2006Released
4:55

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Largo al factotum. By Songfacts®.

This iconic piece is an aria from The Barber of Seville by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. It is sung at the first entrance of the title character and the repeated Figaros are one of the most familiar parts of operatic singing in popular culture.

"Largo al Factotum" translates into English as "Make way for the factotum." The term "factotum" refers to a general servant and comes from the Latin where it literally means "do everything."

The Barber of Seville was completed by Rossini in 13 days and is based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy, Le Barbier de Séville, which took Paris by storm in 1775. The opera was premeried in Rome on February 20, 1816 and its first night was a disastrous failure, the audience hissing and jeering throughout. Everything went wrong, a guitar string snapped, a cat walked on stage and there were protestations originated by a rival composer who had recently written his own version of the same story. Rossini quickly added some additional humorous lyrics for characters like the resourceful, witty servant Figaro but apprehensive he missed the second night pretending to be ill. Unaware that this time, the audience loved his opera, the composer heard a commotion on the street and fearing the crowds were out to get him, he was relieved to find they were out to congratulate him.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Largo al factotum.
CKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
73BPM

Album

The album Largo al factotum is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Largo al factotum.
Sony Classical
(P) 2006 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (GERMANY) GmbH

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