The Barber of Seville opera at the Teatro Argentina in Rome was a disaster: the audience hissed and jeered throughout, and several on-stage accidents occurred. Furthermore, many of the audience were supporters of one of Rossini's rivals, Giovanni Paisiello, who played on mob mentality to provoke the rest of the audience to dislike the opera. Paisiello had already composed "The Barber of Seville" and took Rossini's new version to be an affront to his version. In particular, Paisiello and his followers were opposed to the use of basso buffo, which is common in comic opera. The second performance, however, was successful. The original French
Palmo's Opera House the Vicomte de Serval. The company went on to present the first opera by Giuseppe Verdi ever staged in the United States, "I Lombardi alla prima crociata" on March 3, 1847. Other operas staged that year at Palmo's included the New York premiere of "Lucrezia Borgia" and another staging of "The Barber of Seville". Despite making some notable achievements, the Sanquirico-Patti Opera company did not fare well financially against a new opera rival in the city, the touring Havana Opera Company, partly due to the much nicer accommodations and better production value at the Park Theatre where the Havana company