The Barber of Seville (Paisiello) dal francese, da rappresentarsi nel Teatro Imperiale del corte, l'anno 1782"" (Trans: "The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution, comical drama with music freely translated from the French, presented at the Imperial Court Theater, the year 1782") The story essentially follows the original Beaumarchais play, and in some places directly translates songs and dialogue. The plots of the Paisiello and the Rossini versions very closely resemble each other, with subtle differences. Petrosellini's libretto puts a greater emphasis on the love story and less on the comic qualities. Several musical adaptations of "Il barbiere di Siviglia" predated the version by
Samuel Barber Heinsheimer, as an executive at G. Schirmer, would have been unlikely to have allowed Barber into the Schirmer offices to watch him "rip apart the music that his company had invested money in publishing". In 1943, Barber and Menotti purchased a house in Mount Kisco, New York. Barber won the Pulitzer Prize twice: in 1958 for his first opera "Vanessa," and in 1963 for his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. Barber spent many years in isolation after the harsh rejection of his third opera "Antony and Cleopatra". He suffered from depression, and was also beset by alcoholism. The opera was