guys i just found out that there is another Barber opera.

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

guys i just found out that there is another Barber opera. Some guy named Francesco Morlacchi wrote a new score to the Petrosellini libretto used by Paisiello and he had the extremely terrible luck to premiere his opera literally two months after Rossini's Barber, thus all his hard work was ignored and lost to history

so ofc we must investigate this third Barber opera

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

tracked down a recording, have listened to the major songs. I guess Morlacchi was trying to coast on the huge popularity of Paisiello's Barber by setting the libretto to new music, but he missed the part that Petrosellini's libretto is thoroughly mid and what makes Paisiello's Barber fun is the, uh, Paisiello.

the score is mid. the libretto is mid. Yeah Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1816) by Francesco Morlacchi is mid.

however, im not gonna complain about more barber content

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

Paisiello's Barber being lost to history is a travesty. Morlacchi's Barber being lost to history is uh. Well I am sure he worked very hard on it

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

MY BARBER RANKINGS

1. Paisiello's Barber and Mozart's Nozze as one single very long opera. DIVINE

2. Rossini's Barber as a standalone work. timeless comedy genius

3. Paisiellos' Barber as a standalone work. a gem of the classical era

4. Morlacchi's Barber. it's not bad but it ain't got any rizz

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

a weird thing I'm hearing in Morlacchi's Barber - he tries to use music to make the Count more heroic (he is unambiguously a huge asshole in Paisiello's Barber) but the libretto still has him doing things like making fun of how fat Figaro is and making uncalled for jabs about his ugly mug, so the result feels very noncommittal

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

since i already have most of the Petrosellini libretto memorized i will obviously be performing some songs from Morlacchi's mid Barber because hey, it's free real estate

[oblomov@sociale.network]

@Xibanya to paraphrase a famous quote, «barber content is like pizza; even when it's bad it's still pretty good» or something

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

See the problem is that by using the same libretto, Morlacci invites direct comparison with Paisiello, and while Paisiello isn't a household name in modern day like Mozart, Paisiello was very very very good. The Petrosellini libretto is serviceable, but Paisiello's orchestration is incredibly clever; my mans knew how to work a motif. It's very hard to appreciate Morlacci on his own merits when I can directly compare how Paisiello handled the exact same lyrics

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

For example, when the Count retreats from Bartolo's house at the end of Act 1, Paisiello makes this a tense emotionally fraught moment. The Count had entered the scene smug and now he leaves it humiliated.

Morlacci makes this a comic beat. The problem with this is that the Count entered the scene like "yeah whatever" and he is exiting the scene like "yeah whatever", the characters are in the exact same emotional state for the entire scene, it builds to nothing and goes nowhere

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

in the case of Scorsi già molti paesi, I would say Morlacchi's version isn't necessarily worse than Paisiello's (I mean I think it is but I'm hugely biased) it's too similar to Paisiello's without being significantly better, which just raises the question "why even bother remaking The Barber of Seville if you're not going to do something interesting with it?"

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

me: what are you trying to accomplish???
morlacchi: writing music is fun, u ever hear of having fun?
me:
me: well shit now i feel like an asshole

[xibanya@mastodon.xyz]

me: okay i get that, and it's cool that u scored a whole opera. but, okay frank, this is the real important question, why should i pay money to see it?
morlacchi: well it's like paisiello's barber except...
me: yes?
morlacchi: except it's by me.

me: all right rossini, i kno u been gettin into the sock drawer again, give me one good reason to pay good money to watch your Barber remake
rossini: swapped figaro and the count's brains
me:
me: u got me. this i have to see