L'umorismo scapigliato e Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia di Costantino Dall'Argine (1868)

Giuseppe Rovani’s admiration for Rossini is well known. For the author of Cento anni, Rossinian comedy forms the basis for modern humour as theorised by the scapigliati. In the famous «Almanacco del Pungolo [for the year] 1858», which appeared at the end of 1857 and was compiled by Leone Fortis, humour is defined as the «first-born son of contemporary society». Meanwhile, November 1856 saw the birth of «L’uomo di pietra» (The stone man), the most famous scapigliato weekly journal, which was subtitled «Literary, humorous-critical journal». But the most notable theorist of modern scapigliato humour was without doubt Carlo Dossi, who in his Note azzurre considered Rossini «the musician of humour». It was in this context that post-unification Italy saw the development of a new form of comedy, influenced by French vaudeville (Labiche), and operetta (Hervé, Offenbach). In Milan new musical shows of a satirical type met with success: for example, Antonio Scalvini wrote some riviste (reviews) for the Teatro Fossati that are exemplary of this type, among others Se sa minga (9 December 1866), Il diavolo zoppo (10 December 1867) and La lanterna (7 December 1868). The music for the first was composed by Carlos Gomes, for the second by Costantino Dall’Argine, and for the third by Michele Iremonger. Dall’Argine also had great success with a three-act opera buffa, I due orsi, whose libretto was put together by another representative of the humorous scapigliato spirit of the time, Antonio Ghislanzoni. The opera appeared on stage at the Teatro di Santa Radegonda on 4 February 1867 and is in every way saturated with modern humour, including multiple parodic and metadiscursive references. The following year Dall’Argine re-set the libretto of Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia to music. The effort was not a success, not least because, with perfect timing, it appeared on the stage of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna two days before the death of the Swan of Pesaro. The essay dicusses Dall’Argine’s Barbiere in comparison with Rossini’s, and at the same time explores its cultural meaning in light of the context sketched above.