Video: 'The Barber of Seville'

(Tuesday, February 20, 1816) — The opera buffa The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini premiered today at the Teatro Argentina in Rome under its original title, “Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution.”

Although Rossini’s opera received a hostile reception from the audience the first night, it fared much better at its next performance.