{"id":9670,"date":"2025-06-18T18:19:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T18:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/?page_id=9670"},"modified":"2025-08-26T13:02:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T13:02:58","slug":"boyle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/","title":{"rendered":"A <i>lazzarone<\/i> Figaro? Musical Neapolitanisms in Rossini\u2019s <i>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<script type=\"text\/x-mathjax-config\">\nMathJax.Hub.Config({\nmessageStyle: \"none\"\n});\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matthew L.C. Boyle<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Abstract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Although Gioachino Rossini\u2019s Figaro is one of opera\u2019s most beloved characters, little analytical work has been dedicated to him or his music. This essay elaborates on aspects of Figaro\u2019s character through two analytical vignettes. These vignettes add texture to Figaro\u2019s status as a lower-class comic character and highlight his cunning and volatile temperament. The first vignette examines Figaro\u2019s aria \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d as a comic patter aria inflected by a frantic tarantella topic. The second vignette contextualizes the historical musical resonances of Figaro\u2019s <em>parlante <\/em>vocal texture in the <em>tempo di mezzo<\/em> passage of the duet \u201cAll\u2019idea di quel metallo.\u201d I propose that Figaro\u2019s <em>parlante<\/em> mimics the cries of street vendors and depicts him as a crude and cunning outsider.<br><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/38-boyle\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"11802\">View PDF<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"9662\">Return to Volume 38<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Keywords and Phrases: <\/strong>Rossini, Figaro, <em>parlante<\/em>, tarantella, topic theory, social class, Southern Italy<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#cacaca;border-radius:4px;-moz-border-radius:4px;-webkit-border-radius:4px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#e4e4e4;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:4px;-moz-border-radius:4px;-webkit-border-radius:4px;\"><strong>Acknowledgments:<\/strong> I would like to thank Roman Ivanovitch, Blair Johnston, Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, Nate Mitchell, Tina Muxfeldt, Frank Samarotto, Paul Sherrill, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this essay.<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Gioachino Rossini\u2019s Figaro is one of opera\u2019s most beloved characters, little analytical work has been dedicated to him or his music. Most interpretations of Rossini\u2019s Figaro have been grounded either in close readings of the opera\u2019s libretto or in the historical contextualization of particular performances. In many studies, musical analysis tends to focus on relatively simple compositional or performative elements. Paul Robinson (1985), for instance, focused on Figaro\u2019s superficiality, proclaiming him to be pure ego: musical interest is mainly found in how a baritone \u201ccopes with [\u201cLargo al factotum\u2019s\u201d] several high G\u2019s\u201d or \u201cwhether the singer [will attempt] a high A\u201d (28). In other studies, close analysis only occasionally crops up, often in support of interpretive conclusions primarily drawn from the libretto.\u00a0Some even view Figaro\u2019s aria as a form of absolute music; for example, Janet Johnson (2004) claimed that in \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d \u201cFigaro\u2019s words comment on his song, not the other way around\u201d (169).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Figaro\u2019s beloved stature, yet meagre placement, within analytical literature might stem from various causes. For example, the tile&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia&nbsp;<\/em>(<em>The Barber of Seville<\/em>) implies that Figaro, the barber, would the central character, yet he serves a secondary role within the opera\u2019s plot.<em>&nbsp;<\/em>Instead, the opera\u2019s original title of&nbsp;<em>Almaviva<\/em>&nbsp;more accurately reflects the Count\u2019s centrality to the comic narrative and&nbsp;music; however, this is not to say that Figaro is inconsequential.<span id='easy-footnote-1-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-9670' title='See Lamacchia (2008, 112\u201313; 2019) for interpretations of Figaro as an ancillary character within the opera.'><sup>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Even though he is not the central romantic character of the comedic plot, he, like Don Alfonso from Mozart\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Cos\u00ec fan tutte<\/em>, is able to see and wield the conventions of operatic composition to influence the world of the drama.<span id='easy-footnote-2-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-2-9670' title='This side of Figaro is most readily seen in the famous trio from Act 2 of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Barbiere&lt;\/em&gt;, where he interrupts Rosina and Almaviva\u2019s would-be duet \u201cAh qual colpo inaspettato,\u201d seemingly aware of the temporal absurdity that slow-movement encounters stage in dramatic time, an interpretation described by Johnson (2004, 167\u2013170). For an overview of dramatic interpretations of Rossini\u2019s Figaro, see Senici (2019, 103\u2013115). Edmund Goehring (2004) similarly finds Don Alfonso to operate \u201coutside of the operatic conventions that regulate the other characters\u201d (113).'><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Furthermore, like Don Alfonso, Figaro is an enigmatic character who resists simple categorization within the conventional terms of opera. Is he comic or serious;&nbsp;lower-class or bourgeois; central or peripheral; Spanish, French, or Italian?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, although Figaro is ostensibly a Spanish character (he is, after all, a barber in Andalusian Seville), he was often depicted with flexible national traits. The creator of the Figaro character, the French playwright Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais, used him in&nbsp;<em>Le Barbier de S\u00e9ville&nbsp;<\/em>(1773) as a mouthpiece for his own commentary on Parisian social and political developments (Coward 2003, xv\u2013xx). Yet even with a French voice, Figaro is presented in Spanish garb, first appearing on stage \u201c<em>as a Spanish dandy<\/em>\u201d toting a Spanish guitar (3). Giovanni Paisiello\u2019s operatic representation of Figaro in&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia&nbsp;<\/em>(1782) similarly gives him a cosmopolitan voice with his comic musical style neutrally reflecting the conventions of the pan-European galant. Paisiello, like Beaumarchis, also called attention to Figaro\u2019s Spanish nationality primarily through secondary features like costumes, dramatic situations, and poetry\u2014such as the listing of Spanish regions in the first act aria \u201cScorsi&nbsp;gi\u00e0&nbsp;molti&nbsp;paesi\u201d\u2014and not through his musical&nbsp;vocabulary.<span id='easy-footnote-3-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-3-9670' title='When Figaro\u2019s guitar is used in the Count\u2019s diegetic serenade \u201cSaper bramte,\u201d his instrument is played by the Count as Figaro hides under Rosina\u2019s window. The opera\u2019s most overt Spanish number, the second act \u201cSeghidiglia spagnola\u201d is sung by Bartolo.'><sup>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Mozart\u2019s presentation of Figaro in&nbsp;<em>Le Nozze di Figaro<\/em>&nbsp;(1786), in contrast, foregrounds his Spanish origins musically in several important moments, most notably in the fandango scene that concludes the third act (Link 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike his predecessors, Rossini\u2019s musical characterization of Figaro eschews overt Spanish references and, in his two most prominent musical numbers, even the neutral tone of a comic&nbsp;bass.<span id='easy-footnote-4-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-4-9670' title='The Count, in contrast, received a Spanish-inflected&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;canzone&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;in Act 1, accompanied by guitar, which was sung and played on guitar by the Spanish-born tenor Manuel Garc\u00eda (Rossini 1816 [1993], 22). There was also an impulse in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to ascribe a Spanish character to Figaro\u2019s music in this opera. Most famously, commentators like the early Rossini musicologist Giuseppe Radiciotti speculated that there once was a lost overture to the opera that used Spanish themes provided by Garc\u00eda. No documentary evidence exists to support this theory (Rossini 1816 [1993], 24).&amp;nbsp;'><sup>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Instead, Rossini\u2019s music for Figaro alludes to musical topics associated with lower class Southern Italians. These topics, which include an imitation of a tarantella dance and a street vendor\u2019s cries, were evocative of Neapolitan rather than Andalusian soundscapes. In particular, they recall well-established cultural codes from the nineteenth century that framed perceptions of Southern Italians.&nbsp;Poor Southern Italians, especially those from the Kingdom of Naples, were often a focus of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century grand tour travelogues and were discussed by both Northern Italian and Northern European writers in stereotyped, classed, and racialized terms. As a result, these styles had the potential to signify both place and class. Rossini\u2019s musical portrait of Figaro consequently dresses him in unusual sonic garb: in his two most prominent operatic numbers, he is musically presented through a topical language evocative of Southern Italy\u2019s urban poverty, suggesting a connection to comedic characters from the lowest of social rungs.<span id='easy-footnote-5-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-5-9670' title='As in this essay, topical analysis has long centered issues of stylistic register and its musical representations of social status, class, and gender. My use of musical topics in this essay are most indebted to Leonard Ratner (1980), Wye Allanbrook (1983), Robert Hatten (1994, 2004), and Mary Hunter (1999). In particular, I try to emulate Allanbrook\u2019s and Hatten\u2019s attention to how musical gestures could create musical meaning.'><sup>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>&nbsp;Within this historic context, these musical allusions enrich Figaro\u2019s enigmatic status and hold interpretive consequences for both performance and close readings of the opera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This analytical essay explores Rossini\u2019s musical depiction of Figaro. It begins with a discussion of early modern cultural codes concerning&nbsp;lower-status Southern Italians, detailing conceptions of Southern Italian voices and perceived volatile temperament. It then analyzes two first act passages sung by Figaro, which show how these codes were sonically manifested in nineteenth-century contexts. The first analysis finds Figaro\u2019s breathtaking aria \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d to be evocative of the Southern Italian tarantella and the frantic impulsiveness that the dance connotes. The second analysis contextualizes the unusual style of Figaro\u2019s&nbsp;<em>parlante&nbsp;<\/em>vocal texture in the&nbsp;<em>tempo di mezzo<\/em>&nbsp;passage of the duet \u201cAll\u2019idea di quel metallo.\u201d&nbsp;Figaro\u2019s&nbsp;<em>parlante<\/em>&nbsp;mimics the cries of street vendors and depicts him as a hawker akin to a Neapolitan&nbsp;<em>lazzarone<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, the mode of analysis used in this essay is based on developing sensitivities to historical soundscapes and their encoded social meanings. This kind of analytical sensitivity can reveal potential avenues for performance, both in terms of musical execution and physical gesture. Indebted to Ratner (1980) and especially Allanbrook (1983), the analyses developed in this essay are concerned with how the gestural language of musical topics were used to communicate information about class and status in operatic contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Cultural Codes and the Urban Soundscape of the&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Rossini\u2019s musical depiction of Figaro in&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>, especially in the first act,<em>&nbsp;<\/em>sonically evokes images of&nbsp;poor Neapolitans through topical allusions to Southern Italian music. Southern Italy, a region commonly referred to as the&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno<\/em>, encompasses the southern half of the Italian peninsula and the island of Sicily, largely sharing the former borders of the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily. The&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno<\/em>&nbsp;region and its inhabitants were objects of voyeuristic fascination for Northern Europeans and Northern Italians. Naples, in particular, was a focal point, since it stood at the southernmost point for many Grand Tour journeys. The city\u2019s large port, grand opera house (the San Carlo), warm climate, ancient ruins (Pompeii lying south of the city), and a towering volcano (Vesuvius) marked it as a unique European landscape. More generally, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Northern Europeans and even northern Italians understood Southern Europe\u2014especially Neapolitan-controlled Southern Italy\u2014as a liminal zone where European, African, and Asian cultures converged (Moe 2002, 49\u201350).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stereotypes of the southern&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno&nbsp;<\/em>region of Italy<em>&nbsp;<\/em>were partially rooted in perceptions of its landscape. Outsiders described the Italian south as a wild territory, stuck in the past, filled with untamed nature, ancient ruins, poverty, poor governance, and volatile peoples. On the geographic and cultural frontier of Europe, its land was seen as alien by many outsiders. In 1808, for instance, a French bureaucrat wrote in a travelogue that \u201cEurope ends at Naples\u2026Calabria, Sicily, all the rest belongs to Africa\u201d (Moe 2002, 37), and Jesuits in the sixteenth century referred to Calabria and Sicily as \u201cthe Indies\u201d of Europe (Moe 2002, 37, 50). The Italian South\u2019s landscape was seen as different through recuring images of its fertile soil, mild climate, and the volcanoes of Vesuvius and Etna (43). In souvenir art of Naples this landscape was emphasized as seen in the color lithograph of <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>, which presents a distant erupting Vesuvius looming over the Gulf of Naples. This space was primal, belonging more to a primitive past, set outside of time, than to a modern present (37\u201338).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/figure-1-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"799\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-1-799x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11392\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-1-799x1024.png 799w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-1-234x300.png 234w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-1-768x985.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-1.png 901w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure 1. <\/strong>Color Lithograph of the Gulf of Naples (Lindstr\u00f6m 1836) that shows Vesuvius (background) and the\u00a0<em>Molo San Vincenzo\u00a0<\/em>lighthouse (foreground).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Grand Tourists and Northern Italian outsiders conceptualized the people who populated this land as similarly alien through a chauvinistic lens. The climate and landscape were problematically understood as shaping the temperaments of the people who lived there. Southern Italians were ascribed a base, impulsive, and emotional temperament by outsiders.<span id='easy-footnote-6-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-6-9670' title='An important source for these stereotyped tropes was the Baron of Montesquieu\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Spirit of the Laws&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;(1777) which attributed bodily difference to regional climates (Moe 2002, esp. 13\u201336). Similar ideas persisted in nineteenth-century music criticism. See Gleichmann (1830), Krug (1829), Marx (1826, esp. 192\u2013199), and Sievers (1829).'><sup>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> For instance, in the eighteenth century, the Baron Hermann von Riedesel described Sicilians as \u201crestless and impatient [who], with their great degree of vivacity, often cause the most violent actions; they are therefore remarkable above all other nations for the violence of their jealously and vindictive temper\u201d (Moe 2002, 59). More generally, those from the Italian South were \u201ccharacterized by that effeminacy, voluptuousness, and cunning, which is found to increase in more southernly countries\u201d (59).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These accounts of Southern Italians were often paired with commentary on the pervasive poverty in the region. Casanova commented that \u201cI saw only poverty\u201d after a sojourn to the Calabrian city of Cosenza (Moe 2002, 47). Charles de Brosses in his 1739\u20131740 letters from Italy described the inhabitants of Naples as \u201cthe most abominable rabble and loathsome vermin that ever infested the earth\u201d (61). De Brosses and Casanova likely were describing a Neapolitan class of beggars known as the&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni<\/em>&nbsp;[scoundrels] who were often objects of fascination for Northern Europeans and those who traveled to Naples on the Grand Tour.<span id='easy-footnote-7-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-7-9670' title='Martin Deasy (2008) discusses a more overt operatic depiction of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;lazzaroni&lt;\/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;characters in Donizetti\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Il furioso&lt;\/em&gt;. He notes that for a production of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Il furioso&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;for Naples\u2019s Teatro Nuovo, the character Kaidam\u00e0 \u201chas effectively become a Neapolitan beggar\u201d (17). Furthermore, Deasy points out that \u201cNaples had achieved widespread notoriety for its squalor and overcrowded conditions. Packed into the medieval city center in condition of extreme poverty, many of its 400,000 inhabitants were forced to live rough in the streets, surviving through menial work or begging\u201d (17).'><sup>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>&nbsp;This class of people was seen as consisting of societal outcasts. In part, this is reflected in the term\u2019s etymology: the root of&nbsp;<em>lazzarone, lazzaro<\/em>, is an archaic term for a leper. Grand Tourists would have encountered them as beggars in the public spaces of the city, as porters, and as guides to sites nearby like Vesuvius and Pompeii. The begging class of&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni<\/em>&nbsp;were of interest because they intersected with early-nineteenth-century discursive traditions concerning the supposed unique qualities of the&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno\u2019s<\/em>&nbsp;climate and culture. Within this cultural landscape, the begging class of the&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni&nbsp;<\/em>could be conflated with the throngs of street vendors that were also found in Naples\u2019s busiest streets and public squares.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The appearance, sounds, and character of impoverished Neapolitans and Neapolitan street hawkers fascinated Grand Tourists. However, Neapolitans and other Southern Italians from the&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno&nbsp;<\/em>were not passive bystanders in this discursive environment. They sought to shape, correct, and exploit outsider perceptions of themselves and the region. As a result, Neapolitans created and sold souvenirs for both Grand Tourists and locals that presented stylized scenes of Neapolitan street life.<span id='easy-footnote-8-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-8-9670' title='See Calaresu 2013 for more on this iconographic phenomenon.'><sup>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>Visual documents of&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni&nbsp;<\/em>and street vendors focused on representing their dress, wares, and local customs like dancing. In Naples engravings as well as \u201cfans, plates, and handkerchiefs\u201d were commonly sold (Calaresu and van den Heuvel 2016, 7).<span id='easy-footnote-9-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-9-9670' title='Similar items depicting the urban poor were also for sale in other large urban areas such as Milan, New York, London, and Paris (Calaresu and van den Heuvel 2016, 7). See also Pritivera 2023 (247): \u201cGrand Tourists were fascinated by [the cries of hawkers], and many painters and engravers chose them as subjects for their works.\u201d'><sup>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span>&nbsp;Within these surviving artistic records, there was a sharp tension between a desire to faithfully represent the variety of&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni<\/em>&nbsp;and street vendors with a voyeuristic \u201cpicturesque\u201d impulse that tended to depict \u201cstreet sellers as poor, marginal, exotic, even deformed or deranged\u201d<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>(Calaresu and van den Heuvel 2016, 7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Figure 2 reproduces three images of&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni&nbsp;<\/em>and Neapolitan street vendors, showing the range of nineteenth-century depictions of the Neapolitan urban&nbsp;poor. <strong>Figure 2a<\/strong> shows a humble street vendor selling sorbet to two children. This is an idealized scene of Neapolitan life. Set in a urban square and flanked by a church, Vesuvius erupts in the background. Both the vendor and children are depicted as impoverished (the boy is barefoot). The vendor\u2019s smile, the sweetness of his goods, a nearby church, and the children create a scene of picturesque innocence. The lithograph of a&nbsp;<em>lazzarone&nbsp;<\/em>and a porter in<strong> Figure 2b<\/strong> aims at a more a realistic representation of this social class\u2019s demeanor and dress. In contrast, <strong>Figure 2c<\/strong> depicts a bellowing street merchant\u2014a melon seller\u2014made to appear buffoonish through his disheveled appearance (his unbuttoned shirt clings awkwardly to his melon-shaped body),&nbsp;ridiculous hat, and gaping mouth caught in mid-shout.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/figure-2a-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"651\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2a-1024x651.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11402\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2a-1024x651.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2a-300x191.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2a-768x488.jpg 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2a-1536x976.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2a.jpg 1591w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>a. <\/strong>Engraving of a Neapolitan sorbet seller with Vesuvius in the background (Pinelli 1817)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/figure-2b-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"764\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b-764x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11412\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b-764x1024.jpg 764w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b-768x1029.jpg 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b-1146x1536.jpg 1146w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b-1528x2048.jpg 1528w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2b.jpg 1910w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>b. <\/strong>Lithograph of Neapolitan \u201cLazzaroni e Facchini\u201d [<em>lazzaroni<\/em>\u00a0and porters] (Bourcard 1858)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/figure-2c-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"935\" height=\"990\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2c.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11422\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2c.png 935w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2c-283x300.png 283w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-2c-768x813.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>c. <\/strong>Lithograph of a Neapolitan \u201cMelonaro\u201d [melon seller] (Lindstr\u00f6m 1836)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Figure 2.<\/strong> a\u2013c: Three nineteenth-century representations of Neapolitan street vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These visual and literary documents also recorded sonic impressions of poor Neapolitans. Both Northern European and Northern Italian written accounts of Naples frequently commented on the urban noise unique to that city. Charles Burney (1773), for example, found\u00a0\u201cthe singing in the streets\u201d of Naples to be \u201cfar less pleasing, though more original than elsewhere\u201d (369). In 1834, the Lombard historian Tullio Dandolo focused on \u201cthe cries of the sailors of the port, the screams of the vendors in the squares, the squeaking of the wheels in the streets\u201d when describing Naples (Privitera 2023, 243). Duret de Tavel, a French official in Napoleonic Naples, wrote in 1807 that around the Via Toledo \u201cthe immense populations\u201d of the city held \u201ca screaming and unceasingly agitated populace,\u201d noisier \u201cthan in any district of Paris\u201d (Privitera 2023, 243\u2013244). Even the engravings of street vendors recorded aspects of the associated sounds. Some illustrations were accompanied by captions of their cries, sometimes in the sonically marked Neapolitan dialect with mouths open and hands cupped to amplify (Privitera 2023, 246\u2013250). These images also suggest that emphatic and scripted gestures were coordinated with vocal cries as depicted in the\u00a0<em>melonaro\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0pose in Figure 2c.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This perceived soundscape reinforced an early-nineteenth-century stereotype that Neapolitans were naturally inclined to music (Privitera 2023, 245\u2013246). Literary descriptions of songs from&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni<\/em>&nbsp;were common with transcriptions of poetry and music being published in the first half of the nineteenth century. Privitera (2023) has suggested that some of the Neapolitan songs that fascinated Grand Tourists likely resembled the&nbsp;<em>canto a ffigliola<\/em>&nbsp;as recorded by twentieth-century ethnomusicologists (251\u2013252).<span id='easy-footnote-10-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-10-9670' title='Privitera cites De Simone (1979a and 1979b) as potential models to help readers imagine this component of the lost \u201cphonosphere\u201d of Romantic Naples.'><sup>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The melodies of the&nbsp;<em>canto a ffigliola&nbsp;<\/em>were musically simple and metrically free with passages that resemble the reciting tones of recitative or monophonic chant. This genre of syllabic song consisted of two singers who traded a&nbsp;melody with little to no accompaniment. Charles Burney (1771) noted a similar musical practice where \u201cin the streets there were two people singing alternately\u201d in a \u201cnoisy and vulgar\u201d manner (307\u2013308). Burney also remarked that these&nbsp;<em>canzoni<\/em>&nbsp;could be accompanied by a&nbsp;<em>calascione<\/em>, an instrument similar to a guitar. Earlier in the eighteenth century, representations of Neapolitan street songs likely found their way into the comic operas of that city, complete with imitations of the&nbsp;<em>calascione<\/em>.<span id='easy-footnote-11-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-11-9670' title='Kurt Markstrom (2007, 31\u201332) has identified Ciccariell\u2019s \u201cVorria reentare sorecillo\u201d from Leonardo Vinci\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Li zite \u2018ngalera&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;as an example of a Neapolitan street song with a&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;colasione&lt;\/em&gt;-like accompaniment incorporated into opera. Markstrom also identified the opening number from Michelangelo Faggioli\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;La Cilla&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;(1706), \u201cSongo le Forentane\u201d from Vinci\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Lo Scassone&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;(1720), \u201cMentre l\u2019erbetta\u201d from Giovanni battista Pergolesi\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Il Flaminio&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;(1735), and \u201cPasso ninno da cc\u00e0\u201d from Pergolesi\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Lo frate \u2018nnamorato&lt;\/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;(1732) as other early examples Neapolitan folk-infused operatic numbers.'><sup>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, descriptions of music from the Kingdom of Naples often focused on the tarantella dance. Many images of the dance show, in addition to a dancing couple, instrumentalists playing \u201c<em>tammorra&nbsp;<\/em>(hand tambour), or the smaller&nbsp;<em>tamburello<\/em>&nbsp;(Neapolitan tambourine) [\u2026], popular percussion instruments, mandolins, violins, popular wind instruments such as the&nbsp;<em>Ciaramella&nbsp;<\/em>(shawm), and the castanets used by the dancers\u201d (Privitera 2023, 254\u201355). A sonically suggestive scene like this appears in the 1858 lithograph reproduced in <strong>Figure 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/figure-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"698\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-3-1024x698.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11432\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-3-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-3-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-3-768x523.jpg 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-3-1536x1046.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Figure-3-2048x1395.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure 3: <\/strong>Lithograph of tarantella danced in the countryside near Vesuvius (Bourcard 1858)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In summary by the early decades of the nineteenth century, Neapolitan poverty had acquired associations with a set of behavioral, visual, and sonic attributes. These stereotyped characteristics sometimes included an assumed wild temperament that mirrored the rustic landscape of the Italian South. In other situations, the poor Neapolitans&nbsp;were conflated with the&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni&nbsp;<\/em>and street vendors that could be found in public spaces and squares. The sounds associated with lower-status Neapolitans\u2014such as dances like the tarantella, the cries of street hawkers, and an assumed innate musicality\u2014played an important role in defining their perceived identity. Within this cultural context,&nbsp;<em>The Barber of Seville&nbsp;<\/em>premiered during the 1816 Carnival season in Rome, mere months after Rossini\u2019s five-year Neapolitan residency began in 1815.<span id='easy-footnote-12-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-12-9670' title='Rossini\u2019s own perspective would have been aligned with the Italian North. Born in the Adriatic city of Pesaro, just 30 kilometers south of the North-South dividing La Spezia-Rimini isogloss, his early operatic career was centered in major northern cities like Venice and Milan. Rossini only ventured as far south as Naples and Rome in 1815, mere months before composing this opera (Rossini [1816] 1993, 4\u20135).'><sup>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Even in a central Italian city like Rome, these ideas about the temperament and sonic signature of lower-class Neapolitans would have circulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rossini\u2019s musical depiction of Figaro, especially in his first two musical numbers, draws on a diverse range of sonic Neapolitanisms summarized in <strong>Table 1<\/strong>.&nbsp;Some of these sonic Neapolitanisms are musical topics of which the most important are the closely related genres of the tarantella dance and Neapolitan vernacular song.<span id='easy-footnote-13-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-13-9670' title='These are topics in the strictest sense put forth by Danuta Mirka as \u201cstyles and genres taken out of their proper context and used in another one\u201d (Mirka 2014, 2).'><sup>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Other Neapolitanisms in Figaro\u2019s music are imitations of paramusical sounds, such as the noisy cries of beggars and street vendors that often were commented on by nineteenth-century writers. Finaly, some Neapolitanisms within Figaro\u2019s numbers operate metaphorically and rely on cross-domain mapping.<span id='easy-footnote-14-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-14-9670' title='See Zbikowski (2003, 63\u201395), Hatten (2004, 100\u2013101), and Larson (2012, 20\u201321, 46\u201351) for more on the interpretation of cross-domain mappings and musical analogy\/metaphor.'><sup>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span>&nbsp;Underlying these metaphors was the classist, voyeuristic notion that impoverished Southern Italians had an unstable temperament. In his early numbers, Figaro is assigned extraverted musical gestures, which undermine a sense of composure (mapped musically to diatonicism and elegant,&nbsp;<em>tempo giusto<\/em>&nbsp;rhythms) with choleric chromaticism and frantic dance rhythms.<span id='easy-footnote-15-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-15-9670' title='I describe a similar web of meanings generated by the serenade, a genre also associated with the Mediterranean basin by examining the affective associations of its defining features (Boyle 2024).'><sup>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Ultimately, these sonic Neapolitanisms are in dialogue with the tropes and iconographies of lower-class Neapolitans.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/table-1\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"906\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11442\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-1.png 906w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-1-300x110.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-1-768x282.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Table 1. <\/strong>Sonic Neapolitanisms Found in Figaro\u2019s Act 1 Numbers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Figaro sings in seven of&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia\u2019s&nbsp;<\/em>musical numbers, summarized in<strong> Table 2<\/strong>. After his first two numbers, which include his only solo aria and a lengthy duet with Count Almaviva, Figaro\u2019s musical prominence recedes as he assumes an ever more supportive role in the remaining ensemble numbers. Figaro\u2019s first two numbers, consequently, offer the best musical spaces to define his character, and it is these numbers that contain the opera\u2019s most prominent musical Neapolitanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/table-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-2-1024x351.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11452\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-2-1024x351.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-2-300x103.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-2-768x263.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-2.png 1065w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Table 2.<\/strong> Figaro\u2019s Numbers in Rossini\u2019s\u00a0<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Figaro\u2019s Frenzied Tarantella&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Figaro\u2019s entrance aria, the cavatina \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d is replete with sonic signifiers of Southern Italian vernacular music, especially the tarantella dance and closely related vernacular songs, which establish Figaro as an unusual basso buffo. They inflect his music with connotations of nineteenth century stereotypes of the Neapolitan urban&nbsp;poor, who were understood to be emotionally volatile and susceptible to overstimulation. In this section, I show how Rossini interweaves these Neapolitan topics into a comic aria in order to underscore a characterization of volatility. I begin with a brief overview of Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d describe the typical features of the cavatina\u2019s most prominent Neapolitanisms, and situate these within the aria\u2019s form at four moments of psychological crisis.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There has been disagreement on how best to interpret the form of Figaro\u2019s cavatina. Musicologists like Richard Taruskin (2005) and Saverio Lamacchia (2008) have interpreted the aria as a modified ternary form, albeit from different perspectives. I argue, however, that its ternary characteristics can better be understood within the framework of Classical-era comic-patter aria forms.<span id='easy-footnote-16-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-16-9670' title='Although their ternary formal readings are quite similar, Lamacchia (2008, 195n57) is uncomfortable with Taruskin\u2019s (2005, 3:23) anachronistic description of the form of \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d as a \u201ctypical da capo aria.\u201d My understanding of patter arias is indebted to John Platoff\u2019s (1990) description of the genre.'><sup>16<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Both ternary and comic-patter formal interpretations are summarized in <strong>Table 3<\/strong>. Like many comic arias, Figaro\u2019s begins with two thematic groups forming an exposition-like structure.<span id='easy-footnote-17-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-17-9670' title='Platoff (1990) interpreted such tonic and dominant thematic groups to be the \u201cmusical paragraphs\u201d of an \u201cexposition\u201d in the Classical sense (106n25).'><sup>17<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The first group is primarily centered around the tonic (mm. 1\u2013100) and the second, around the dominant (mm. 101\u2013162). Following this presentation of relative formal clarity, Figaro\u2019s number devolves into comic patter (mm. 163\u2013273). This patter is primarily in the key of the tonic and belongs to a formal division Platoff (1990) would identify as the \u201ctonal return section\u201d (107). This final section of formal instability incorporates musical and poetic tropes for buffo pieces, all of which emphasize Figaro\u2019s capricious temperament in this context. These comic elements include lists (\u201cdonne, ragazzi, vecchi, fanciulle\u201d [ll. 41\u201342]), fragmentary phrases (\u201cqua la parrucca&#8230;presto la barba&#8230;qua la sanguigna&#8230;\u201d [ll. 43\u201345]), and various speeds of comic patter (an initial speed and an even brisker \u201csecond-order\u201d speed).<span id='easy-footnote-18-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-18-9670' title='Although Platoff (1990) defines these in terms of how quickly lines of poetry are delivered over a set number of measures, as seen in his Example 1 (104), the acceleration of Figaro\u2019s patter in mm. 237\u2013253 is created not by the rate of declamation but instead by accelerating the internal pacing of the melody. Each syllable in the \u201csecond-order\u201d patter is more likely to articulate a unique note than in the initial patter of mm. 163\u2013236, which often would repeat notes within groups of three.'><sup>18<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Although not the final lines of the aria, Rossini treats Figaro\u2019s \u201cson come un fulmine \/ sono il factotum \/ della citt\u00e0\u201d (ll. 55\u201357) as if they were the poetic&nbsp;<em>envoi<\/em>&nbsp;in which the breakneck speed of the \u201csecond-order\u201d patter is abandoned and those words, which encapsulate the \u201csense\u201d of the aria, are \u201csung more slowly to emphasize its message\u201d (Platoff 1990, 105).<span id='easy-footnote-19-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-19-9670' title='In Giuseppe Verdi\u2019s later nineteenth-century practice, Robert Moreen (1975) found that the \u201ccompletion of [an aria\u2019s] sense\u201d (45)\u2014the final coalescing of its central meaning\u2014was often coordinated with final cadences. In presenting diatonic, cadential progressions together with this meaning-clarifying text, Rossini rhetorically presents those phrases in the guise of a classical buffa aria&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;envoi&lt;\/em&gt;. Similar coordination of poetic meaning with end-accented cadences appears in many operatic practices, ranging from eighteenth-century da capo arias (Sherrill 2016), two-tempo rond\u00f2s (Boyle 2025b), and even the formal processes of Richard Wagner\u2019s music dramas (Duke 2021).'><sup>19<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/table-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"708\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-3-1024x708.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11462\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-3-1024x708.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-3-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-3-768x531.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Table-3.png 1092w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Table 3. <\/strong>Formal outline of \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Psychological agitation pervades Figaro\u2019s otherwise joyful cavatina, the text for which appears in <strong>Example 1<\/strong>. As the comic aria progresses, his boasting acquires an increasingly frantic tone, especially in lines 39\u201353. Figaro\u2019s versatile professional excellence apparently becomes a burden, as his services are sought by&nbsp;<em>tutti<\/em>. Critics have located this agitation in Rossini\u2019s musical language and organization for this aria. Lamacchia (2008), for instance, found Figaro\u2019s cavatina to be quintessentially \u201chyperbolic,\u201d dominated by \u201cthe music of an overexcited individual [<em>tarantolato<\/em>]\u201d (195). Taruskin\u2019s (2005) brief analytical description of the aria interpreted its formal plan in relation to a volatile psyche. His modified ternary reading of its relatively free formal design finds the \u201chilariously preempted\u201d return to A, with it lightning-fast patter, to underscore how \u201cFigaro is overwhelmed with thought of all the demands everybody makes on him, uniquely gifted as he is\u201d (3:23). Similarly, Lamacchia (2008) interpreted the aria\u2019s form as an unusual ternary, with its \u201cabnormal,\u201d \u201cexaggerated,\u201d and \u201ctabooworthy\u201d A&#8217; section illustrating the \u201cclear symptom of nature outside of the canons of the factotum\u201d (195).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-1-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"499\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-1-499x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11472\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-1-499x1024.png 499w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-1-146x300.png 146w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-1.png 688w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 1.<\/strong> Text and translation of \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d italicized text appears in Rossini\u2019s setting but not Cesare Sterbini\u2019s libretto.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In addition to its buffa aria formal design, Rossini also conveys Figaro\u2019s volatile temperament through shifting, extraverted musical topics (especially the tarantella dance, which dominates the aria\u2019s second group and second-order patter), and through a series of harmonic crises marked by chromatic thirds-related progressions. Much like Figaro\u2019s enigmatic character, the $$^{6}_{8}$$ meter of \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d is topically rich, able to suggest multiple styles suitable for depicting a gregarious and impulsive Figaro. Rodney Edgecombe (2016) has interpreted this aria\u2019s meter as suggesting a range of styles, including those of a \u201cpostilion\u2019s song, of an&nbsp;<em>aria da caccia,<\/em>&nbsp;of a sennet<em>,&nbsp;<\/em>of a tarantella, and of a&nbsp;<em>marche guerri\u00e8re<\/em>\u201d (58). Edgecombe\u2019s postilion, sennet (both types of fanfare), and&nbsp;<em>marche<\/em>&nbsp;best describe the aria\u2019s first thematic group, which support Figaro\u2019s boastful entrance. The opening phrases of this section, shown in <strong>Example 2<\/strong>,&nbsp;begin with a charging&nbsp;fanfare-like gesture. These measures also introduce a recuring tendency for this number to race towards&nbsp;thirds-related harmonies. In the third measure of Example 2, for instance, Figaro arrives on an E major harmony (IIIs&nbsp;in the key of C major). The grace note at this harmonic arrival also foreshadows the aria\u2019s eventual accumulation of Neapolitanisms by evoking the sounds of tambourines and castanets. The implications of this excitable chromatic and percussive soundscape are only thoroughly realized in the aria\u2019s second thematic group where they coincide with the appearance of Southern Italian musical topics.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-2-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"314\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-2-1024x314.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11482\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-2-1024x314.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-2-300x92.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-2-768x235.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-2-1536x471.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-2.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 2. <\/strong>Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d from Rossini\u2019s\u00a0<em>Barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>\u00a0(mm. 44\u201350).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-3-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"272\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-3-1024x272.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11492\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-3-1024x272.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-3-300x80.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-3-768x204.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-3-1536x408.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-3.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 3. <\/strong>The tarantella theme in G major, Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d (mm. 111\u2013115).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In the second thematic group, beginning with the passage reproduced in <strong>Example 3<\/strong>, Rossini transforms the quality of this $$^{6}_{8}$$ meter to allude to the tarantella dance and other vernacular Neapolitan musical traditions. Although not an exhaustive list, the tarantella often displayed the following musical features, most of which appear in the second thematic group of Figaro\u2019s cavatina:<span id='easy-footnote-20-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-20-9670' title='Stroud (2021) provides a similar list of \u201cstandard features associated with tarantella dances\u201d in her Example 1 (248). More generally, nonsense syllables and unorthodox chromaticism were hallmarks of Rossini\u2019s compositional style and often received negative attention from contemporary critics as crude and disruptive, which I discuss in Boyle (2025a).'><sup>20<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>$$^{6}_{8}$$ meter, with anacrustic rhythms<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fast tempo<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Minor mode<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instruments evocative of the Italian South<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When texted, nonsense syllables such as \u201cla\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Frantic chromatic harmonies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Highly contrasting tonal areas<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The tarantella was a fast dance in $$^{6}_{8}$$ or related compound meter, often cast in the minor mode.<span id='easy-footnote-21-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-21-9670' title='For example, the three songs labelled as tarantellas in the mid-century\u00a0&lt;em&gt;Passatempi musicali\u00a0&lt;\/em&gt;(1865), a collection of Neapolitan songs transcribed and composed by Guglielmo Cottrau, are in a fast a\u00a0$$^{6}_{8}$$\u00a0meter with a minor tonality.'><sup>21<\/sup><\/a><\/span> As seen in Example 3, this $$^{6}_{8}$$ meter was often given an anacrustic impulse, with eighth-note figures leading from weak to strong beats.<span id='easy-footnote-22-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-22-9670' title='The tarantellas from\u00a0&lt;em&gt;Passatempi musicali&lt;\/em&gt;\u00a0(Nos. 43, 73, and 89), for instance, emphasize phrases that begin with a vocal-melodic anacrusis as does Rossini\u2019s vocal tarantella \u201cLa danza.\u201d This rhythmic profile also starkly contrasts with the prominent downbeat orientation of the opening phrase of \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d (Example 2), which initiates a section significantly less suggestive of the tarantella topic.'><sup>22<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The Milan-based critic Peter Lichtenthal (1836,) described the tarantella through its rhythmic and metrical profile, writing that it is a \u201cNeapolitan dance of a joyful character with a melody in $$^{6}_{8}$$ and a fast tempo\u201d (2:237). The dance was emblematic of the Kingdom of Naples, especially its southern Apulia region. Contemporaneous discussions of the tarantella reveled in its geographic associations by addressing its dubious origin as an energized dance to purge the venom of a tarantula bite.<span id='easy-footnote-23-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-23-9670' title='When travelling through Apulia, Burney (1773), for instance, questioned this origin of the dance: \u201c[It is] so thoroughly believed by some innocent people in the country, that when really bitten by other insects, or animals that are poisonous, they take this method of dancing, to a particular tune, till they sweat; which, together with their faith, sometimes makes them whole. They will continue the dance, in a kind of frenzy, for many hours, even till they drop down with fatigue and lassitude\u201d (323\u2013325).'><sup>23<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from the tarantella\u2019s meter and affect, Lichtenthal also commented on the dance\u2019s Southern Italian instrumentation, mirroring nineteenth-century iconographies of the rustic tarantella as represented in the image of castanet and tambourine players in Figure 3 above. Lichtenthal (1836), for example, indicated that the dance was \u201cordinarily accompanied by a&nbsp;<em>colascione<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>tambourine<\/em>\u201d (2:237). Stylized published tarantellas, like Rossini\u2019s song \u201cLa danza\u201d from the Parisian parlor set&nbsp;<em>Soir\u00e9es Musicales<\/em>&nbsp;(1836), might even imitate these instruments with pianistic effects. In \u201cLa danza\u201d an arpeggiated piano accompaniment, sometimes staccato, resembles a plucked&nbsp;<em>colascione<\/em>; fast grace notes in the upper register of the piano, especially in the final measures of the opening and closing piano ritornellos, create a tambourine-like effect. In texted tarantellas, joyful nonsense syllables like \u201cla\u201d would appear, as can be seen in Guglielmo Cottrau\u2019s \u201cNuova tarantella\u201d (<strong>Example 4<\/strong>) and in Rossini\u2019s \u201cLa danza\u201d (<strong>Example 5<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-4-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"654\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-4-1024x654.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11502\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-4-1024x654.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-4-300x192.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-4-768x490.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-4.png 1430w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 4.\u00a0<\/strong>Nonsense syllables on \u201cla\u201d in No. 89 \u201cNuova Tarantella,\u201d Guglielmo Cottrau (1865).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-5-3\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"649\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-5-1024x649.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11512\" style=\"width:512px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-5-1024x649.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-5-300x190.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-5-768x487.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-5-1536x974.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-5.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 5.<\/strong> Nonsense syllables in G. Rossini&#8217;s \u201cLa Danza,\u201d\u00a0<em>Soir\u00e9es musicales<\/em>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The lilting rhythms, constant $$^{6}_{8}$$ meter, minor mode elements, and cantabile melody of the second thematic group of Figaro\u2019s aria are just as suggestive of Neapolitan song as the tarantella.<span id='easy-footnote-24-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-24-9670' title='Although the \u201cB\u201d section begins in G major, over its course, as discussed below, it succumbs to ever-increasing minor-mode elements, culminating in a harmonic \u201ccrisis.\u201d The thematic material first stated in G major quickly appears in the modally borrowed key of E-flat major. By the section\u2019s conclusion, G major is reinterpreted as the dominant of the aria\u2019s minor tonic (C minor).'><sup>24<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Of the 112 \u201c<em>Canzoni Napoletane<\/em>\u201d transcribed and composed by Guglielmo Cottrau in the collection&nbsp;<em>Passatempi musicali&nbsp;<\/em>(1865), 78 songs (nearly 73%) were cast in a compound meter with the overwhelming majority of those in $$^{6}_{8}$$ (73 songs). Simple meters in the&nbsp;<em>Passatempi musicali&nbsp;<\/em>collection were significantly more likely to be assigned origins outside of Naples and its environs. Out of the 30 simple meter songs from this collection, many were of ambiguous geographic origin. Of the 11 annotated as non-Neapolitan, most (9) were ascribed a Sicilian origin.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vivid chromatic harmonies, distant tonal shifts, and striking modal contrasts appeared in nineteenth-century tarantellas as a means of intensifying the dance\u2019s frantic energy. Cara Stroud (2021) recently identified destabilizing chromatic harmonies and distant tonal relationships as defining features of a \u201ccrisis\u201d subtype of nineteenth-century concert tarantellas. Stroud proposes that such tarantellas construct narratives of crisis through the \u201cnear obsessive fragmentation and repetition of short melodic ideas, the regular use of highly chromatic sequences, [and] the emphasis on distantly related keys\u201d (248).<span id='easy-footnote-25-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-25-9670' title='The chromatic thirds-related harmonies of tarantellas like \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d may also have been associated with Southern Italian vernacular music by listeners in the decades around 1800. Burney, for instance, remarked on the frantically chromatic harmonic language of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Mezzogiorno&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;street musicians within his Italian travelogue (1773). One autumn encounter in Naples prompted a detailed account of both instrumental forces and harmonic language: \u201cIn the canzone of to-night they began in A natural, and, without well knowing how, they got into the most extraneous keys it is possible to imagine, yet without offending the ear\u2026It is a very singular species of music, as wild in modulation, and as different from that of all the rest of Europe as the Scots, and is, perhaps, as ancient, being among the common people merely tradition\u201d (321\u2013322). His fascination with this performance had Burney request a transcription from the head musician. The performance heard by Burney gradually expanded outward from a central tonic A within this space, first only to adjacent nodes and eventually venturing to even more remote areas, and, as Burney emphasized, this A tonality continued to return, although probably in ways that elude standard contrapuntal explanation.'><sup>25<\/sup><\/a><\/span> These musical devices were deployed to depict a \u201cfrantic dance to ward off death\u201d (247). Conversely, according to Stroud, other tarantellas could have a more overt \u201chumorous\u201d expressive orientation, \u201ccharacterized by [their] virtuosic excess\u201d (247). As a genre of concert music, tarantellas of Stroud\u2019s crisis subtype included works like Daniel Auber\u2019s \u201cTarantelle\u201d from&nbsp;<em>La Muette de Portici<\/em>, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin\u2019s Tarantella, op. 43, the finale to Sergei Rachmaninoff\u2019s Suite No. 2 for two pianos, and the closing movement of Franz Schubert\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Death and the Maiden<\/em>&nbsp;string quartet, D. 810 (248).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even in tarantellas that Stroud identifies as members of the \u201chumorous\u201d rather than \u201ccrisis\u201d subtype (like Rossini\u2019s \u201cLa danza\u201d), frantic energy, chromaticism, and modal contrasts permeate musical textures. This can be seen in the saturation of neighbor-note figures in the accompaniment of \u201cLa danza,\u201d reproduced in <strong>Example 6<\/strong>, and in the abrupt shift from A minor to A major in Example 5. Figaro approximates this kind of energized musical line, inundated with neighbor tones,&nbsp;in a linking passage within \u201cLargo al factotum\u2019s\u201d second thematic group, shown in <strong>Example 7<\/strong>. Similar melodic lines can be seen in the folk-oriented \u201cNuova tarantella\u201d (Cottrau 1856), shown in <strong>Example 8<\/strong>.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>The passage in Example 7 also sustains the tarantella topic through two additional elements: the use of nonsense syllables on \u201cla\u201d and a distinctly&nbsp;<em>Mezzogiorno<\/em>-inspired harmonic sliding.<span id='easy-footnote-26-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-26-9670' title='Similar nonsense syllables (\u201cla, la, ra, la, la, la, la, la, ra, la\u201d) also appear in the poetic text of the comic aria \u201cPi\u00f9 bel mestiere del parrucchiere\u201d from Valentino Fioravanti\u2019s&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Matrimonio per susurro&lt;\/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;(Lisbon 1803, Rome 1811), which might have served as a model for Figaro\u2019s cavatina (Lamacchia 2008, 117, 193).'><sup>26<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-6-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-6-1024x255.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11522\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-6-1024x255.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-6-300x75.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-6-768x191.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-6-1536x382.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-6.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 6. <\/strong>The opening tarantella figuration from G. Rossini\u2019s \u201cLa Danza,\u201d\u00a0<em>Soir\u00e9es musicales.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-7-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-7-1024x320.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11532\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-7-1024x320.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-7-300x94.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-7-768x240.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-7-1536x480.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-7.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 7. <\/strong>Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d from Rossini\u2019s\u00a0<em>Barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>\u00a0(mm. 119\u201323)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-8\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"292\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-8-1024x292.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11542\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-8-1024x292.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-8-300x85.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-8-768x219.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-8-1536x438.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-8.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 8. <\/strong>No. 89 \u201cNuova Tarantella,\u201d Guglielmo Cottrau (1865)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Figaro\u2019s cavatina also combines elements of Stroud\u2019s \u201ccrisis\u201d and \u201chumorous\u201d tarantella subtypes, one in which comedic virtuosic display descends into volatile crisis. Depending on the choices of a director or singer, this distress could be either sincere or feigned. In \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d these cresting waves of psychological crisis are created by passages that adopt chromatic third tonal relationships, especially in the aria\u2019s second thematic group and tonal return sections. Here, Figaro loses mental control over the harmonic sphere in two pronounced moments of tonal and psychological crisis before&nbsp;mastering his emotions in the aria\u2019s concluding passage of stringendo patter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crisis (#1):&nbsp;<\/strong>The second thematic group of Figaro\u2019s cavatina culminates in the number\u2019s first moment of crisis. The vocal tarantella melody, which begins in the aria\u2019s dominant key as seen in Example 3, eventually leads through a series of descending chromatic thirds that conclude on the dominant of the minor tonic.<span id='easy-footnote-27-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-27-9670' title='Rodney Edgecombe (2016) presents multiple topical interpretations of this passage, including those of a \u201cpostilion\u2019s song, of an&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;aria da caccia,&lt;\/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;of a sennet&lt;em&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;of a tarantella, and of a&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;marche guerri\u00e8re&lt;\/em&gt;\u201d (58).'><sup>27<\/sup><\/a><\/span> A linear sketch summarizing this large-scale tonal plan descending from G to E$$\\flat$$ to C to A$$\\flat$$ appears in <strong>Example 9<\/strong>. I contend that this chain of thirds stages the exhaustion of a temperamental crisis.<span id='easy-footnote-28-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-28-9670' title='William Rothstein (2023) finds that in&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Barbiere di Siviglia&lt;\/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;\u201csurprise and cartoonish rage are so often expressed by sudden moves, usually marked&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;forte&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;or&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;fortissimo&lt;\/em&gt;, to triads well to the flat side of the local key. These triads are usually chromatic mediants\u201d (205).'><sup>28<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The poetry of this section has Figaro speak about his&nbsp;\u201cnight and day\u201d schedule, always at work, \u201calways on the move\u201d (ll. 20\u201322). When paired with the frantic tarantella, the move towards chromatic third relations and harmonies borrowed from the minor mode acquire a sense of exhaustion or even self-doubt. By this section\u2019s end in mm. 136\u2013150, shown in <strong>Example 10<\/strong>, Figaro\u2019s boisterous tarantella fades from the texture. In its place, a muted pianissimo dynamic, the abandonment of constant eighth notes, and the pronounced shift to a dark C minor create a subtle moment of contrast in a section otherwise characterized by the gestural language of the tarantella.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-9\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"459\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-9-1024x459.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11552\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-9-1024x459.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-9-300x135.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-9-768x345.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-9.png 1442w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 9. <\/strong>Voice-leading sketch of the second thematic group in \u201cLargo al factotum.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-10\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-10-1024x664.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11562\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-10-1024x664.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-10-300x195.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-10-768x498.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-10-1536x996.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-10.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 10. <\/strong>Vocal score of \u201cLargo al factotum,\u201d mm. 135\u201351.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Crisis (#2):<\/strong>&nbsp;The second moment of crisis appears in the aria\u2019s patter-dominated tonal return section and culminates with a descending major thirds cycle in mm. 193\u2013209, shown in <strong>Example 11<\/strong>. This passage begins with the cavatina\u2019s famous agitated cries of \u201cFigaro.\u201d The shouts of the barber\u2019s name actualize the calls from everyone that Figaro comically listed in the preceding stanza: \u201ctutti\u2026, donne, ragazzi, vecchi, fanciulle\u2026\u201d (ll. 39\u201345). This inventory of patrons, characteristic of buffa arias, is set to a slowly accumulating vocal patter, and given a frenzied musical presentation through the use of a Rossini crescendo. The accelerating turns from tonic to dominant in this crescendo, along with the grating martial instrumentation of piccolo and trumpet, transform Figaro\u2019s entrepreneurial success into an endless and exhausting military campaign.&nbsp;Fanfare-like calls in Figaro\u2019s patter melody emphasize an oscillating line between $$\\hat{1}$$ and $$\\hat{2}$$, which, based on the opening ritornello\u2019s presentation of this thematic material, should end on $$\\hat{1}$$ in m. 210 (compare with m. 41). However, this promise of tonal closure at the conclusion of the crescendo is denied.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-11-1\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"820\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.1-820x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11572\" style=\"width:512px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.1-820x1024.png 820w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.1-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.1-768x959.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.1-1231x1536.png 1231w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.1-1641x2048.png 1641w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 11, part 1.<\/strong> Second harmonic crisis in Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al factotum.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-11-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1010\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-1024x1010.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11582\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-1024x1010.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-300x296.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-768x757.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-1536x1514.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-2048x2019.png 2048w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-11.2-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 11, part 2.<\/strong> Second harmonic crisis in Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al factotum.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The calls of \u201cFigaro,\u201d starting on $$\\hat{3}$$, begin where this resolution to $$\\hat{1}$$ should have occurred. The repeated vocal statements of \u201cFigaro\u201d evoke the cacophony of urban street cries but in reverse: here it is the customer, not the vendor, who shouts out. Recalling the descending chromatic thirds of the first crisis, Figaro\u2019s psychological panic is manifested through a major thirds cycle from C to A$$\\flat$$ to E to C. The medial stages of this harmonic path are realized with searching dominants that seek a way out of this delirious conundrum.<span id='easy-footnote-29-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-29-9670' title='William Rothstein (2008, par. 27) has identified this passage as a prolongation of the tonic C through a downward triadic progression by major thirds.'><sup>29<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<p>Figaro\u2019s volatility is reflected in the voice leading path traced through this descending thirds progression. Although many nineteenth-century examples of these harmonic root motions tend to follow rigorously the same voice-leading connections from one stage to the next, in this passage, each voice-leading seam is given a different stitch. The motion from an implied C major triad to the A-flat major of m. 193 is sudden and direct. No equivalent move appears in the path from A-flat to E major. Instead, the motion is arduous and protracted. In mm. 197\u2013201 Figaro slowly inches away from A-flat, first by having the bass introduce a chordal seventh (A$$\\flat^{4}_{2}$$) which then falls to an unstable F, one that supports a root position F dominant seventh sonority rather than a first inversion triad. By m. 200, the identity of the F<sup>7<\/sup>&nbsp;chord shifts to an augmented sixth of E major, realized not only through the notational shift away from E$$\\flat$$s in favor of D$$\\sharp$$s but also by the cautious revoicing of instruments so as to avoid the scalding heat of this localized sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crisis Deleted (#3) and Crisis Mastered (#4):<\/strong>\u00a0Although the harmonic extremity of mm. 193\u2013209 stands as the final passage of \u201ccrisis\u201d within the aria, Rossini prepares and denies two additional moments of crisis. Both of these reinforce the tonal return section\u2019s cyclic design. Each contain three paired sections of increasingly shorter length: (1) a repeated\u00a0<em>crescendo<\/em>\u00a0section, (2) a repeated \u201cnext-order\u201d patter section, and (3) the repeated rhetorical\u00a0<em>envoi<\/em>. \u201cCrisis #2,\u201d discussed above, appeared at the close of the initial half of one of these paired sections, the\u00a0<em>crescendo #1<\/em>. Rossini follows this passage with a return to the twenty-four measures of the crescendo material that initiated the A&#8217; section of the aria in m. 209.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second crescendo material is largely identical to what had been heard before. Its most significant changes pertain to Figaro\u2019s sung text, which now focuses on ll. 52\u201357 of the aria and eventually repeats \u201cFigaro qua, Figaro la\u201d in a fit of accelerating comic patter. The textual repetition and patter declamation illustrate a character who, in typical buffo fashion, increasingly struggles to regulate his emotions. The first time this material was heard, it led to the crisis-inducing calls of \u201cFigaro\u201d and the subsequent patch of thorny chromaticism. The second time, however, the repetition, leads to an energetic spate of octave Cs in mm. 233\u2013236 that prepare the subsequent stringendo close\u2014no parallel and culminating passage of psychological distress emerges.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, Rossini\u2019s autograph indicates that these four measures of octave Cs were a late addition to the score. They were written on an insert pasted over a \u201ccrossed out\u201d sketch. That sketch originally included six measures of \u201cFigaro\u201d cries identical to those heard at the close of the first passages of crescendo rhetoric in mm. 187\u2013193 (Rossini 1816 [1993], 35\u201336). This alteration not only prevents another iteration of comic distress (i.e., \u201ccrisis\u201d has been avoided), but it also reveals Rossini\u2019s underlying paired construction for this aria\u2019s close.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The subsequent stringendo reverses and masters the harmonic processes of \u201ccrisis\u201d that appear earlier in the aria. Here, tarantellistic \u201ccrisis\u201d is largely created through patter that threatens linguistic syntax and chromatic thirds harmonic progressions. Figaro\u2019s closing stringendo presents two alternatives to crisis-inducing patter and harmony. The closing stringendo, identified as \u201c<br>next-order patter\u201d in Table 3 (mm. 237\u2013253), returns Figaro\u2019s music to a clear tarantella topic. Although it contains the fastest sustained passage of patter declamation in the aria, it projects celebratory mastery rather than psychological distress. Rossini created this effect by setting text that unambiguously praises Figaro himself (\u201cAh, bravo Figaro, a te fortuna non mancher\u00e0\u201d) and by supporting this music with a slowly unfolding diatonic authentic cadential progression (I\u2013IV\u2013V<sup>7<\/sup>\u2013I). When this eight-measure module repeats, Figaro replaces \u201cAh, bravo Figaro\u201d with the joyful \u201cLa la ran la.\u201d In mm. 254\u2013267, the aria\u2019s\u00a0<em>envoi\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cSono il factotum della citt\u00e0\u201d) continues this process of confident mastery over musical and poetic elements of \u201ccrisis.\u201d Here, patter is abandoned in favor of declamatory song. The twirling tarantella accompaniment of mm. 237\u2013253 transforms into a grandiose homophonic texture. This passage also features a harmonic progression that emphasizes descending diatonic thirds in the bass (I\u2013vi\u2013ii<sup>6<\/sup>\u2013V\u2013I). This rhetorical shift to a diatonic rather than chromatic thirds progression stands as a foil to the two previous chromatic descents that led to moments of psychological insecurity. Only in the\u00a0<em>envoi<\/em>, with the abandonment of patter and chromaticism, does Figaro confidently declare that he \u201c[is] the factotum of the city\u201d (ll. 56\u201357).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In sum, the stylistic language of Figaro\u2019s \u201cLargo al Factotum\u201d presents sonic signifiers of southern Italians. The central musical topic of the cavatina is the frantic tarantella dance. Although the tarantella signifies by virtue of its sociocultural associations, these meanings are only determined within the context of the aria by how Rossini integrates it into its tonal and formal structure. The cavatina\u2019s rhythms, melodies, poetry, and chromatic harmonies exude a flamboyant gestural language, one indicating a loss of psychological control. Rossini amplifies these qualities in Figaro by having his wild chromatic language center on two moments of harmonic and contrapuntal crisis. These crises disrupt the stability and propriety of cadences. Moreover, the second of these crises (coinciding with the famous passage of \u201cFigaro, Figaro, Figaro\u201d) stages a volatile mental breakdown. This is sonically realized with an extreme instance of a descending chromatic major thirds cycle, which equally divides the octave. The most immediate resolution to I is sonically weak. Only in the concluding stringendo does Figaro correct these moments of chromatic thirds descents with multiple statements of complete cadential progressions whose bass lines pass from $$\\hat{8}$$ to $$\\hat{6}$$ to $$\\hat{4}$$ to $$\\hat{5}$$.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Figaro the Street Vendor<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first act duet \u201cAll\u2019idea di quel metallo\u201d from Rossini\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>\u2014the second number that includes Figaro\u2014creates a sonic portrait of Figaro that likens him to a Neapolitan&nbsp;<em>lazzarone<\/em>. The duet opens with a gesturally provocative phrase. Unison strings shadow Figaro\u2019s compound vocal melody, shown in <strong>Example 13<\/strong>. Rossini\u2019s exaggerated gestural language vividly conjures a stumbling, inebriated gait, seen in its portamento-like scalar fragments in the strings and hiccupping dotted rhythms that pass through the vocal&nbsp;<em>passaggio<\/em>.<span id='easy-footnote-30-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-30-9670' title='Although the passage outlines an implied chain of 7\u20136 suspensions, usually emblematic of higher stylistic registers, Rossini\u2019s gestural language and the libretto\u2019s dramatic context undercut potential resonances with more serious styles.'><sup>30<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The subsequent phrase, a much brisker vivace, has Figaro compare his mind to an explosive volcano, like Mount Vesuvius towering over the Gulf of Naples, shown in Figure 4.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-12-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"722\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11592\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-12.png 722w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-12-300x191.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 722px) 100vw, 722px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 12: <\/strong>Opening stanzas from the duet \u201cAll\u2019idea di quel metallo\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-13\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"301\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-13-1024x301.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11602\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-13-1024x301.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-13-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-13-768x226.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-13-1536x451.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-13.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 13.<\/strong> Opening measures of \u201cAll\u2019idea di quel metallo,\u201d from G. Rossini\u2019s\u00a0<em>Barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>At the duet\u2019s midpoint\u2014its central\u00a0<em>tempo di mezzo\u00a0<\/em>section\u2014Figaro adopts additional musical characteristics of Neapolitan\u00a0<em>lazzaroni<\/em>.\u00a0At this point in the number, Figaro and Count Almaviva have devised their first plan to woo Rosina. Before they exit the stage in preparation for the comic-disguise antics of the first act finale, the Count asks where he can find Figaro\u2019s shop. Figaro responds by gesturing toward his shop and by providing a description of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He sings this information on a series of intoned Ds (\u201cnumereo quindici a mano manca\u201d) which are barked over a twirling, pianissimo waltz in the solo winds, shown in <strong>Example 14<\/strong>. This unusual mode of vocal delivery is decidedly non-melodic. Janet Johnson (2004, 168) hears his \u201cseventy-three iterations of the common tone D\u201d as highly unusual, describing them as a metronomic means of driving the plot forward. The mid-nineteenth-century composer Abramo Basevi (2013, 36) identified his Ds as a passage of half-spoken, half-sung&nbsp;<em>parlante<\/em>&nbsp;<em>armonico<\/em>. Although there is a striking difference between Figaro\u2019s vocal melody and the eight-bar cantabile tune in the orchestra that spins-out into a classic \u201cRossini crescendo,\u201d his&nbsp;<em>parlante armonico<\/em>&nbsp;presents a rich moment in the relationship between the voice and accompaniment. Above the lyrical tune, Figaro sings simple&nbsp;<em>quinario<\/em>&nbsp;rhythms. As if echoing Figaro\u2019s speech, similar rhythms pervade the orchestral part.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-14\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"686\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-14-1024x686.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11612\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-14-1024x686.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-14-300x201.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-14-768x515.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-14-1536x1029.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-14.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 14. <\/strong>Figaro\u2019s \u201cstreet cry\u201d in the\u00a0<em>tempo di mezzo<\/em>\u00a0of \u201cAll\u2019idea di quel metallo,\u201d from G. Rossini\u2019s\u00a0<em>Barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In addition to being&nbsp;<em>parlante<\/em>, Figaro\u2019s melodic vocabulary imitates the cries of street vendors that sounded in pre-industrial European cities. Typical street cries relied on \u201cstereotyped phrases\u201d that served as each vendor\u2019s \u201cmusical trademark\u201d (Maniates and Freedman&nbsp;2001). Street cries, although possessing great variety, were musically simple. The tune \u201cHot Cross Buns,\u201d for instance, originated as an English street cry. When street cries were notated, this musical simplicity was preserved. Like \u201cHot Cross Buns,\u201d the Neapolitan street cries arranged and transcribed by<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Federico Ricci in <strong>Example 15 <\/strong>have a narrow melodic ambitus, in this case, of a minor third.<span id='easy-footnote-31-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-31-9670' title='Note that the piano part of this transcription is not intended as a faithful recreation of a vendor\u2019s cry, rather it was an added convenience for \u201cbeing sung and played in a bourgeois or aristocrat home with a piano\u201d (Privitera 2023, 249).'><sup>31<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The calls of the&nbsp;<em>venditore di mela&nbsp;<\/em>has the hawker intone most of their text on a single pitch ($$\\hat{1}$$).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-15-2\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"835\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-15-835x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11622\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-15-835x1024.jpg 835w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-15-245x300.jpg 245w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-15-768x941.jpg 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-15-1253x1536.jpg 1253w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-15.jpg 1430w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 15. <\/strong>Street cries of a Neapolitan fruit seller and a Neapolitan pork seller as transcribed and arranged by Federico Ricci (after 1853).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Other street cries, like the English one reproduced in <strong>Example 16<\/strong>, more closely resembled the non-melodic intonation of Figaro\u2019s Ds. The \u201cold street cry,\u201d submitted to the\u00a0<em>Musical Times\u00a0<\/em>(Johnson 1919, 494), shares several features with Figaro\u2019s\u00a0<em>parlante<\/em>.<em>\u00a0<\/em>The dactylic rhythms of the word \u201cwatercress\u201d<em>\u00a0<\/em>( \u2013\u00a0\u222a\u00a0\u222a) are musically rendered with a simple rhythmic figure\u00a0[<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"21\" height=\"14\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,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\" alt=\"A black and white musical note\n\nAI-generated content may be incorrect.\">]. Melodically, an intoned $$\\hat{5}$$ is used as a reciting tone, just as in Figaro\u2019s \u201cnumero quindici.\u201d More recently in the late 1920s, the popular Cuban song \u201cEl Manisero\u201d (The Peanut Vendor) imitated the cries of a street merchant in ways reminiscent of Figaro\u2019s\u00a0<em>parlante<\/em>. As seen in <strong>Example 17<\/strong>, yells of \u201cMan\u00ed\u201d (peanuts) emphasize a sustained $$\\hat{5}$$. Furthermore, like Figaro\u2019s example, the street cry occurs over a harmonically simple dance that oscillates between tonic and dominant. In \u201cNumero quindici,\u201d this dance is a waltz; in \u201cEl Mansiero, it is an ostinato rhumba.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-16\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"584\" height=\"414\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-16.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11632\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-16.png 584w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-16-300x213.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 16. <\/strong>\u201cA Musical Street Cry,\u201d reproduced from Johnson (1919, 494).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-17\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"645\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-17-1024x645.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11642\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-17-1024x645.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-17-300x189.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-17-768x484.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-17-1536x967.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-17.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 17.<\/strong> Cries of \u201cMan\u00ed!\u201d (Peanuts!) in \u201cEl Manisero\u201d as performed by Antonio Machin (1930).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Street cries like Figaro\u2019s acted as a rare topic within nineteenth-century Italian opera; they depict travelling merchants, especially those from the periphery of society.<span id='easy-footnote-32-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-32-9670' title='The vocal texture in\u00a0Dulcamara\u2019s cavatina \u201cUdite, udite, o rustici\u201d from Donizetti\u2019s\u00a0&lt;em&gt;L\u2019elisir d\u2019amore&lt;\/em&gt;\u00a0(1832) hovers between the hawked cries of a street vendor and more standard comic patter. In Verdi\u2019s\u00a0&lt;em&gt;La forza del destino&lt;\/em&gt;, another street-cry vocal texture is used by the\u00a0peddler (&lt;em&gt;rivendugliolo&lt;\/em&gt;)\u00a0Trabuco in his act 3, scene 11 arietta \u201cA buon marcato chi vuol comprare.\u201d Trabuco hawks \u201c&lt;em&gt;various objects of meagre value&lt;\/em&gt;\u201d by singing in a rough manner, in imitation of street vendor cries (Verdi [1869] 1904, 425).'><sup>32<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0The street-cry allusion colors Figaro\u2019s character, at least at this moment, as distinctly low in rank. It also suggests a rougher vocal delivery than is typically heard in performances today. In the case of Figaro, the street-cry allusion evokes the world of street hawkers, those of the same standing as Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl, from Lerner and Loewe\u2019s\u00a0<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>. In this regard, it is perhaps an even baser vocal texture than comic patter. In this light, Figaro\u2019s intoned Ds in \u201cNumero quindici\u201d suggests a deliberately unrefined and gritty vocal performance in order to imitate the wails of street vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In act 1 of&nbsp;<em>La gazza ladra&nbsp;<\/em>(1817) this style of music depicts the calls of an itinerant Jewish peddler, the haberdasher (<em>merciaiolo<\/em>) Isacco. In <strong>Example 18<\/strong>, he is heard hawking an assortment of wares that include strings, needles, scissors, and matches. Rossini\u2019s depiction of Isacco is also explicitly framed around his profession and Jewish identity.<span id='easy-footnote-33-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-33-9670' title='Most notably, Rossini indicated that Isacco\u2019s highly intoned Ds should be performed&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;nasale&lt;\/em&gt;, explicitly drawing on European tropes of Jewish bodily difference. Marc Weiner identified such nasality as a central antisemitic vocal trope in nineteenth-century music (Weiner 1995, esp. 117\u2013150).'><sup>33<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Nineteenth-century listeners used both streams of associations to interpret Isaaco\u2019s music. Rossini\u2019s contemporary, the&nbsp;French novelist Stendhal, for example, identified Isacco\u2019s&nbsp;<em>cavatina<\/em>&nbsp;as both distinctly Jewish and Neapolitan in character.<span id='easy-footnote-34-9670' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/#easy-footnote-bottom-34-9670' title='Incidentally, Julian Budden (1979) described&amp;nbsp;Trabuco as clearly Jewish in how it imitates the sound world of Isacco\u2019s cavatina: \u201cTrabuco\u2019s solo\u2026has a more immediate ancestor in the entrance of Isacco in&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;La Gazza Ladra&lt;\/em&gt;\u2026 We hardly need Verdi\u2019s marking of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Ebreo&amp;nbsp;&lt;\/em&gt;to tell us that he conceived this as a Jewish character-part\u201d (2:497\u2013498).'><sup>34<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Stendhal\u2019s racist and classist interpretation drew on antisemitic tropes and a voyeuristic impression of the Neapolitan poor, which he conflated. Stendhal heard this street cry as evoking \u201cthe meanest squalor of civilization,\u201d a stark image of bleak poverty (Stendhal 1957, 266\u201367). In a footnote to this passage, Stendhal went further and likened \u201cPolish Jews\u201d to Neapolitan&nbsp;<em>lazzaroni<\/em>, which he called the \u201cswindlers who plague the Kingdom of Naples\u201d<em>&nbsp;<\/em>(274).&nbsp;Stendhal\u2019s comments suggest that the sounds of street cries could evoke images of destitute Mediterranean poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-18\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"353\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-18-1024x353.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11652\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-18-1024x353.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-18-300x103.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-18-768x265.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-18-1536x530.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-18.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 18.<\/strong> Isacco\u2019s \u201cStringhe e ferri da calzette\u201d from G. Rossini\u2019s\u00a0<em>La gazza ladra<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Finally, Figaro\u2019s conduct within the duet highlights careful consideration given to the Count\u2019s superior social standing. Throughout the number, Figaro serves and guides the Count through deferential musical cues, offering a supportive dominant here and a tuneful melody there. In this way he also acts like a street vendor selling goods. His hawking Ds transform their accompanimental waltz melody into a commodity to be traded, like the sorbet and melons sold in Figure 2 above. In effect, it is the promise of the unsung and accompanimental waltz tune\u2014not a description of his shop\u2014that is the true focal point of Figaro\u2019s street call. The Count\u2019s eventual adoption of Figaro\u2019s hawked tune in the duet\u2019s cabaletta\u2014along with Figaro\u2019s celebration of coins in his supporting bass line\u2014seems to confirm its status as a traded commodity, see <strong>Example 19<\/strong>. Moreover, the waltz melody could have served as the first statement of a cabaletta theme, yet Figaro sycophantically abandons this potential cabaletta and concludes on a dominant instead, one which prepares the Count for his cabaletta entrance. In the true cabaletta, the Count sings the youthful waltz, while Figaro relegates himself to non-melodic vocal interjections that celebrate the sound of coins.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/example-19\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-19-1024x405.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11662\" style=\"width:512px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-19-1024x405.png 1024w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-19-300x119.png 300w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-19-768x304.png 768w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-19-1536x608.png 1536w, https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Example-19.png 1958w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Example 19.<\/strong> Figaro\u2019s accompanimental waltz sung by the Count in the duet\u2019s cabaletta.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Rossini\u2019s act 1 music for Figaro contains many Neapolitanisms that evoke the urban poor, Figaro\u2019s status as a character is more complex than being a mere lower-status comic character. Figaro is in many ways enigmatic, and he amounts to more than only the class and national connotations of his musical vocabulary. Yet the question remains, which Figaro can listeners encounter in performances of these numbers? Is he a volatile beggar, like a Neapolitan&nbsp;<em>lazzarone<\/em>? A humble hawker of wares? A servant factotum? Or, is he a successful and clever merchant, able to manipulate the characters around him? I see two opposing strategies for interpreting Figaro\u2019s musical Neapolitanisms: one of sincerity and the other of irony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first strategy would be to take Figaro\u2019s sonic evocation of Naples at face value. If, Rossini\u2019s Figaro is often made to sound like a lower-status Neapolitan, then perhaps he is to be presented in that way in performance, endowed with the stereotyped temperament that wealthy opera goers would have ascribed to them. Within this framing, he is depicted as a man subject to surging whims and exaggerated reactions. In \u201cLargo al Factotum,\u201d a wild tarantella dance suggests physical and mental delirium. The moments of psychological crisis within the number reveal a witty character in sincere distress. Perhaps he is able to be fooled by those who outrank him, at least until he masters his emotions by the aria\u2019s close but only after expending considerable effort. In the case of \u201cNumero quindici,\u201d Figaro\u2019s street cries suggest a performance with a coarse vocal timbre and exaggerated physical gestures, so that he, like the venders in Figure 2, may earnestly try to secure the Count\u2019s employment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An opposing strategy would be to interpret Figaro\u2019s Neapolitanisms as ironic. As discussed above, Figaro is a unique character. Much like\u00a0<em>Cos\u00ec fan tutte\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Don Alfonso, he has the rare ability to see, understand, and manipulate the conventions of opera in order to achieve his goals. In this regard, Janet Johnson (2004) interprets him as a \u201cmachinist,\u201d simultaneously inhabiting the role of \u201ccharacter and author,\u201d and, as a\u00a0machinist-author within the opera, he \u201cweaves the intrigue and leads the theatrical action\u201d (167). Along these lines, Emanuele Senici (2019) hears Figaro\u2019s cavatina as foregrounding the \u201cThe staging of an opera performance\u2026 Before we see him, we hear him sing in the wings. \u2026 Once he enters with his guitar, he does not star this cavatina with meaningful words, but with two nonsense lines, \u2018La ran la lera, la ran la l\u00e0,\u2019 just like a singer warming up before going on stage\u201d\u00a0(105). The Neapolitanism, then, are another kind of performance on the part of Figaro. Instead of revealing an essential aspect of his character, they serve as a feigned performance,\u00a0playfully depicting his versatility. In the \u201cNumero quindici\u201d duet, Figaro adopts these Neapolitanisms to manipulate the Count, playfully subordinating himself to Almaviva. As a character with a rich and contradictory musical language, performers and directors can choose how to situate their performances of Figaro within these two extremes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Allanbrook, Wye Jamison. 1983.&nbsp;<em>Rhythmic Gesture in Mozart:&nbsp;<\/em>Le Nozze di Figaro&nbsp;<em>and&nbsp;<\/em>Don Giovanni.&nbsp;University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basevi, Abramo. 2013.&nbsp;<em>The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi.<\/em>&nbsp;Translated by Edward Schneider and Stefano Castelvecchi. Edited by Stefano Castelvecchi. University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boyle, Matthew L. C. 2024. \u201cThe Serenade<em>&nbsp;<\/em>Topic, the Serenade Construction, and the Creation of Amorous Sweetness in&nbsp;<em>ottocento&nbsp;<\/em>Opera.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Journal of Music Theory&nbsp;<\/em>68\/1: 1\u201335.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1215\/00222909-10974683\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1215\/00222909-10974683<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boyle, Matthew L. C. 2025a. \u201cRossinian&nbsp;<em>Reiz<\/em>: Strategic Musical Irritation and the Capturing of Attention.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Music Theory Spectrum&nbsp;<\/em>47 (2).<em>&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/mts\/mtae028\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/mts\/mtae028<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boyle, Matthew L. C. 2025b. \u201cReading Mozart\u2019s Rond\u00f2s.\u201d In&nbsp;<em>Analyzing Mozart\u2019s Operas<\/em>, 159\u2013215. Edited by Lauri Suurp\u00e4\u00e4, Nathan John Martin, and John Koslovsky. Peeters Publishers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Budden, Julian. 1979.&nbsp;<em>The Operas of Verdi 2: From&nbsp;<\/em>Il Trovatore&nbsp;<em>to&nbsp;<\/em>La Forza del destino. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bourcard, Francesco de. 1858.&nbsp;<em>Usi e costumi di napoli e contorni descritti e dipinti<\/em>, vol. 2. G. Naples: Nobile.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burney, Charles. 1773.&nbsp;<em>The Present State of Music in France and Italy<\/em>, 2nd edition. London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calaresu, Melissa. 2013. \u201cCollecting Neapolitans: The Representation of Street Life in Late Eighteenth-Century Naples.\u201d In&nbsp;<em>New Approaches to Naples c. 1500\u20131800<\/em>, 176\u2013202. Edited by Melissa Calaresu and Helen Hills. Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Calaresu, Melissa and Danielle van den Heuvel. 2016. \u201cIntroduction: Food Hawkers from Representation to Reality.\u201d In&nbsp;<em>Food Hawkers: Selling in the Streets from Antiquity to the Present<\/em>, 1\u201318. Edited by Melissa Calaresu and Danielle van den Heuvel. Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cohn, Richard. 1996. \u201cMaximally Smooth Cycles, Hexatonic Systems, and the Analysis of Late-Romantic Triadic Progressions.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Music Analysis&nbsp;<\/em>15, no. 1 (March): 9\u201340.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/854168\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/854168<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cottrau, Guglielmo. 1865.&nbsp;<em>Passatempi musicali raccolta complete delle canzoni Napoletane composte di Guglielmo Cottrau<\/em>. Naples: Regio Stabilimento Musicale di Teodoro Cottrau.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/20.500.12113\/2964\">http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/20.500.12113\/2964<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coward, David, trans. 2003.&nbsp;<em>The Figaro Trilogy<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deasy, Martin. 2008. \u201cLocal Color: Donizetti\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Il furioso<\/em>&nbsp;in Naples.\u201d&nbsp;<em>19th-Century Music&nbsp;<\/em>32 (1): 3\u201325.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1525\/ncm.2008.32.1.003\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1525\/ncm.2008.32.1.003<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Decker, Gergory J. and Matthew R. Shaftel, ed. 2020.&nbsp;<em>Singing in Signs: New Semiotic Explorations of Opera<\/em>. Oxford University Press.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oso\/9780190620622.001.0001\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oso\/9780190620622.001.0001<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Simone, Roberto, ed. 1979a.&nbsp;<em>La tradizione in Capania<\/em>, EMI 3C 164\u201318431\/37, 33 1\/3 rpm (7 LPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>De Simone, Roberto. 1979b.&nbsp;<em>Canti e tradizioni popolari in Capania<\/em>. Giuseppe Vettori, Rome: Lato Side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Duke, Craig. 2021. \u201cLyric Forms as \u2018Performed\u2019 Speech in&nbsp;<em>Das Rheingold&nbsp;<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>Die Walk\u00fcre<\/em>: A Study of Operatic Convention in Wagnerian Music Drama.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Journal of Music Theory&nbsp;<\/em>65\/2: 287\u2013323.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1215\/00222909-9143204\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1215\/00222909-9143204<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Edgecombe, Rodney Stenning. 2016. \u201cFigaro\u2019s&nbsp;<em>aria<\/em>&nbsp;<em>di<\/em>&nbsp;<em>sortita<\/em>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>.\u201d&nbsp;<em>The Musical Times&nbsp;<\/em>157, no. 1935 (Summer): 57\u201368.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gleichmann, J. A. 1830. \u201cBemerkungen \u00fcber den behaupteten climatischen Einfluss auf die menschlichen Stimmen.\u201d&nbsp;<em>C\u00e4cilia<\/em>&nbsp;XI (41): 169\u201382.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goehring, Edmund J. 2004.&nbsp;<em>Three Modes of Perception in Mozart: The Philosophical, Pastoral, and Comic in&nbsp;<\/em>Cos\u00ec fan tutte. Cambridge Studies in Opera. Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hatten, Robert. 1994.&nbsp;<em>Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation<\/em>. Indiana University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hatten, Robert. 2004.&nbsp;<em>Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert<\/em>. Indiana University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hunter, Mary. 1999.&nbsp;<em>The Culture of opera buffa in Mozart\u2019s Vienna: A Poetics of Entertainment<\/em>. Princeton University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hunter, Mary. 2014. \u201cTopics and Opera Buffa,\u201d In&nbsp;<em>The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory<\/em>, edited by Danuta Mirka, 61\u201389. Oxford University Press.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199841578.013.003\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199841578.013.003<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson, Janet. 2004. \u201c<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia.<\/em>\u201d In&nbsp;<em>The Cambridge Companion to Rossini<\/em>, edited by Emanuele Senici, 159\u2013174. Cambridge University Press.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/CCOL9780521807364.012\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/CCOL9780521807364.012<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson, N. F. Byng. 1919. \u201cA Musical Street Cry.\u201d&nbsp;<em>The Musical Times&nbsp;<\/em>60, no. 919 (September): 494.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/3701983\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/3701983<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Krug, S. 1829. \u201cDer climatische Einfluss auf die menschlichen Stimmen: Parallelen zwischen Deutschland und Italien.\u201d&nbsp;<em>C\u00e4cilia&nbsp;<\/em>XI (41): 1\u201314.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lamacchia, Saverio. 2008.&nbsp;<em>Il vero Figaro o sial il falso factotoum: Riesame del \u201cBarbiere\u201d di Rossini<\/em>. EDT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lamacchia, Saverio. 2019. \u201cTowards a New Interpretation of Rossini\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/em>.\u201d In&nbsp;<em>Zwischen Revolution und B\u00fcrgerlichkeit<\/em>, edited by Isolde Schmid-Reiter and Dominique Meyer, 93\u2013109. ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Larson, Steve. 2012.&nbsp;<em>Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music<\/em>. Indiana University Press.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lichtenthal, Peter. 1836.&nbsp;<em>Dizionario e Bibliografia della Musica<\/em>. Milan: Antonio Fontana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lindstr\u00f6m, Carlo. 1836.&nbsp;<em>Costumi, e vestiture napolitana, disegnati ed incise da Carlo Lindstr\u00f6m<\/em>. Naples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Link, Dorothea. 2008. \u201cThe Fandango Scene in Mozart\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Le nozze di Figaro<\/em>.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Journal of the Royal Musical Association<\/em>133 (1): 69\u201392.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jrma\/fkm011\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jrma\/fkm011<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maniates, Maria Rika and Richard Freedman. 2001. \u201cStreet Cries.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Grove Music Online<\/em>.<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/gmo\/9781561592630.article.26931\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/gmo\/9781561592630.article.26931<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Markstrom, Kurt. 2007.&nbsp;<em>The Operas of Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano<\/em>. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marx, Adolf Bernhard. 1826.&nbsp;<em>Die Kunst des Gesanges, theoretich-praktisch<\/em>. Berlin: Schlesinger.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mirka, Danuta. 2014. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d In&nbsp;<em>The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory<\/em>, edited by Danuta Mirka, 1\u201360. New York: Oxford University Press.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199841578.013.002\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199841578.013.002<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moe, Nelson. 2002.&nbsp;<em>The View from Vesuvius: Italian Culture and the Southern Question<\/em>. University of California Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat. 1777.&nbsp;<em>The Spirit of the Laws<\/em>, vol. 1 in&nbsp;<em>The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu<\/em>. London: T. Evans. <a href=\"http:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/titles\/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-1-the-spirit-of-laws\">http:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/titles\/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-1-the-spirit-of-laws<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreen, Robert. 1975. \u201cIntegration of Text Forms and Musical Forms in Verdi\u2019s Early Operas.\u201d PhD dissertation, Princeton University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pinelli, Bartolomeo. 1817.&nbsp;<em>Raccolta di cinquanta costume li pi\u00f9 interessanti delle citt\u00e0, terre, e paesi, in provincie diverse del regno di Napoli<\/em>. Rome: Presso Giovanni Scudellari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Platoff, John. 1990. \u201cThe buffa aria in Mozart\u2019s Vienna.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Cambridge Opera Journal<\/em>&nbsp;2, no. 2 (July): 99\u2013120.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0954586700003177\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0954586700003177<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Poriss, Hilary. 2022.&nbsp;<em>Gioachino Rossini\u2019s<\/em>&nbsp;The Barber of Seville. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Privitera, Massimo. 2023. \u201cNaples, City of Sounds: Representing the Phonosphere of a Romantic Capital.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Music, Place, and Identity in Italian Urban Soundscapes circa 1550\u20131860<\/em>, 241\u201365<em>.&nbsp;<\/em>Edited by Franco Piperno, Simone Caputo, and Emanuele Senici. Routledge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ratner, Leonard G. 1980.&nbsp;<em>Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style<\/em>. Schirmer Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ricci, Federico. [after 1853].&nbsp;<em>Gridi de\u2019 venditori di Napoli, raccolte da Federico Ricci<\/em>. Naples: Teodor Cottrau.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/digitale.bnnonline.it\/index.php?it\/149\/ricerca-contenuti-digitali\/show\/8\/\">http:\/\/digitale.bnnonline.it\/index.php?it\/149\/ricerca-contenuti-digitali\/show\/8\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robinson, Paul A. 1985.&nbsp;<em>Opera and Ideas: From Mozart to Strauss<\/em>. Cornell University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rossini, Gioachino. (1816) 1993.&nbsp;<em>Il barbiere di Siviglia: Facsimile dell\u2019autografo<\/em>. Edited by Philip Gossett. Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rothstein, William. 2008. \u201cCommon-tone Tonality in Italian Romantic Opera: An Introduction.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Music Theory Online<\/em>14, no. 1 (March).&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/doi.org\/10.30535\/mto.14.1.3\">http:\/\/doi.org\/10.30535\/mto.14.1.3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rothstein, William. 2023.&nbsp;<em>The Musical Language of Italian Opera: 1813\u20131859<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>S\u00e1nchez-Kisielewska, Olga. 2016. \u201cInteractions between Topics and Schemata: The Case of the Sacred Romanesca.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Theory and Practice&nbsp;<\/em>41: 47\u201380.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>S\u00e1nchez-Kisielewska, Olga. 2023. \u201cOn Figaro\u2019s Alleged Minuet and Some Challenges and Opportunities of Topic Theory.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Music Theory Spectrum&nbsp;<\/em>45 (1): 89\u201399.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/mts\/mtac027\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/mts\/mtac027<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senici, Emanuele. 2019.&nbsp;<em>Music in the Present Tense: Rossini\u2019s Italian Operas in Their Time.<\/em>&nbsp;University of Chicago Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sievers, Georg Ludwig Peter. 1829. \u201cDer Einfluss des r\u00f6mischen Climas auf die Gesangf\u00e4higkeit.\u201d&nbsp;<em>C\u00e4cilia<\/em>&nbsp;XI (43): 209\u201317.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sherrill, Paul. \u201cThe Metastasian Da Capo Aria: Moral Philosophy, Characteristic Actions, and Dialogic Form.\u201d PhD dissertation, Indiana University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stendhal. 1957.&nbsp;<em>Life of Rossini<\/em>. Translated by Richard N. Coe. Criterion Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stroud, Cara. 2021. \u201cWebs of Meaning in John Corigliano\u2019s Tarantellas.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Music Theory Spectrum&nbsp;<\/em>43 (2): 246\u201356.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/mts\/mtaa029\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/mts\/mtaa029<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taruskin, Richard. 2005.&nbsp;<em>Oxford History of Western Music<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Verdi, Giuseppe. (1869) 1904.&nbsp;<em>La forza del destino&nbsp;<\/em>(Melodramma in four acts), libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. G. Ricordi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weiner, Marc A. 1995.&nbsp;<em>Richard Wagner and the Anti-Semitic Imagination<\/em>. University of Nebraska Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zbikowski, Lawrence M. 2003.&nbsp;<em>Conceptualizing Music: Cognitive Structure, Theory, and Analysis<\/em>. Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew L.C. Boyle Abstract Although Gioachino Rossini\u2019s Figaro is one of opera\u2019s most beloved characters, little analytical work has been dedicated to him or his music. This essay elaborates on aspects of Figaro\u2019s character through two analytical vignettes. These vignettes add texture to Figaro\u2019s status as a lower-class comic character and highlight his cunning and &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/38-2025\/boyle\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A <i>lazzarone<\/i> Figaro? Musical Neapolitanisms in Rossini\u2019s <i>Il barbiere di Siviglia<\/i>&#8220;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"parent":9662,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"[]"},"class_list":["post-9670","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9670"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11842,"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9670\/revisions\/11842"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theory.esm.rochester.edu\/integral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}