Luigi Zamboni Zamboni managed an Italian opera company in St Petersburg for two seasons, performing Rossini and other works. Luigi Zamboni Luigi Zamboni (1767 – 28 February 1837) was an Italian operatic buffo bass-baritone. He was born in Bologna, where he began his singing career in 1791 in a production of Cimarosa's "Il fanatico burlato". Engagements followed in Naples, Parma, Venice and Rome, where he sang in operas by Valentino Fioravanti, Paisiello and others. He retired from the stage in 1825. He died in Florence. The part of Figaro in "The Barber of Seville" was written for Zamboni by Gioachino Rossini, who
Gioachino Rossini Sterbini and not the same as that already used by Giovanni Paisiello in his own "Barbiere", an opera which had enjoyed European popularity for more than a quarter of a century. Much is made of how quickly Rossini's opera was written, scholarship generally agreeing upon two or three weeks. Later in life, Rossini claimed to have written the opera in only twelve days. It was a colossal failure when it premiered as "Almaviva"; Paisiello's admirers were extremely indignant, sabotaging the production by whistling and shouting during the entire first act. However, not long after the second performance, the opera became