Aria Explained: Largo al factotum (Reaction)

[@TheDoc4kids]

From India. Immensely enjoyed your presentation, which gave a lot of insights into this aria. My fave factotum is the legendary Tito Gobbi. He deserves an honorable mention.

[@user-ok1vf6qx4k]

Dimitri Hvorostovsky....my absolute favorite opera singer! Love him.

[@SophieLeung-du9we]

I love this aria soooo much One of my faves ❤❤❤❤❤😊

[@davidfade7397]

I'm delighted to say that after many decades putting it off, I finally knuckled down and learned 'Largo al Factotum' and what a journey it has been! To begin with, I spent a whole day and night watching and listening to countless performances of it with the words in front of me until I could get to the point where I could sing along without tripping up on the words and pronunciation etc. Then it took several weeks of drilling whole sections of it over and over again until I'd finally memorised the whole thing and now I'm at the stage where my performance of it is growing daily each time I do it. It really is a joy to perform and I worked on it in tandem with another Baritone favourite (funnily enough, you have it on this video as your intro music), The Toreador's Song from Bizet's 'Carmen'. Finally, one of the performances I saw on KZbin that really stood out for me featured a young Baritone called Edward Nelson performing it at a singing competition held by Glyndebourne here in the UK back in 2020 (he actually won the competition with it, so do go check it out if you can).

[@amandinemenuge5399]

I can’t believe that I just played an amazing concert with my new favorite youtuber!!!😍😍😍

[@operaanna]

THANK YOU!!! was amazing 🥰🤩🥰

[@littlebigjohn69]

im a rocker and a spaniard and i understand a few italian words and i love rossini, verdi, puccini, pietro mascagni. i love your interpretetion of opera.

[@operaanna]

I'm just seeing this - thank you so much!!

[@leviticusvalko5100]

Omg yes!!! I'm a young baritone and I can't wait until my voice develops and strengthens enough so that I can attempt this aria 😭😭 also Squidward killed it 😌✨

[@operaanna]

Such a BEAST of an aria! Squidward did indeed! :P

[@tianwong7168]

Learn the words first

[@Sparky82]

Informative. Love this. Thanks

[@RoyFr]

Wonderful video! I do miss Hvorostovsky, so saddened when he passed away....Take care !

[@ludovico6890]

Going through your videos. I love that aria. Every time I cut my wife's or son's hair (because, you know, Covid made me the family barber during lockdown) I think about it. And now thanks to you I know I'm the family's factotum.

[@operaanna]

That is awesome! "family factotum" amazing

[@PowPowSunshine100]

Pietro Spagnoli is a really fun Figaro! He really pulls off the shady Barber of Seville character. But what do I know. I just discovered your channel, terrific!

[@operaanna]

Thanks! I don't know Spagnoli, I'll check him out!

[@PowPowSunshine100]

@@operaanna kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWq9lZeDqst2rs0

[@55realitycheck]

Thanks for this video. I enjoyed it very much. This would be one of my favourites as well.

[@charleshoms6129]

Hi Anna, you do this really well! What I’ve always been wondering about: opera singers from all sorts of nationalities have to sing Italian and German, sounding as closely as possible to the native tongue. Most succeed really well (not all, unfortunately), but how do you do that? Special pronunciation classes? Go live in Italy for a couple of years? Would be great if you can cover this in one of your KZbin videos. Keep up the great work!

[@operaanna]

What a great question! I can definitely do a video on that

[@jeremygould3023]

really love your explanations. Thomas Hamson is such a great Figaro!!! and of course Dimitri H, i nean what can you say. Thank you for this lovely video. You have a lital fan!!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉😊😊😊😊

[@thisguy4614]

Those Jon Tron add ins were hilarious, and who can forget Robin Williams singing it in Ms.Doubtfire that's where I heard it first. Had no idea this was a prequel opera lol

[@operaanna]

I think Williams did such a good job too given he's not a singer! Most people don't realize that Barber of Seville and Nozze are related stories and even fewer know the third part of the trilogy! I don't think I've ever seen it programmed, either...

[@helenchelmicka3028]

@@operaanna Awesome, was just going to ask you what you thought of his performance, to be able to perform such a difficult piece is incredible when you're not even a singer - patter pieces are so tough! Looove your editing - so funny. Hun you've got a serious talent there! 😃

[@operaanna]

@@helenchelmicka3028 thank you!!

[@johnfields8308]

Paisello did a very drab Barbieri in 1782. I tried to listen and watch a DVD, I couldn't stay focused

[@operaanna]

It's hard to do, but it can be ruined...

[@gannonvogelpohl763]

I love this aria! It's probably my favorite too and I really enjoyed this video because I learned a lot. Like you Thomas Hampson is my favorite to sing it with just a slight edge over Robin Williams. lol Please keep up the great content!!

[@operaanna]

Thank you!! Glad you learned something too 🥰

[@williamharberts5514]

Loved this episode. But! To my ear while nobody outsings Hampson on this one, Hermann Prey does come in a very near second. He was amazing too.

[@jimwalsh7820]

Hi, I really enjoy your channel! You're very informative, and help to bring the beauty of opera to life. Keep up the good work. Take care. :)

[@operaanna]

Thank you, Jim! That means so much, I'm glad to have you here! ❤

[@smemr]

Anna: Enjoyed your videos and commentary a lot. Did you consider Lawrence Tibbet when looking for baritones. There is a video with this aria performed in a movie (on you tube) you will enjoy. His was a darker quality voice with powerful high notes as well. Another, different voice, was Leonard Warren. Warren was originally a tenor who dropped down to baritone early in his career and retained the brighter sound on his top notes.

[@operaanna]

LEONARD WARREN omg i should've included him, you're so right!! I'll definitely get him in the next baritone Aria Explained!!!

[@haledwards4642]

I have been awestruck by Apollo Granforte's 1932 rendition of Largo al Factotum in Australia. Sherill Milnes, however, may have shown a tad more dexterity in his rendition.

[@mirkochicco9620]

Brava Bravissima, Brava! In verità.

[@edwardlittle5686]

Great song, great reaction. Of course I've heard this before! I watched Bugs Bunny growing up so I have a rich understanding of classical music and opera! I am a Baritone singer and there's no way I could sing this. Too many Italian words too fast.

[@dbarcene]

Yo won a subscriber for your excellent explanations full of humor (you are "f"ing hillarious). I would love to have had a music teacher like you.

[@operaanna]

Wow, thank you!!!

[@rafaeltavares584]

I've been completely obsessed with this aria for the last couple of weeks. Getting the Italian right in the middle of this beautiful mess of notes is a true challenge! Ps: who's that man whose picture you put at the end? If I had seen this out of this context I'd think it's Alec Baldwin! 😂

[@operaanna]

Once this aria is in your head, it doesn't want to leave!! It's still Sherill Milnes at the end, but you're right, it looks a LOT like Alec Baldwin 🤣🤣

[@rafaeltavares584]

Ok, I'm so obsessed with this aria that I decided to record an attempt to sing this. I'm a singer in a heavy metal band here in Brazil, I have very little classical training (I studied for like 3 years when I was 19, I'm turning 35 in may) and I'd like to think it turned out to be not too shabby for a guy like me! I'm sure your ears would bleed if you listen to it, though 😂

[@nickpancost6858]

I've heard it in VeggieTales: The Wonderful World Of Autotainment. Binky The Opera Singing Aardvark sang it.

[@PropBoyGinge]

As a Bass-Baritone I find that I struggle a bit with this as it's quite high in my range.... and I can't quite get the tongue twisting nature of the libretto either. I prefer to sing Non piu andrai

[@operaanna]

It's a BEAST! Let your voice grow into it, no need to force it. I have the same with Una voce Poco fa...just keep working on it little by little and it'll come. Otherwise it'll be overwhelming. 🙈

[@lentrombetta9015]

Hey, Operaanna! I've heard this aria called a "Figaro's Cavatina"...what's that about?

[@operaanna]

Great question! A cavatina is generally an aria that has no repeats, distinguishing it from the da capo arias that preceded it in composers like Handel. Sometimes this is a simple melody, although what's simple about this aria i wouldn't even begin to be able to guess. It could also be a bit of a cross-over with what started happening in the 19th century with Bellini and Verdi where the cavatina was the principal's opening aria, which Largo al factotum is of course!

[@inoino3697]

Brava

[@paolofrignani2211]

Di Rossini devi sentire le sinfonie La gazza ladra Guglielmo Tell Barbiere di Siviglia e altre

[@archiereece3229]

whats UP with the guilty mother? a prequel?

[@operaanna]

It's the third play in the trilogy by Beaumarchais! Darius Milhaud set it to music, but it's never done...

[@ganson560]

Think you need to let music teachers know about your channel!

[@operaanna]

Lol i was literally talking to Jocelyn about this the other day

[@marcuspacheco3815]

I still don't think you really honed in enough on what Figaro's up to. Figaro says there's resources in the craft implying that he gets side work done while barbering. He's not just barbering he's moving notes around the city like as he drops off a wig he drops it off with a love letter. He says the men and the women The Young and the old but then he doubles down and says women again lalala insinuating that there are other things he's doing. Beyond cutting hair. You touched on it when you said the factorum of the city but that implies he's like a cyberpunk fixer. He's wheeling and dealing. Figura up Figaro down Figaro left Figaro right, almost certainly has double meaning... The Love letter who's it for? For someone else or for him? When he's like okay or I'm not sure or no he's implying that he's being asked to do favors and he's turning people down or he's saying yeah I'll do it or I'm not sure about that let me think about it. All over the city. Also I think we can assume given the time that he's doing this all for people with some money. After all he's perpetually lucky perpetually fortunate, so is clients are taking very good care of him. For giving good advice for keeping their secrets the secrets could be messages that they're passing or they could be that they're bald. He's keyed into the gossip and he's so popular that nobody will mess with him for it.

[@operaanna]

I agree with you that there are lots of nuances to talk about in the clip, but not really sure what you're trying to stay with tht the wy I explained it makes him sound like a "cyberpunk fixer". He doesn't say it's a love letter, unless "biglietto" has a double meaning that I'm not aware of. I feel like you're pulling a lot out of the text that isn't necessarily there and while it most probably is true, I didn't go that direction with this video.

[@marcuspacheco3815]

@@operaanna fixer is a reference to these characters in a modern video game. They get stuff done by illicit means. It could be any number of things from getting an assassin team together or simply slipping something into or out of someone's pocket to get them in trouble... Figaro is like a PG version of one, you'll just have trust me. As far as the Love letter thing goes yes! presto la barba, presto il biglietto: A quick shave a love letter... You could also use it for like a ticket or a message but I think in the context love letter is probably what he's getting at. Or some other kind of discreet message. The direct translation is a ticket but that isn't really what's implied here. Not with Figaro being who he is and considering what he's up to. I don't think in that time they gave receipts for haircuts. Maybe people would have pulled a ticket to wait in line? But it could certainly be used to describe a message being passed along. Given what he's up to in the Opera I think a love letter is kind of what he's referring to or at least what he'll be passing along in the show. Maybe it's a stretch to assume it's always a lettera d'amore. But given the time period and given that in Italian you can use like note and ticket interchangeably. Like a slip in english. You know you get a slip from the store but you could also get like a slip from your teacher as like a hall pass... They don't say nota: note or ricevuta: receipt... I think it's implying that there could be many meanings to the kind of paperwork he deals with. I think the implication is that figuero runs that kind of barber shop where maybe you can buy some other stuff while you're there. In much the same way and inner City Barber shop in a dubious neighborhood might have some other stuff available in the back. Thats who Figaro is he runs that kind of barbershop. Like the movie Barbershop kind of barbershop. Or maybe not exactly like that, like remember how in your history class they talked about how people used to meet in salons and talk about and plot the French revolution? It's not necessarily limited to France the the barbershop is probably a place where secret information gets moved along. Like if we are to assume that the writers of the play always assume that barber shops work that way as they did at that time then it wouldn't even matter when they place figuero in time. It's a cultural assumption that a barber can have a certain level of shadiness.... He even says something to the effect of a noble or life for a barber there cannot be. I don't think he means cutting hair. I think he means something distinctive to that time and place that the audience inherently understood at the time but like we need to really really think about it today.

[@marcuspacheco3815]

@@operaanna you know actually writing a response to what you said made me think about it even more and I might be overthinking it but I don't think Barbara meant what it did today either... Like didn't they used to pull teeth and stuff too? Probably Lance boils and help people remove unwanted hair..... everywhere. Probably Lance some boils or sores or no the difference between which kind you should cut and shouldn't cuz they might spread.... Which might even make him privy to some other kinds of much more personal secrets. I don't think you can directly compare the position of Barber to like just some dude who cuts hair. That is probably implied by Rossini to the intended audience, which isn't *really* me and you it's me and you if we lived in 1790.... Again I might be overthinking it I went to school for history not Opera. I did take Italian but I admittedly wasn't even that good at it and I certainly couldn't function as like a real translator or anything at least not in real time. But I definitely think Rossini implies things about Figaro that, maybe today we don't understand about just being a barber for example. Like for example he would have been one part hairdresser one part nail salon one part dermatologist and one part dentist.... And then on top of that he's from Seville so we can assume that he's a revolutionary especially given the time. Like I'm not really sure but I think that's what's happening here. But I don't think figuero is exactly a revolutionary as he works directly for the count. Just as likely the barbershop could have revolutionaries in it it would also have spies in it spying on the revolutionaries. I think that's where figuero comes in. I think he's the counts secret agent that's feeding him information about revolutionaries (oh yeah and he's trying to play matchmaker) but I think the audience understands something else about Figaro. I don't know if he's supposed to be like a gangster or if he's supposed to be like James Bond. Probably neither one but probably leaning more toward Bond. You probably think that's ridiculous. But you also probably didn't have to sit through a class called European unification where I was forced to still study the French revolution by a teacher I couldn't stand. Who for all my protesting gave me an assignment where I literally had to translate French documents about people spying on revolutionaries in salons for like, weeks.... It was a real thing it was like a really really real thing. And for a count (a noble who owns a literal county - like think of the county you live in now, he owned it and the people inside it. Or controled it like Kim or Hittler). So I don't know if Rossini is satirizing them, or if politically maybe he's on the other side.... Maybe he's just trying to make the audience feel a little bit more lighthearted about the situation. I'm not sure but there's definitely a subtext here that we are not directly receiving. It's not strictly due to the nuances of Italian it's historical and cultural disconnect. I think Rossini is taking a jab at the local count, Duke, or whatever and his Barber shop spies or whatever, but he's doing it through a barber from Spain and this count from Spain so that he's not directly making fun of the actual boss of the city he lives in. You know so they don't hang him by his feet and peel off his skin or remove his testicles or something equally horrible (I would have said boil him in oil but that's kind of an English thing). Barber isn't his profession at random it's chosen for a reason and it's a reason that's lost on us today when we think of a barber. Like, everyone seems to make a joke out of using figaro in like a cartoon but this whole play is an episode of South Park circa 1786. Is Rossini implying that with the new social changes of the century the count can't just marry who he wants he's going to have to go through ridiculous means to get his bride? Is the count too nice to just force it? Is this a consequence of the count giving the people what they want? I don't know but, damn it something is happening here! Rossini is trying to tell us something! The count is a buffoon, for a reason and his best and greatest Ally is the barber for a reason. I don't know what that reason is but it's related to something. So I'm 100% sure there's double meaning and subtext in like every line possible. Furthermore I don't know if it's directed at someone or not. Or society in general? I don't know but he's telling us something!

[@DavidM-se2bu]

Great video ! Too bad you didn’t mention Jose Cargo 🥲

[@operaanna]

Thank you! Still lots of Aria Explained videos to come ... :)