Like his English contemporary, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Barbieri - sometimes styled 'The Spanish Glinka', for his importance to Madrid's operatic development - drew on a potent mix of ingredients ranging from Mozart, French opera comique and Italian opera through to the popular music of his time and place. El barberillo boasts a brilliant, tuneful score, and a libretto by Luis Mariano de Larra that is witty, well-structured and passionate. Although not Barbieri's 'breakthrough work' (which was Jugar con fuego, 'Playing with Fire' in 1851), El barberillo is Barbieri at his perfect best. The title plays on his own name, while inevitably evoking another famous Spanish barber, Rossini's from Seville. It is as if Barbieri was issuing a challenge, proclaiming that Madrid was now an operatic match for any city in Europe. The gambit succeeded: the huge success of El barberillo supplied the cornerstone for a long-lived musical stage tradition (and economic goldmine) which lasted beyond the 1936 Spanish Civil War.

Tracklist:

The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act I (Sung In English): Oh, The Pardo Is The Park Where All Madrid Enjoys It'
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act I (Sung In English): I Was Pageboy To A Bishop
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act I (Sung In English): Why Am I Called Paloma The Turtle Dove?
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act I (Sung In English): This Is The Right Place
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act I (Sung In English): Lamparilla! Here I Am!
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act I (Sung In English): Undergraduates And Coaches, Here We Come
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act II (Sung In English): A Party Of Policeman Goes The Round At Night
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act II (Sung In English): Good Evening, Good Neighbours
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act II (Sung In English): An Old And Stately Mansion
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act II (Sung In English): Call For The Barber
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act II (Sung In English): In The Temple Of Mars
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act II (Sung In English): Unlock The Doors Within There
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): We Are The Dressmaker's Federation
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): Go On With Your Work... Little Linnet
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): Cotton Shirt, When You're Worn By A Guardsman Bold
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): Does This Shawl And Mantilla Indeed Disguise Me?
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): The Sombrero On Your Eyebrows
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): Open Up, Police!
The Little Barber Of Lavapiés, Op. 56, Act III (Sung In English): When A Girl Has An Outing At San Lorenzo

UPC: 5020926911520
Label: Cameo Classics
Release Date: 11.1.19
Format: CD

Barbieri / Boyce / Robinson - Little Barber of Lavapies (2 CD)