Largo al factotum is the cavatina of Figaro in the second scene of the first act of the Barber of Seville written by Gioacchino Rossini in 1816.

He presents himself as the all-rounder of the city, as well as a barber boasting his own popularity.

Figaro states this because at that time barbers did not just cut hair and beards, but practiced more trades, including some forms of medicine. There were also dental barbers.

It constitutes a piece of skill for baritones, whose technique is put to the test by the numerous tongue twisters, typical of the comic opera, and is also one of the most famous pieces of the classical operatic repertoire.

Rossini’s opera is a comic opera in two acts, it debuted at the Argentine Theater in Rome on February 20, 1816 and the opera is based on a French novel of 1775.
It was Rossini’s greatest success who thus won the fame of the greatest author of the opera Buffa from critics.

However, there is also another barber from Seville, its author is Giovanni Paisiello. This opera is in 4 acts and was presented for the first time on September 15, 1816 at the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg in the presence of the Russian imperial court presided over by Catherine the Great.

Rossini’s version of 1816, however, almost completely obscured that of Paisiello.

Video – largo al Factotum

Un abbraccio/ a big Hug
Marcus Dardi