operas with serious themes. Whatever
the particular genre, all of his music contains a unique
melodic inventiveness and rhythmic vitality, special
features that became the inspiration to his illustrious
contemporaries, Bellini and Donizetti, as well as the
young Verdi.

Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy. As a child, he

displayed exceptional musical talent, which earned him
entry into the Bologna Conservatory at the age of
twelve. In 1810, at the age of eighteen, he wrote his
first opera, La Cambiale di Matrimonio, “The
Marriage Contract,” but his first substantial success
occurred two years later with his opera, La Pietra
del Paragone, “The Touchstone,” introduced at La
Scala and given fifty performances in its first season.
Tancredi, “Tancrède,” based on Voltaire, and
L’Italiana in Algieri, “The Italian Girl in Algiers,”
were even more successful triumphs. By the age of
twenty-one, Rossini’s early successes established him
as the indisputable idol of the Italian opera public.

In 1815, he was engaged to write new works as

well as direct two opera companies in Naples. His
first opera under that arrangement was Elisabetta,
written expressly for the popular Spanish prima donna,
Isabella Colbran, the former mistress of the King of
Naples, and later the woman who would become his
wife and for whom he would write several operas.

In 1816, Rossini wrote his celebrated opera

buffa masterpiece, The Barber of Seville. Even
though a combination of circumstances spelled disaster
for the opera at its premiere, on its second evening
the opera was acclaimed, and with each successive

L’Italiana in Algeri Page 16

performance, it gained new admirers. Today, it is
generally considered the greatest comic
masterpiece in the entire operatic canon.

In 1822, after marrying Isabella Colbran, Rossini

left Italy for Vienna, where he and his operas became
the rage, and two years later, he went to Paris to direct
the Théâtre des Italiens. Rossini’s popularity in Paris
was so great that Charles X gave him a contract to
write five new operas a year, and at the expiration of
the contract, he was to receive a generous pension
for life.

During his Paris years, between 1824 and 1829,

Rossini composed the comic opera Le Comte d’Ory,
“Count Ory,” and the opera many consider his most
serious masterpiece, Guillaume Tell, “William Tell”
(1829), the latter a political epic adapted from
Schiller’s play (1804) about the thirteenth century
Swiss patriot who rallied his country against the
Austrians. The stylistic innovations Rossini introduced
in both these works were momentous and would
eventually influence composers as different as Adam,
Meyerbeer, Offenbach, Verdi, and Wagner.

Rossini’s contemporary audience considered his

music like vintage wine, always improving with age,
and never growing sour or flat. His music was always
fresh, gay, simple, and saturated with sparkling
melodies and an inexhaustible joie de vivre; his music
was easily understood at first hearing, and never
required the discovery of an underlying significance.

Though Rossini was only thirty-eight years old

when he completed William Tell, he had already
composed thirty-eight operas. Rossini would put down
his operatic pen, retire, and live for thirty-eight years
more, never again writing another note for an opera.
He was at the height of his creative powers and a
world-renowned figure, yet in the subsequent four
decades of his life, he produced only some sacred
music, a few songs, and some instrumental and piano
pieces.

Rossini did not fit into the conventional picture of

the starving composer: few composers in their lifetimes
ever enjoyed such phenomenal success, and he
literally sat on top of the music world, becoming
pleasantly intoxicated with his well-deserved success.

Nevertheless, his sudden withdrawal from the

L’Italiana in Algeri Page 17

world of opera has inspired much conjecture. Some
scholars have concluded that Rossini’s indolence and
laziness had gotten the better of him after he had
achieved such immense wealth: others claim that the
initial failure of William Tell to achieve success had
embittered him; that he was disappointed that his fame
had become overshadowed by the popularity of those
grand opera spectacles of Meyerbeer and Halévy
which replaced his opera buffas; and still others
suggest that Rossini’s neurasthenia, a mental disorder
characterized by fatigue and anxiety, as well as his
debilitating bout with gonorrhea, had become too
serious after 1830 and prohibited him from work.

While in his retirement, Rossini became a major

figure in the social and cultural life of Paris. He had
become esteemed as Europe’s leading composer, and
his overtures were even compared to those of
Beethoven. He relished the title, “the music emperor
of Europe,” and he certainly lived like one, maintaining
homes in Italy, Paris, and a summer villa in rural France.
Rossini had become rich, famous, and gourmand-
stomached.

After finally marrying Olympe Pélissier, a woman

whom he had loved for years but could not marry
until his first wife died, he reigned like a nineteenth-
century prince in his luxurious Paris apartment, where
he entertained friends in the grand manner, granted
audiences, held court, and offered commentaries.
Legends report that the young classical composer
Camille Saint-Saëns would be anxiously sitting in one
corner of Rossini’s home waiting his turn at the piano,
and in another, a famous singer would likewise be
preparing to entertain the bejeweled ladies.

Rossini’s death was brought about by

complications following a heart attack. He was buried
in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but at the request
of the Italian government, his body was removed to
Florence where he is buried in the cemetery of the
Santa Croce Church.

Thirty-eight years was a long retirement, and a

long time to be devoted to Rossini’s legacy of
gourmand eating, attractive women, and sharp
witticisms. Nevertheless, the most famous opera
composer of his generation preferred to remain silent
musically, and in spite of his personal problems and
illnesses, one could easily conjecture that perhaps he

L’Italiana in Algeri Page 18

was satisfied that he had said all he ever wanted to
say in the last dramatic scene of William Tell: it was
a passionate cry for liberty during an historical time of
severe tension between reform and revolution.

R

ossini was a remarkably productive composer,
completing an average of two operas per year

for nineteen years, and in some years writing as many
as four operas. His operatic muse worked quickly,
and it is reputed that he composed The Barber of
Seville in three weeks, and at a later time, boasted to
Wagner that he had written the opera in thirteen days.

Rossini was constantly balancing the tensions

between mediocrity and genius. His prolific rate of
opera production was made possible by his amazing
creative facilities, his fluent technical resources and
capabilities, his nimble craftsmanship, and his fertile
melodic inventiveness. What helped increase his
voluminous output was his capacity for making
compromises. It could be conjectured that Rossini
had the temperament of a hack, often using poor
material to overcome a lack of inspiration or
“composer’s block.” It is rumored that he even
permitted other composers to interpolate numbers of
their own into his works, and he often conveniently
borrowed ideas from his older operas, although that
practice is universal for all composers: The Barber
of Seville Overture is derived from a medley of
themes from his previous opera, Aureliano in
Palmira, which also furnished the melodic framework
for Rosina’s aria in The Barber; Una voce poca fa.

Nevertheless, Rossini was a true genius who could

bring the most sublime melodic inspiration into his
writing, what Verdi would call, “an abundance of true
musical ideas.” His bold experiments brought
significant innovations to the opera genre: he perfected
what is today called the Rossini crescendo, earning
him the pseudonyms Signor crescendo and Signor
accelerando. Those techniques repeated a phrase
over and over in rapid tempo with no variation save
that of volume: the technique facilitated an explosion
of patter and genuine excitement in his scores, and to
this day, represent his unique, identifying musical
signature.

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Rossini was one of the first composers to write

out cadenzas instead of allowing the singer to improvise
them: he was a pioneer in accompanying recitatives
with strings instead of piano or harpsichord; and he
developed his ensembles to almost symphonic
proportions. His more profound use of orchestra,
together with his inventive creation of orchestral effects
and coloration, provided a unique expressiveness. In
particular, his overtures, which are performed in
concert with extreme frequency, remain examples of
his outstanding orchestral achievements: La Gazza
Laddra, Semiramide, and, of course, the William
Tell Overture, the latter familiar to millions as the
Lone Ranger Theme.

Rossini’s greatness lies in the fact that he not only

composed great comic operas, but serious operas as
well. The best pages of his serious operas have power
and passion, and his best comic operas are marked
with a dashing spontaneity, verve, and gaiety; he
mastered the art of mixing humor with pathos. Among
his most important operas are: La Scale di Seta
(1812); La Pietra del Paragone (1812); Il Signor
Bruschino (1813); Tancredi (1813); L’Italiana in
Algieri (1813); Elisabetta (1815); II Barbiere di
Siviglia (1815); Otello (1816); La Cenerentola
(1817); La Gazza Ladra (1817); Armida (1817);
Mosè in Egitto (1818); La Donna del Lago (1819);
Zelmira (1822); Semiramide (1823); Le Siège de
Corinthe (1826), Le Comte d’Ory (1828); and
Guillaume Tell.

R

ossini, together with his contemporaries, Bellini
and Donizetti, were the Italian triumvirate of the

bel canto opera tradition that dominated early
nineteenth century opera: bel canto literally means
“beautiful singing.”

The bel canto style is voice concentrated, and

demands singing with beauty, elegance, flexibility, an
assured technique, bravura, vocal acrobatics, and
virtuosity. At the beginning of the nineteenth century
in Italy, music meant opera, and opera to the Italians
meant singing: opera became an art form with scientific
foundations that displayed the technical versatility of
the voice as well as the Italian propensity for beautiful
melody.

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Rossini composed exclusively in the bel canto

tradition: all of his music contains beautiful melodic
lines which require singing virtuosity. Often bel canto,
coloratura, and even fioritura, are synonymous
terms used interchangeably, but primarily, they all
stress an elaborate and brilliant ornamentation of the
vocal line in which the concentration is on the voice
and melody.

Bel canto and its vocal fireworks, when

performed intelligently, inherently provide
dramatic poignancy and eloquence: in this style,
it is the voice and vocal line, together with vocal
fireworks, virtuosity, and bravura that become
the preeminent features of the art-form. As a
consequence, lyricism dominates, and by
necessity, the orchestra becomes a secondary
ingredient, generally an accompanist that is
subdued when the singer is singing, regardless
of what is transpiring dramatically.

The dramatic intensity of many bel canto librettos

receives minor praise from our modern music-drama
centered audiences: in the bel canto tradition, drama
and dramatic continuity were generally secondary
considerations to the art of singing. In retrospect, many
of those bel canto librettos could be considered
humdrum and hackneyed, even though an abundant
number of them were written by extremely talented
and original craftsmen.

Nevertheless, it has been the freshness of the

underlying music of bel canto operas that has
compelled many opera-goers to overlook the librettos,
and contemporary champions of the tradition have
proven that there can be real drama in these works.
In this style, dramatic effects and pathos are expressed
primarily through the inflection of the vocal line:
therefore, coloratura passages achieve their dramatic
effects through dynamics, becoming bent and flexed,
stretched, speeded up, or slowed down.

The opera seria, or serious operatic style which

had reached its peak during the mid-eighteenth
century, provided an exquisite means to display and
glorify the voice: drama would be expressed through
vocal bravura in operas such as Handel’s Julius
Caesar (1723), and Mozart’s Idomeneo (1781). In
later melodramas composed in the Romantic era, or
the bel canto era, the voice became the instrument to

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convey drama: the sleepwalking heroine in Bellini’s
La Sonnambula (1831), the Mad Scene in
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), and
later, Lady Macbeth’s Sleepwalking scene in
Verdi’s Macbeth (1847).

Those three great masters, Rossini, Bellini,

and Donizetti, have left a legacy of bel canto
operas for posterity: the preeminence of their
works on our contemporary stage remains proof
that the art form is not only captivating, but a
classic art form capable of continuous
rejuvenation. Certainly, the art form is very much
alive in the contemporary opera theater, as
proven by the success of recent superstars of
the genre: Maria Callas, Alfredo Kraus, Marilyn
Horne, Joan Sutherland, and currently, Cecilia
Bartoli, and Jeniffer Larmore.

In the bel canto period, it was the singer’s day:

opera existed for the express purpose of showing off
the voice, and in each of Rossini’s thirty-eight operas,
he proved that he was one of the greatest and foremost
practitioners, as well as innovators, of the bel canto
art form.

Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri is a

superb comic opera that conveys its humor, gaiety,
and sentimentalism, in the tradition of bel canto,
“beautiful singing.”

T

he Commedia dell’Arte genre - literally translated
as “artistic-play”- originated and is defined as

satirical entertainment. The tradition existed for
centuries, most prominently performed by troupes of
strolling players throughout Italy during the
Rennaissance. At that time, its underlying satire and
irony were important and popular theatrical forces,
and ultimately, they would shape the development of
comedy for future generations.

The art form originated in market places and

streets where performers traditionally wore masks in
order to conceal their identities: their protection was
necessitated by the fact that they were satirizing and
ridiculing their contemporary world; performers
clowned, insulted, and ridiculed every aspect of society
and its institutions by characterizing humorous or
hypocritical situations involving cunning servants,
scheming doctors, and duped masters.

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In order to draw attention to themselves, they

generally wore exaggerated and comical costumes.
Plots would contain very few lines of set
dialogue, and much of their performance
contained spontaneous improvisation. The
standard characters were the Harlequin,
Columbine, and Pulchinello, and in Italy, the
characters became affectionately known as
zanni, no doubt the root of our English word
“zany,” meaning funny in a crazy or silly way, or
a silly person, clown, or buffoon.

During the eighteenth century, the Intermezzo

developed in the Italian theater: it was a short play
with music that was presented between the acts of a
serious drama. The Commedia dell’Arte and the
Intermezzo genres were the theatrical predecessors
that would develop into the opera buffa: Pergolesi’s
La Serva Padrona, “The Maid Mistress” (1733),
was one of the earliest opera buffas, and almost a
century later, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (1816)
would serve as the model for all future works in the
genre, followed by Donizetti L’Elisir d’Amore, “The
Elixir of Love” (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843) ;
Verdi’s Falstaff (1893), and Puccini’s Gianni
Schicchi (1918).The Commedia dell’Arte and opera
buffa comic traditions and satires became the
prototype for modern vaudeville, exemplified by
Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, Harold
Lloyd, and today, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.

Opera buffa, the comic or satiric genre, must be

distinguished from its more serious predecessor, opera
seria. The opera seria generally dealt with historical,
legendary, or mythological themes, and usually
contained a happy ending with due reward for
rectitude and good deed. Quintessential examples of
opera seria are Handel’s Julius Caesar (1724),
Gluck’s Orfeo et Euridice (1762), and Mozart’s
Idomeneo (1781).

During the pre-French Revolution and pre-

Romantic eras, aristocrats identified with the extremely
popular opera seria genre: these operas portrayed
lofty personalities whom they perceived as flattering
portraits of themselves. Opera serias utilized massive
scenes of pageantry that were married to highly
complex, ornamented arias that would exploit the
virtuosity of individual singers.

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As the end of the eighteenth century approached,

the opera buffa developed: it was a more realistic
genre that portrayed more human characters in
everyday situations rather than in idealized
representations. The lower classes, in an almost
uncanny extension of the classical Commedia
dell’Arte and Intermezzo genres, preferred the satire
of the opera buffa genre, which, like its predecessors,
was usually concerned with love intrigues involving
cuckolds, deceiving wives, and scheming servants. In
certain respects, opera buffa’s themes and subjects
provided a democratization in the performing arts, that
enabled the lower classes, mostly through comedy,
to satirize their masters and vent their frustrations and
chagrin: in effect, opera buffa was a form of populist
theater.

In contrast to the opera seria, the opera buffa

preferred simplicity in design. Generally, a few
characters would be portrayed against an
uncomplicated setting, yet musically, there would be
much stylistic contrast; tuneful melodies, and rhythmic,
staccato passages to emphasize moods. Opera buffa
featured extended act finales with sophisticated
ensembles (taboo in the opera seria), and many set-
pieces involving the participation of many characters
in duets and trios.

Patter songs are a feature of opera buffa: these

are tongue twisters delivered at presto speed that
represents an art in itself; it requires an acute sense of
comic timing in order for the singer to make the words
intelligible, and a vocal virtuosity equivalent to words
coming out of a typewriter at breakneck speed. In its
practical sense, patter is nothing more or less than
rapid fire articulation, similar to those popular tongue-
twisters: “She sells seashells at the seashore,” or “Peter
Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” In most
classic opera buffas, the patter usually portrayed old
busybodies, and were usually sung by basso buffos
who would be chattering and grumbling incessantly.

Rossini’s opera buffas created the role-model

for patter songs and made them de rigeur: in The
Barber of Seville, Figaro’s Largo al factotum is an
example of quintessential patter.

Mozart ingeniously used the inherent satirical style

of the opera buffa genre to reflect the changing social
and political currents that had been awakened by the

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Enlightenment: the demise of the ancien régime that
would vanish at the end of the eighteenth century.
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786), is
considered one of the greatest opera buffas: a
satiric portrayal of the political and social
conflicts existing within his contemporary
society. To achieve his objectives, Mozart
created incomparable musical characterizations:
his heroes became the lower classes such as
Figaro and Susanna, and his antiheroes became
those contemptible aristocrats such as the Count
Almaviva and Dr. Bartolo. Mozart brilliantly
utilized the opera buffa genre, injecting his ingenious
musical inventions, and breathing life into his
characterizations.

The essence of good comedy is not that it has

necessarily happened, but that it could happen.
Therefore, comedy must have a link with reality so
that it does not degenerate into farce. In order to be
convincing and believable, real or imagined situations
must convey a sense of credibility. As such, the essence
of opera buffa is to provide satire and irony, together
with moments of seriousness and real human
emotions: a magnificent blend of heartfelt comedy
and humor together with sentiment and tenderness so
that the comic action achieves credibility.

Rossini once wrote: “I was born for the opera

buffa.” His The Barber of Seville and L’Italian in
Algeri, are pure opera buffas, and an ingenious writing
within that genre and style. Like Donizetti’s Don
Pasquale, both are nineteenth century works that are
presented with musical and dramatic tastefulness,
elegance, and refinement, and never bear the faintest
hint of vulgarity.

T

he year 1813 was a keystone year in Rossini’s

career. He was 21years-old, barely out of his

teens, and up to that time, had been recognized as a
promising young composer: among his half-dozen
minor works, the most notable were his one-act farces,
La Pietra del Paragone, “The Touchstone,” La
Scala di Seta, “The Silken Ladder,” and Il Signor
Bruschino, or, Il Figlio per Azzardo,“The Son by
Accident.”

However, in 1813, Rossini established himself as

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the most successful contemporary composer of opera
with two masterpieces that premiered in Venice:
Tancredi and L’Italiana in Algeri; both achieved
outstanding acclaim.

Tancredi was Rossini’s first serious opera: it

was based on Tancrède, the Voltaire tragedy that
takes place in Syracuse during the conflicts
between Christians and Moslems. In the story,
the hero and heroine engage in trials and
misunderstandings before they ultimately find
true love. The opera contains Di tanti palpiti,
one of Rossini’s most beautiful love songs,
however, it was specifically its orchestration that
awed the public: Stendhal remarked that the
orchestration was so advanced that it represented “an
art of expressing by means of instruments that portion
of their sentiments which the characters could not
convey to us.”

Three months later, Rossini’s first comic

masterwork premiered: L’Italiana in Algeri, “The
Italian Girl in Algiers.” The vitality, vivacity, and sparkle
of the work were unprecedented, Rossini excelling in
his musical characterizations, and endowing them with
a psychological depth and refinement that were new
and innovative in the comic opera genre of the times.

L

’Italiana was commissioned by the Teatro San
Benedetto, Venice; it was an emergency

replacement for an opera that had failed. Rossini
composed operas at a rapid pace, and depending on
the biographical source, L’Italiana was completed
in either 18 or 27 days.

Angelo Anelli, 1761-1820, a renowned classical

scholar, wrote more than 40 librettos, one of his most
famous written for Stefano Pavesi’s Ser Marcantonio,
and later adapted by Giovanni Ruffini for Donizetti’s
Don Pasquale (1843).

Anelli’s libretto, L’Italiana in Algeri, was derived

from a real-life event: in 1805 a young Milanese
woman, Antonietta Frapollo, was kidnapped and
taken to the court of Mustapha-ibn-Ibrahim in Algiers.
In 1808, Luigi Mosca, 1775–1824, a composer of
some 17 operas, wrote the music for Anelli’s libretto:
his musical style remarkably mirrored that of Rossini;

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much vocal patter, large ensembles, and, those classic
Rossini trademark techniques, the accelerando and
crescendo.

For Rossini’s Teatro San Benedetto commission,

he bowed to expediency and decided to re-work
Angelo Anelli’s libretto, even though Mosca’s
L’Italiana in Algeri.had premiered only five years
earlier in 1808. At the premiere of Rossini’s
L’Italiana, the audience initially viewed the opera as
unsubstantially changed from Mosca’s L’Italiana: they
immediately condemned Rossini as a plagiarizer.
Nevertheless, most Venetian critics were more astute
and genuine, immediately realizing that Rossini had
produced one of his most original and brilliant scores.
They acclaimed the work as freshly written and
containing a dazzling overture, the overture one of the
best of its genre, and one that has since become a
permanent concert staple.

Rossini’s ingenious, remarkable comic musical

inventions illuminated the score of his L’Italiana,
certainly transcending Mosca’s earlier version, just
as his The Barber transcended Paisello’s earlier
version. The opera caught on quickly and was widely
performed, immediately becoming a popular staple
on European stages: it became the first Rossini opera
to be staged in Germany (1816, Munich), and in
France (1817, Paris). Almost a century later, Richard
Strauss was among those reported to have been “mad
with enthusiasm” about the opera: consequently, in
modern times, Rossini’s L’Italiana remains a secure
and permanent staple in the repertory:

T

he story of the L’Italiana takes place in Algeria

during the early nineteenth century. The key figure

in the opera is Mustafà, the Bey of Algiers: the
presence of the Moor in Algiers is explained by
historical events. When the Moors were expelled from
Spain in the sixteenth century, they sought asylum on
the Barbary Coast, the northern coast of Africa that
extends form the Egyptian border to the Atlantic, and
in particular, incorporates the Barbary States of
Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Many became
pirates, or corsairs, earning their livelihood by attacking
Spain’s seaborne commerce.

In 1529, the Moor, Barbarossa, (Khayr ad-Din),

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united Algeria and Tunisia, placing it under the authority
of the Ottoman sultanate: for the next 300 years it
became a major base for Muslim Barbary pirates who
earned their revenues from piracy; captains
commanded cruisers that were outfitted by wealthy
backers who then received 10 percent of the
value of their booty.

Beginning in 1541, Charles V and the

European powers made repeated attempts to
quell the pirates but were unsuccessful. During
the early nineteenth century, the United States
was involved in several wars in Tripoli to combat
piracy, making a final peace treaty in 1805 with
the Beys, and with the Regency of Tripoli in
Barbary. However, it was not until 1830 when
the French captured the city of Algiers that
wanton piracy was ended from the Barbary coast.

Nevertheless, the Barbary coast was ruled by the

Ottoman Empire at the time of the story of L’Italiana
in Algeri, and Mustafà is the Bey, an Ottoman
provincial governor.

L

’Italiana is quintessential opera buffa whose
fantastic plot combines sentiment with elements

bordering on absurdity: the metaphorical ship-sinking
finale of Act I, and the farcical Pappatacci rituals at
the opera’s conclusion are scenes of magnificent
hilarity.

Rossini endowed his score with a magnificent

blend of sophisticated, sparkling, and craftily structured
inventions: there are catchy tunes, pulse-stirring shifts
in rhythm, breathless accelerandos and crescendos,
ensembles that demand vocal virtuosity and
acrobatics, roulades (florid vocal embellishment sung
to one syllable), rapid-fire patter, and each sequence
leading to that inevitable Rossini climax. Its highlights
are memorable: Lindoro’s sublime love songs,
Isabella’s patriotic ballad, the duet between Mustafà
and Lindoro, the Pappatacci trio, and the continuous
barking and shouting of the lust-crazed Mustafà.

Rossini strengthened the character of Isabella

from its Anello-Mosca original: Isabella becomes an
archetypal Rossinian heroine, an insightful female who
is independent, bright, strong-willed, as well as cunning
and resourceful.

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L’Italiana, composed at the beginning of the

nineteenth century, incorporates ideology and
sensibilities from the young Romantic era; their
dedication to freedom and feeling. Underneath the
surface of the previous century’s Enlightenment, it was
man, not woman, who possessed the great gift
of reason. Inferentially, the Enlightenment and
the Age of Reason suggested an attitude of
contempt and distaste for women, at times
considering them unspiritual, devoid of reason,
and fickle. The superficial gallantry of the era
could almost be interpreted as a disguise for a
deep-seated hatred and fear of women.

The Romantic period represented a backlash

to the Enlightenment: in Romanticism, woman
was liberated and elevated, as in Goethe, to the
ewige weibliche, la femme eterne, “the eternal
woman”; in effect, the redeemer of man’s
egotism and narcissism through her unbounded
love and sacrifice. Beethoven’s Leonora, the
heroine in his singular operatic masterpiece,
Fidelio (1805), became that ennobled redeeming
woman. Later, Richard Wagner became
preoccupied with redeeming women: Elizabeth
in Tannhäuser, Senta in The Flying Dutchman,
Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, and Brünnhilde in
the Ring operas.

L’Italiana’s heroine, Isabella, certainly reflects

those new Romantic era sensibilities: in many respects,
her character possesses many of the elements of
modern feminist ideology. Isabella speaks as an
independent woman; a liberated woman with a sense
of personal self confidence, conviction, and
individualism. She is a woman with resolve who wants
to control her own life and decide her own destiny.
She knows that she wants Lindoro, and is determined
to succeed. She intuitively knows men, and is keenly
aware of the power of her persuasive charm, confident
in her own abilities to stimulate love and make men
fall in love with her. Three years after L’Italiana,
Rossini would create another determined female
character: Rosina in The Barber of Seville.
Nonetheless, Isabella is very much a nineteenth century
Romantic era archetype, a woman liberated by her
conviction that she can control her own life, and a
woman far removed from the stigmas of the
Enlightenment.

Isabella’s actions drive the story: she accomplishes

all of her objectives by uniting with Lindoro, freeing

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the Italian prisoners, reuniting Elvira with Mustafà, and
through her wiles, cleverness – and sensual charm –
reducing Mustafà’s arrogance to virtual subservience.

L

’Italiana was Rossini’s first comic

masterpiece, and certainly not his last.

Rossini’s style served as the role model that
stimulated comic masterpieces from Donizetti
(L’Elisir d’Amore and Don Pasquale), Verdi
(Falstaff), and Puccini (Gianni Schicchi).

L’Italiana is a fun and games opera, a sparkling

and witty opera buffa that radiates both musically
and textually: it captures the essence of Rossini’s
ingenuity to musically convey satire and humor not
only in the opera buffa tradition, but also in the bel
canto style..

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