Oper

Gioachino Rossini

Il Barbiere

di Siviglia

Komische Oper in zwei Akten

Text Cesare Sterbini

by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

Friday 21. February 2025 19:00 – 22:15 One intermission Main Stage
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

Subscription 6

Ticket information

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:
 

22. November 2024: IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA
10. January 2025: TURANDOT
21. Febuary 2025: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
07. March 2025: BALLET: DIE KAMELIENDAME
04. April 2025: IOLANTA


Cast at
21. February 2025

Graf Almaviva

Jack Swanson * *instead of Edgardo Rocha

Don Basilio

Marzellina (Berta)

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung und Bühne

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander

6 more dates

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast at Friday 14. February 2025

Graf Almaviva

Jack Swanson * *instead of Edgardo Rocha

Rosina

Maria Kataeva

Don Basilio

Marzellina (Berta)

Musikalische Leitung

Diego Matheuz

Inszenierung und Bühne

Herbert Fritsch

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

U27   Included in: Cycle »Comic Operas«
Cycle »Comic Operas«

Season 2024/2025

Humorous productions and rousing musical interpretations transport the audience into a world full of comedy, satire and lively characters.

9. November 2024: DON PASQUALE
14. Febuary 2025: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
29. March 2025: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast at Tuesday 18. February 2025

Graf Almaviva

Jack Swanson * *instead of Edgardo Rocha

Rosina

Maria Kataeva

Don Basilio

Marzellina (Berta)

Musikalische Leitung

Diego Matheuz

Inszenierung und Bühne

Herbert Fritsch

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander
Area 1 220 €
Area 1

220 €

Area 2 175 €
Area 2

175 €

Area 3 140 €
Area 3

140 €

Area 4 100 €
Area 4

100 €

Area 5 76 €
Area 5

76 €

Area 6 52 €
Area 6

52 €

Area 7 36 €
Area 7

36 €

Area 8 25 €
Area 8

25 €

Area 9 15 €
Area 9

15 €

Standing room
Standing room

Ö1 BT-Card   Included in: Subscription 4
Subscription 4

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

29. October 2024: FIN DE PARTIE
26. November 2024: BALLET: THE WINTER’S TALE
18. Febuary 2025: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
15. April 2025: ANDREA CHÉNIER
13. May 2025: ROMÉO ET JULIETTE

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast at Wednesday 11. June 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung und Bühne

Herbert Fritsch

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander
Area 1 232 €
Area 1

232 €

Area 2 190 €
Area 2

190 €

Area 3 153 €
Area 3

153 €

Area 4 108 €
Area 4

108 €

Area 5 86 €
Area 5

86 €

Area 6 62 €
Area 6

62 €

Area 7 39 €
Area 7

39 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 16 €
Area 9

16 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 12
Subscription 12

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

30. October 2024: BILLY BUDD
27. November 2024: MANON
19. Febuary 2025: BALLET: DIE KAMELIENDAME
16. April 2025: ARABELLA
11. June 2025: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast at Friday 13. June 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung und Bühne

Herbert Fritsch

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander
Area 1 232 €
Area 1

232 €

Area 2 190 €
Area 2

190 €

Area 3 153 €
Area 3

153 €

Area 4 108 €
Area 4

108 €

Area 5 86 €
Area 5

86 €

Area 6 62 €
Area 6

62 €

Area 7 39 €
Area 7

39 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 16 €
Area 9

16 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 8
Subscription 8

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

08. November 2024: MADAMA BUTTERFLY
06. December 2024: BALLET: THE WINTER’S TALE
07. Febuary 2025: DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
16. May 2025: NORMA
13. June 2025: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast at Monday 16. June 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung und Bühne

Herbert Fritsch

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander
Area 1 232 €
Area 1

232 €

Area 2 190 €
Area 2

190 €

Area 3 153 €
Area 3

153 €

Area 4 108 €
Area 4

108 €

Area 5 86 €
Area 5

86 €

Area 6 62 €
Area 6

62 €

Area 7 39 €
Area 7

39 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 16 €
Area 9

16 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 16
Subscription 16

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

14. October 2024: BALLET: SCHWANENSEE
25. November 2024: IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA
07. April 2025: SALOME
12. May 2025: TOSCA
16. June 2025: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Cast at Thursday 19. June 2025

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung und Bühne

Herbert Fritsch

Kostüme

Victoria Behr

Licht

Carsten Sander
Area 1 232 €
Area 1

232 €

Area 2 190 €
Area 2

190 €

Area 3 153 €
Area 3

153 €

Area 4 108 €
Area 4

108 €

Area 5 86 €
Area 5

86 €

Area 6 62 €
Area 6

62 €

Area 7 39 €
Area 7

39 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 16 €
Area 9

16 €

Standing room
Standing room

U27  

Short Summary

The Count of Almaviva is in love with Rosina, and Rosina loves the Count of Almaviva.

So everything would be wonderful - if it weren't for Don Bartolo, Rosina's guardian, who won't let her out of the house or out of his sight. He wants to marry Rosina himself and can rely on the support of music teacher Don Basilio, who provides him with information about his rival. The Count's dedicated helper is the title character: Figaro, Barber of Seville and the Count's former servant. His many pieces of good advice result above all in stunningly funny stage scenes and at least do not prevent the two lovers from finding each other in the end.

Il Barbiere

di Siviglia

Storyline

In front of Doctor Bartolo's house

Under the balcony of a stranger whom he has admired from afar for weeks, Count Almaviva sings a serenade, accompanied by musicians engaged by his servant Fiorello. The barber Figaro appears.

He is a former servant of the Count and knows the beautiful stranger: it is Rosina. As the barber to her guardian, Doctor Bartolo, he has access to his house. Rosina appears on the balcony and drops a letter before Doctor Bartolo can intervene. In the letter, she asks her admirer to explain his intentions and expresses her absolute determination to "break her chains".

The Count introduces himself to Rosina with a song as the poor student Lindoro - the young woman should choose him out of love and not because of his high status. Figaro explains that Doctor Bartolo wants to marry Rosina in order to obtain her dowry. He suggests to the Count that he should disguise himself as a soldier and enter the house with a billeting order. To appear harmless, he should also pretend to be drunk.

In the house of Doctor Bartolo

Rosina is determined to use all her skill and disobedience to win Lindoro despite Bartolo's resistance. Doctor Bartolo suspects that Rosina and Figaro are up to something against him.

He first questions Rosina, then the housekeeper Berta and the servant Ambrogio, but receives no information. Rosina's music teacher Don Basilio tells Doctor Bartolo that Rosina's secret admirer, Count Almaviva, has been seen in the city. Doctor Bartolo decides to marry Rosina the very next day. Don Basilio proposes to discredit the Count by slandering him.

Figaro has overheard them and tells Rosina about Bartolo's plans. Rosina is particularly interested in Lindoro, whom she has seen with Figaro. Figaro claims that Lindoro is his cousin and is very much in love with Rosina. Figaro demands a letter for Lindoro - but Rosina has already written it. Bartolo discovers Rosina's secret correspondence and announces that she is to be watched even more closely.

Disguised as a drunken soldier, the count breaks into Bartolo's house. His attempt to deliver a letter to Rosina leads to a riot, which calls the town guard to the scene. Their officer wants to arrest the supposed soldier as a troublemaker. When he inconspicuously reveals himself to be the Count, he immediately rescinds his order - to the utter dismay of everyone present.

In the house of Doctor Bartolo

The Count appears again: he has now disguised himself as the music teacher Don Alonso and pretends to be standing in for Don Basilio, who is ill.

He tells the suspicious Bartolo that he is staying at the same inn as Count Almaviva, where he has come across an amorous ticket from Rosina. He wants to use it to discredit the Count with Rosina. Bartolo agrees and calls Rosina to a singing lesson. Rosina recognizes her admirer Lindoro in Don Alonso, and Figaro arrives to shave Doctor Bartolo. Following a tip from Rosina, he manages to steal the key to the balcony door. The sudden appearance of Don Basilio threatens to blow the Count's cover. Inconspicuously, he slips Don Basilio a gift of money and with combined forces, Don Basilio is forced out of the house.

Figaro tries to distract Bartolo from the two lovers, but Bartolo hears a careless word from the Count and sees through the deception. The Count and Figaro flee. Don Basilio expresses his suspicion to Bartolo that Don Alonso has been sent by Count Almaviva. Doctor Bartolo now wants to push ahead with his marriage to Rosina all the more urgently and sends Don Basilio to fetch the notary. Bartolo presents Rosina with the ticket as proof that Don Alonso and Figaro wanted to drive her into the arms of Count Almaviva. Rosina, stunned by this news, agrees to marry Bartolo. She also reveals that Figaro and her suitor are planning to enter the house at midnight to abduct her. When Figaro and the Count arrive, Rosina pushes back the supposed matchmaker Lindoro, whose deception she believes she has seen through. When Lindoro reveals himself to be Count Almaviva and confirms the seriousness of his intentions, Rosina is overjoyed.

Don Basilio appears with the notary. Figaro explains that those present are his niece and Count Almaviva, whose wedding the notary is to perform that evening in Figaro's house. The notary has the marriage contract with him. The Count offers the reluctant Don Basilio a choice between a precious ring and two bullets in the head. Don Basilio chooses the ring and signs the marriage contract as best man. Doctor Bartolo has summoned soldiers and demands the arrest of the burglars. When Count Almaviva reveals himself to him, refers to the valid marriage contract and gives Bartolo Rosina's dowry, the latter accepts his defeat.

Act 1 100 MIN
Intermission 25 min
Act 2 65 min

Herbert Fritsch's production of Barbiere di Siviglia goes back to the roots of the work in the commedia dell'arte in order to create something completely original from there. This creation is initially literally in the hands of the singers, who fill the commedia types from which Rossini and his librettist Sterbini started out with life in the form of the "enlargement" into the grotesque that characterizes Herbert Fritsch's directorial work. All of this is done entirely without props, but with a remarkable set: Victoria Beer's costumes transfer the rococo fashion and the grotesque "Maccaroni" wig fashion of early English dandies from the 18th century into a fantasy world, which is ideally represented in Herbert Fritsch's set design. There, large-scale colored foil panels form constantly changing scenes under computer control: Alleyways, squares, buildings, or simply places that become the stage for the acting characters. The stage is constantly in motion, sometimes more strongly, then more subtly, but without ever standing still. The perfect ambience, but also the perfect metaphor for Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia.

Figaro's cavatina "Largo al factotum" is the signature melody of the Barbiere di Siviglia, but Rossini's masterpiece is peppered with many more gems. The coloratura cavatina "Una Voce Poco fa", for example, gives Rosina's interpreters brilliant opportunities to shine, and the same applies to the Conte's "Ecco ridente in cielo". Librettist Cesare Sterbini provided Rossini with ideal occasions to make music and thus made a decisive contribution to the enormous stage effectiveness of the work, for example in the finale of the first act, where the controlled chaos of a "Rossini crescendo" reigns: the image of a "hellish forge" conjured up in the text is painted with relish by the music with the sound of hammers and anvils. The busy composer had to write his most famous work in the shortest possible time - even reputable sources assume that the composition could not have taken more than two weeks. In order to achieve his goal in such a short time, Rossini frequently used material from his earlier works; one example of many is the thunderstorm music from the second act, which had already been used in the two operas Il pietro di Paragone and L'occasione fa il ladro, which premiered in 1812.

 

Figaro, the barber of Seville, introduces himself as the "factotum of the whole city", a helper in all situations. Like all barbers of his time, he is not only responsible for grooming beards and hair, but also for cutting teeth and bloodletting. In addition, Figaro also offers services for lovers and marriage candidates, such as secretly transporting letters or serenades on commission.
The opera was premiered under the title Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione (Almaviva or The useless precaution) - the main character was therefore Count Almaviva. However, the audience's love quickly focused on the extroverted barber. In fact, it is not the barber's constantly escalating strategies, but the nobleman's power that helps his love win the day. And the fact that Figaro's good advice never leads the Count to his goal is not only to be forgiven at the (happy) end, but was of course intended by Rossini and his librettist Cesare Sterbini. For the detours taken by this barber create the most comical situations and some of the most stunning melodies composed by Rossini. Cesare Sterbini's model was the play of the same name by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, which premiered in 1775. He transformed character types and plot elements from Italian impromptu comedy, the commedia dell'arte, first into an opéra-comique and then into a prose comedy, which also incorporated impressions from a trip to Spain. The play is the first part of Beaumarchais' Figaro trilogy, the second part of which has conquered the world, particularly in the operatic version by Lorenzo Da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper

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FAQ

Tickets for our standing room can be purchased online or at the Bundestheater box office from 10 am on the day of the performance. BundestheaterCard holders can book standing room tickets online the day before the performance.

In addition, a fixed contingent of standing room tickets is available for regular evening performances from 80 minutes before the start of the performance at our standing room box office (Operngasse entrance).

Our operas are sung in the original languages - these vary depending on the work.

At each seat, subtitles in different languages can be switched on or off via a separate subtitle screen. In addition to the original language of the opera, you can choose from up to eight languages: German, English, Italian, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin).

In the event of a change of performance, you can of course return or exchange your tickets.

As changes to the cast cannot be ruled out due to illnesses or other hindrances of artists, there is no entitlement to a refund of the ticket price or exchange in this case.

Tickets cannot be returned or exchanged if you are not admitted to the auditorium due to being late (even after the interval).

About Your Visit

Cloakroom

The cloakrooms are located next the the entrances at the Operngasse. You can find additional cloakrooms on the left and right side of the balcony and the gallery and in the boxes. All cloakrooms are free of charge.

Be on Time

We kindly ask you to arrive on time for the performances. Latecomers can only be admitted during the intermission. After the intermission, re-entry will not be possible.

Food and Drink

Our gastronomy opens at the same time entry is permitted. You can enjoy some snacks and drinks before the performance starts or you can book a table for the break.

Practical Information

You can find more practical information regarding your visit (e.g. Dresscode, barrier-free-access, …) here.

 

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Discounts

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  • U27
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