“Il barbiere di Siviglia” by Gioachino Rossini libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two

ACT TWO

The music room in Bartolo's house
(There is a harpsichord covered with sheets of
music.)

BARTOLO (alone)
Look at my ill-fortune!
That soldier,
as far as I can learn,
is known by nobody
in the whole regiment.
I doubt...oh, damnation...
Did I say doubt? I would wager
that the Count Almaviva
has sent this fellow here
to sound out Rosina's heart.
Not even in one's own house
can one be safe! But I...
(Knocks are heard at the main door.)
Who is knocking? Eh, who is there!
They are knocking, don't you hear?
I am home,
have no fear, open.
(The Count enters disguised as a music master.)

COUNT

Peace and happiness be with you.

BARTOLO
A thousand thanks, come right in.

COUNT
Happiness and peace for a thousand years.

BARTOLO
In truth I am obliged to you.
(That face is not unknown to me.
I don't recall, I don't remember,
but that face, that face...
I do not know, who can it be?)

COUNT
(Ah, if before I failed
to deceive this simpleton,
my new disguise should prove
more successful.)
Peace and happiness be with you.

BARTOLO
I heard you! (Heavens, what a bore!)

COUNT
Happiness and peace, from my heart.

BARTOLO
Enough, enough, for pity's sake.

COUNT
Happiness...

BARTOLO
Happiness...

COUNT
Peace...

BARTOLO
Peace...I heard you! (What a bore!)

COUNT
From my heart, peace and happiness.

BARTOLO
Peace and happiness. Enough, for pity's sake!
(What a wretched fate is mine!
What a terrible day this is!
Everyone against me!
What a cruel destiny!)

COUNT
(The old fellow knows me not.
How fortunate for me!
Ah, my love! In a few moments
we shall be able to speak freely!)

BARTOLO
In a word, sir, who are you?
May one know?

COUNT
Don Alonso, teacher of music
and pupil of Don Basilio.

BARTOLO
Well?

COUNT
Don Basilio, poor man, is taken ill,
and in his stead...

BARTOLO
Taken ill? I'll go and see him at once.

COUNT
Take it easy. His illness is not that serious.

BARTOLO
(I don't trust this fellow.)
Come, let us go.

COUNT
But sir...

BARTOLO
Well, what?

COUNT
I wished to say...

BARTOLO
Speak up.

COUNT (sottovoce)
But...

BARTOLO
Speak up, I tell you.

COUNT
Well, as you wish.
Then you shall learn who Don Alonso is.
(raising his voice)
I'll see Count Almaviva...

BARTOLO
Softly, softly, speak, speak. I am listening.

COUNT
The Count...

BARTOLO
Softly, for goodness' sake!

COUNT
This morning I met him in the same inn
where I was lodging,
and into my hand, by chance,
fell this note,
addressed by your ward
to him.

BARTOLO
What do I see! It is her writing!

COUNT
Don Basilio knows nothing of this paper,
and I, coming instead of him
to give lessons to the young lady,
wished to acquire merit in your eyes
because with this note...one could...

BARTOLO
Could what?

COUNT
I shall tell you...If I could only
speak with the girl, I could...
with your permission...make her believe
that it was given to me
by a mistress
of the Count, clear proof
that the Count is playing with her affection,
and therefore...

BARTOLO
Softly...A calumny!
Oh, you are indeed a worthy pupil
of Don Basilio!
I shall know how to reward you
as you deserve for this happy suggestion.
I'll call the girl. Since you show
so much interest, I trust myself to you.

COUNT
Do not worry.
(Bartolo goes to fetch Rosina.)
This affair of the note
was a slip of the tongue.
But what was I to do? Without some trick,
I would have had to leave like a fool.
I must now acquaint her
with my plan;
if she consents,
I shall be a happy man.
Here she is. Oh, how my heart
is beating in my breast!

(Bartolo returns leading Rosina by the hand.)

BARTOLO
Come, Signorina.
Don Alonso, whom you see,
will give you your lesson.

ROSINA (recognizing the Count)
Ah!

BARTOLO
What's the matter?

ROSINA
Oh...a cramp in my foot.

COUNT
Oh, it's nothing! Sit by my side,
fair young lady. If you don't mind,
in place of Don Basilio,
I shall give you a short lesson.

ROSINA
Oh, with the greatest of pleasure.

COUNT
What would you like to sing?

ROSINA
I shall sing, if you please,
the rondo from The Futile Precaution.

COUNT
Good, let's begin.
(He sits at the harpsichord and accompanies

Rosina.)

ROSINA
Against a heart inflamed with love,
burning with unquenchable fire,
a ruthless tyrant, cruelly armed,
wages war, but all in vain.
From every attack a victor,
Love will always triumph.
Ah, Lindoro, my dearest treasure!
If you could know, if you could see
this dog of a guardian,
oh, I rage to think of him!
Dearest, in you I put my trust,
please, come save me, for pity's sake!

COUNT
Fear not, be reassured,
fate will be our friend.

ROSINA
Then I may hope?

COUNT
Trust in me.

ROSINA
And my heart?

COUNT
It will rejoice!

ROSINA
Dear smiling image,

sweet thought of happy love,
you burn in my breast, in my heart.
I am delirious with joy!
Dearest, in you I put my trust,
please, come save me, for pity's sake!
I am delirious with joy!

COUNT
A beautiful voice! Bravissima!

ROSINA
Oh! A thousand thanks!

BARTOLO
Truly, a beautiful voice!
But this aria, damnation!
It is rather tiresome.
Music in my day
was quite another thing.
Ah! When, for instance,
Caffariello sang that wonderful aria...
la ra la la la...Listen,
Don Alonso, here it is.
"When you are near me,
Sweet Rosina..."
(Figaro enters and hides behind Bartolo.)
The aria says "Giannina",
but I say "Rosina... "
"When you are near me,
sweet Rosina,
my heart glows in my breast,
it dances a minuet... "
(He notices the presence of Figaro who is

imitating him behind his back.)
Bravo, signor Barber, bravo!

FIGARO
Excuse me please,
it was a moment of weakness...

BARTOLO
Well, you rascal, what are you here for?

FIGARO
Here for! Here to shave you.
This is your day.

BARTOLO
I don't wish it today.

FIGARO
Today you don't wish it?
Tomorrow I can't come.

BARTOLO
Why not?

FIGARO (consulting his notebook)
Because I shall be busy.
For all the officers
of the new regiment,
shave and haircut...
For the Marchioness Andronica,
her blond wig
tinted brown...
For the young Count Bombe,
forelock to curl...

A purge for the lawyer Bernardone
who yesterday fell ill with indigestion.
And then...and then...but why continue?
Tomorrow I cannot come.

BARTOLO
Come, less chatter.
Today I do not want to be shaved.

FIGARO
No? Nice kind of customers I have!
I come this morning, and I find a madhouse...
I return after lunch...
Today I don't want you!
What do you think? Do you take me
for some country barber?
Find yourself another.
I am going.

BARTOLO
(What can one do? That's how he is.
He is really a character!)
Go into the next room and bring the towels.
No, I'll go myself.
(Bartolo takes a bunch of keys from his pocket
and goes out.)

FIGARO
(Oh, if I had those keys
in my hand
I should be riding high.) Tell me,
(to Rosina)

among the keys, isn't there the one
which opens the outside window?

ROSINA
Yes, indeed. It is the newest.
(Bartolo returns.)

BARTOLO
(Oh, what a fool I was
to leave that devil of a barber here!)
Here, go yourself.
(He gives the keys to Figaro.)
Go down the corridor, and on the shelf
you'll find everything.
Take care, don't touch anything.

FIGARO
Oh! I know what I am doing.
(Brilliant!) I'll be right back.
(The trick has worked!)
(He goes out.)

BARTOLO (to the Count)
That is the rascal who took
Rosina's letter to the Count...

COUNT
He looks like an intriguer of the first order.

BARTOLO
He can't deceive me...
(A great noise is heard without.)
Oh, misery me!

ROSINA
What a crash!

BARTOLO
Oh, that rascal!
I felt my heart misgive me!
(Bartolo goes out.)

COUNT
That Figaro is a great man!
(to Rosina)
Now that we are alone, tell me dearest,
are you content to put your destiny
in my hands? Be frank now!

ROSINA
Ah, Lindoro, it is
my only desire...
(Bartolo and Figaro return.)

COUNT
Well?

BARTOLO
He has broken everything, six plates,
eight glasses, a tureen.

FIGARO
What good luck!
(Secretly he shows the Count the key of the
balcony window which he has taken.)
If I had not held on to a key
I would have broken my head
in that cursed corridor.
He keeps every room

so dark...and then...

BARTOLO
Enough of this...

FIGARO
Then let's get going.
(to the Count and Rosina)
(Be careful.)
(Bartolo prepares to be shaved.)

BARTOLO
Now to business.
(Don Basilio enters.)

ROSINA
Don Basilio!

COUNT
(What do I see!)

FIGARO
(How unfortunate!)

BARTOLO
How come you are here?

BASILIO
At your service, one and all.

BARTOLO
(What is this new turn of affairs?)

ROSINA

(What will happen to us?)

COUNT and FIGARO
(We must act boldly.)

BARTOLO
Don Basilio, how are you feeling?

BASILIO
How am I feeling?

FIGARO
What are you waiting for?
That blessed beard of yours,
shall I shave it or not?

BARTOLO (to Figaro)
In a minute.
(to Basilio)
And...the notary?

BASILIO
The notary...

COUNT
I have already told him
that everything is arranged.
(to Bartolo)
Is it not true?
"BARTOLO
Yes, yes I know it all.

BASILIO
But, Don Bartolo, explain to me...

COUNT
Doctor, one word...
Don Basilio, I'll be with you.
(to Bartolo)
Listen to me for a moment.
(aside to Figaro)
Try and get rid of him,
or I fear he will expose us.

ROSINA
I feel my heart tremble.

FIGARO
Don't be alarmed.

COUNT (to Bartolo)
Of the letter, sir,
he as yet knows nothing.

BASILIO
(There is something going on
which I certainly cannot fathom.)

COUNT
I fear he will expose us;
he as yet knows nothing.

BARTOLO
You are right, sir.
I will immediately send him away.

COUNT
With such a fever, Don Basilio,

who told you to go out?

BASILIO
What fever?

COUNT
What do you think?
You are yellow as a corpse.

BASILIO
I am yellow as a corpse?

FIGARO
Good Heaven, my man,
you are all of a tremble!
You must have scarlet fever!

BASILIO
Scarlet fever!

COUNT (secretly handing Basilio a purse of
money)
Go take some medicine.
Don't stay here and kill yourself.

FIGARO
Quickly, quickly, go to bed.

COUNT
I am really afraid for you.

ROSINA
He is right, go home to bed...
"BARTOLO, ROSINA, COUNT and FIGARO

Quickly, go and have some rest.

BASILIO
(A purse!...Go to bed!
As long as they are all of one mind!)

BARTOLO, ROSINA, COUNT and FIGARO
Quickly to bed, quickly to bed...

BASILIO
I am not deaf,
you don't have to beg me.

FIGARO
What a colour!

COUNT
You look terribe!

BASILIO
Terrible?

COUNT, FIGARO and BARTOLO
Oh, really terrible!

BASILIO
Well, I'll go!

ROSINA, COUNT, FIGARO and BARTOLO
Go, go.

COUNT, ROSINA and FIGARO
Well, good-night to you, dear sir,
quickly go away from here.

BASILIO
Well, good-night, with all my heart,
then tomorrow we shall talk.

ROSINA and FIGARO
Cursed man, you are a nuisance!
Well, good-night to you, dear sir,
peace and slumber and good health.
Well, good-night, get out of here,
quickly go away from here.

COUNT
Well, good-night, away from here.
Well, good-night to you, dear sir,
peace and slumber and good health.
Quickly go away from here.

BARTOLO
Well, good-night to you, dear sir,
peace and slumber and good health.
Quickly go away from here.

BASILIO
Well, good-night, with all my heart,
then tomorrow we shall talk.
Do not shout, for pity's sake!
(Basilio goes out.)

FIGARO
Well, signor Don Bartolo.

BARTOLO
I am here. I am here.
(Figaro starts to shave Don Bartolo and at the
same time tries to conceal the two lovers.)

Pull it tight. Bravissimo.

COUNT
Rosina, listen to me.

ROSINA
I am listening. I am here.

COUNT
At midnight precisely
we'll come for you here.
And since we have the keys
there is nothing to fear.

FIGARO
Ah! Ah!

BARTOLO
What's the matter?

FIGARO
Something, I don't know what,
is in my eye!...Look...Don't touch it...
Blow into it, for pity's sake!

ROSINA
At midnight precisely,
my love, I shall await you.
May the moments hasten
which draw you to me.
(Bartolo rises and approaches the lovers.)

COUNT

But now I must tell you,
dearest, that your letter,
in order that I might succeed
in my disguise...

BARTOLO
In his disguise?
Ah! Bravi, bravissimi!
Signor Alonso, bravo! Bravi!
Rascals! Scoundrels!
Ah! I can see you have all sworn
to hasten my end.
Out, you villains,
or I shall kill you!

ROSINA, COUNT and FIGARO
Your head is spinning,
hush, good doctor,
you are making a fool of yourself.
Be quiet, be quiet,
it's senseless to shout.
This man is delirious.
(Now that it's settled
I don't have to repeat.)
It is senseless to shout.

BARTOLO
Rascals, scoundrels!
Out, you villains,
or I shall kill you!
You have all sworn to hasten my end.
I'm fairly bursting
with anger and disdain.
I shall kill you!
(They all go out. Berta enters.)

BERTA
What a suspicious old man!
Begone and don't come back alive!
Always shouting and clamour in this house...
Arguing...weeping...threatening...
There is not an hour's peace
with this stingy, grumbling old man.
Oh, what a house of confusion!
The old man seeks a wife,
and the maiden wants a husband,
the one is frenzied, the other crazy,
both of them need restraining.
What on earth is all this love
which makes everyone go mad?
It is a universal evil,
it is a mania and an itch,
a thing which tickles and torments you.
Unhappy me, I also feel it
and do not know how to escape.
Oh, accursed old maid!
By all I am despised,
an old maid without a hope,
I shall die in desperation.
(Berta goes out.)

Storm
(It is night. The balcony window is opened. Figaro
and the Count wrapped in mantles enter. Figaro
carries a lantern.)

FIGARO
At last we are here.

COUNT
Figaro, give me your hand.
Thunder and lightning!
What wicked weather!

FIGARO
What a night for lovers!

COUNT
Hey...Give me some light.
Where can Rosina be?
(Rosina enters from her room.)

FIGARO
We shall see...
(They see Rosina.)
There she is!

COUNT
Oh, my treasure!

ROSINA (repulsing him)
Stand off, wretch that you are!
I have come here to wipe out
the shame of my foolish credulity,
to show what I am,
and what love you have lost in me,
unworthy and ungrateful man!

COUNT
I am petrified!

FIGARO
I don't know what she is talking about.

COUNT
But have pity...

ROSINA
Be still. You pretended to love me
in order to sacrifice me to the lust
of the wicked Count Almaviva...

COUNT
Of the Count? Ah, you are deceived!
Oh, what happiness!
Look at me, my love,
I am Almaviva, I am not Lindoro.

ROSINA
(Oh, what a shock!
It is he himself! Heavens, what do I hear?
With surprise and with joy
I am almost delirious!)

FIGARO
(They are breathless with delight,
they are dying of content,
oh, how talented I am,
_what a coup I brought about!)

COUNT
(What triumph unexpected!
What a happy, wonderful moment!
With love and contentment
I am almost delirious!)

FIGARO

(They are breathless with delight,
_they are dying of content.
Watch out, watch out, watch out,
how talented I am,
what a coup I brought about!)

ROSINA
My Lord!...But...you...but I...

COUNT
You are no longer just my love,
the blessed name of wife,
adored one, awaits you.

ROSINA
The blessed name of wife!
Oh, what joy that gives my heart!

COUNT
Are you happy?

ROSINA
Oh! Good sir!

ROSINA and COUNT
Sweet, fortunate knot,
the end of all desire!
On our sufferings,
love, you took pity.

FIGARO
(Knot!) Let's get going. (Knot!)
Quickly, Let's go. (All desire!)
Hurr y up.
This is no time for sentiment.
Quick, let's go for goodness sake.

Oh, damnation! What do I see!
At the door a lantern, two persons!
What's to be done?

COUNT
You have seen...

FIGARO
Yes, sir...

COUNT
Two people?

FIGARO
Yes, sir...

COUNT
A lantern?

FIGARO
At the door, yes, sir.
TOGETHER
What's to be done?
Softly, softly, piano, piano,
no confusion, no delay,
by the ladder of the balcony,
quickly, let us go away.
(They start to go out.)

FIGARO
Oh, how unfortunate! What's to be done?

COUNT
What happened?

FIGARO
The ladder...

COUNT
Well?

FIGARO
The ladder is gone...

COUNT
What do you say?

FIGARO
Who could have taken it away?

COUNT
What a cruel blow!

ROSINA
Oh, I am so miserable!

FIGARO
Qu...quiet, I hear people...
And here we are, my master.
What's to be done?

COUNT
Courage, Rosina mine!

FIGARO
Here they are.
(Basilio enters, followed by the notary.)

BASILIO
Don Bartolo...

FIGARO
Don Basilio...

COUNT
And who is the other?

FIGARO
Oh, oh, it's our notary.
How jolly! Leave it all to me...
(to the Notary)
Signor Notary, this evening in my house
you are to settle the contract
of marriage between the Count Almaviva
and my niece. Here is the couple.
Are the papers prepared? Very good.

BASILIO
But wait...where is Don Bartolo?

COUNT
Here, Don Basilio!
(Calling Don Basilio aside, he takes a ring from
his finger and motions to him to be silent.)
This ring is for you.

BASILIO
But I...

COUNT
For you two bullets in the head
are also waiting
if you offer any opposition...

BASILIO
Dear me! I'll take the ring. Who signs?

COUNT
Here we are. Figaro and
Don Basilio are witnesses.
This is my bride.

FIGARO
Evviva!

COUNT
Oh, how happy I am!

ROSINA
Oh, this is the joy I have longed for!

FIGARO
Evviva!
(Bartolo enters followed by an officer and
soldiers.)

BARTOLO
Halt, everyone! Here they are!

FIGARO
Gently, sir.

BARTOLO
Sir, they are thieves,
arrest them, arrest them.

OFFICER
Your name, sir?

COUNT
I am the Count Almaviva...

BARTOLO (resigned)
And I'm the one who's always wrong...

FIGARO
That's the way of things...

BARTOLO (to Basilio)
But you, you rascal, you too betrayed me
and acted as witness!

BASILIO
Ah! My good Doctor Bartolo, the Count
has certain reasons in his pocket,
and arguments to which there is no answer.

BARTOLO
And I, stupid fool that I am,
the better to assure the marriage,
took away the ladder from the balcony!

FIGARO
Here is really the "Futile...

ALL
...Precaution"!

FIGARO
So happy a reunion

let us remember for ever.
I put out my lantern,
I am no longer needed.

FIGARO, BARTOLO, BASILIO, CHORUS and BERTA
(who has entered in the meantime)
May love and faith eternal
reign in both your hearts.

ROSINA and COUNT
May love and faith eternal
reign in both our hearts.

COUNT
We have hoped and sighed for
such a happy moment.
Finally this lover's soul
begins to breathe again.

ALL
May love and faith eternal
reign in both your hearts.

ROSINA
You accepted humble
Rosina's passion.
A brighter fate awaits you,
come then and rejoice.

ALL
May love and faith eternals
reign in both your hearts.

END

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two