Rossini, Gioacchino
I lager
Whether we like it or not, a guitar transcription of a piano song can only – at best – be an acceptable alternative to the keyboard version. With opera arias, however, the situation is different. Guitar arrangements of certain orchestral scores can sometimes be at least as satisfactory as the customary piano reductions. In Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, for example, Cherubino performs Voi, che sapete accompanied by the chambermaid on ”guitar” (the string section of the orchestra playing pizzicato). Bizet lets Carmen express herself to Habanera and Seguidilla rhythms, both closely associated with Spanish guitar tradition. The Andalusian backdrop of The Marriage of Figaro and Carmen is certainly no less significant in The Barber of Seville. And although Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868) saved the guitar accompaniment for Figaro himself, what could be more natural for Rosina than to sing her cavatina Una voce poco fa in similar fashion?
Il barbiere di Seviglia with libretto by Sterbini after Beaumarchais received its first performance in Rome 1816. In my arrangement of Rosina’s famous cavatina I have tried to be faithful to Rossini’s orchestral score while at the same time making good use of 19th century guitar mannerisms. The right hand arpeggio pattern – which allows the guitar to produce a rather big sound – in the loud tutti section towards the end is a typical example of this.
The present edition is meant for coaching situations as well as concert performances. I have abbreviated the ending by leaving out most of the orchestral postlude. The source material is a full score, published in 1969 by Casa Ricordi, Milan, from which all dynamic markings, articulations and phrase marks are taken. The dotted slurs in the guitar part indicating left hand slurs are editorial suggestions.
Tunaby, November 2007
Mats Bergström
