Il signor Bruschino, ossia Il filglio per azzardo

Rossini’s prolific operatic career began in 1810 when the composer was just 18 years old. Over the next three years he produced a sequence of five short “farse”—compact, intimate comedies—for Venice’s Teatro San Moisé: learning on the job in a series of increasingly sophisticated miniatures, culminating in 1813’s Il signor Bruschino. Sofia loves Florville, but the longstanding feud between their two families isn’t the only thing that stands between them. Sofia’s father, Gaudenzio, has promised his daughter to the son of his friend Signor Bruschino. Florville decides to impersonate his rival (who has been detained for an unpaid bar bill), but gets more than he bargained for when Bruschino senior appears. Mistaken identities and hidden agendas come together in a glorious tangle of acerbic comedy, musical sweetness and mischief. The opening “Sinfonia” sparkles and dances, the wit of the forthcoming action breaking through musical convention in an unusual gesture: the violins strike their music stands with their bows to create a knocking rhythmic effect that persists through the opera. A musical banging together of heads, perhaps? Or an ambitious young composer hammering on the door of success? Vocal stand-outs include Sofia’s lyrical plea-aria “Ah! donate il caro sposo”, and Florville and innkeeper Filiberto’s scampering patter-duet “Io danari vi darò”, as well as a swift-unfolding denouement that anticipates the great comic finales of Rossini’s mature operas.