ACT I
 

Scene 1 On a street in Seville a hired band of musicians gathers to accompany young Count Almaviva as he serenades his lovely Sevillian inamorata, Rosina. It’s a very pretty, florid serenade the Count delivers (Ecco ridente). No use, though; the music fails to summon Rosina, who is closely watched by her old guardian Dr. Bartolo. The musicians are dismissed with considerable trouble by the Count and his servant, Fiorello, and presently a jolly baritone is heard tra-la-la-ing offstage. It is Figaro, the barber, sounding off in praise of himself and telling us how indispensable he is to everyone in town. This self-endorsement is, of course, die delightful Largo al factotum. It quickly turns out that Figaro has known thе Count a long time. (There аren't many people around town he does not know.) Тhе Count—with the aid of a bit of ready cash—enlists Figaro in his purpose to marry Rosina, and they begin to make plans. But they are interrupted by Dr. Bartolo, who leaves his house muttering that be plans to marry Rosina himself that very day.
 

Now the two conspirators have to act quickly. With Bartolo gone from the house, Almaviva tries another serenade, and this time be identifies himself as Lindoro. Also this time he gets a response. Rosina begins to answer favorably from the balcony, when she is forcibly drawn back by someone inside. The quick brain of Figaro at once hatches a plot. Almaviva shall disguise himself as a drunken soldier and gain entrance into the house by saying that the army has billeted him there. The idea appeals to the Count, and the scene ends with a jolly duet as the lover expresses his delight over the prospects of success while the barber expresses his delight over the prospect of getting paid.
 

Scene 2 Things happen pretty fast and furiously in the second scene, which takes place in Dt. Bartolo's house. Perhaps the best way to keep them in mind is to make special note of the big arias and concerted numbers. First, then, there is the famous coloratura aria Una voce poco fa. In it Rosina first admits her love for the unknown serenader Lindoro, then vows to marry him despite her guardian, and goes on to tell what a fine, docile wife she could make until thwarted. Under such circumstances she can be as devilish as any other shrew. (Usually, in modem performances, this role is sung by a coloratura soprano. That, however, is not the way Rossini wrote it. He intended it for a coloratura mezzo-soprano, a rather rare phenomenon in the twentieth century.) After her aria she has a cordial little talk with Figaro, the barber, and a less cordial one with Dr. Bartolo.
 

The next big aria is known as La calunnia - in praise of calumny or vicious gossip. Don Basilio, a music master, reports to his old friend Dr. Bartolo that Count Almaviva has arrived in town, and that be is Rosina's mysterious lover. How is he to be discredited? Why, says Basilio, by calumny. And that is the occasion for the aria, in which evil whispers are graphically described as developing into a veritable storm of disapprobation. Following this comes a long and rather coy dialogue between Figaro and Rosina in which the barber tells the girl that a poor young man named Lindoro is in love with her and she bad better write him a note. Rosina, as a matter of fact, has already written the note, and she gives it to the barber to be delivered. There is then another dialogue-a short one—in which Rosina tries to mislead hei old guardian with a half a dozen lies, all of which tie sees through.
 

Roused to fury by these attacks on his dignity, Dr. Bartolo has the third big aria of this scene (A un dottor della mia sorte). A professional man or his standing, be says, can't be treated like that—and be orders Rosina locked up in her chamber.
 

Soon after this enters Count Almaviva according to plan— that is, disguised as a drunken soldier who claims to be billeted in the doctor's house. None of the doctors protests can help him: the apparently drunken soldier disregards his evidence of exemption, threatens him with his sword, shouts and curses—but also manages, sub rosa, to let Rosina know be is Lindoro. Everyhing develops into a terrific uproar as, one by one, the servant Berta, the barber Figaro, and the music master Basilic join in. Finally the police break up the row. The Count is about to be arrested, when he privately shows the police officer his true rank, and the act ends with a brilliant nine-part chorus in which everyone agrees that the whole situation is quite insane.