Il Barbiere di Siviglia is one of the very greatest of all comic operas. Verdi wrote of it: "For the abundance of true musical ideas, for its comic verve and the accuracy of its declamation, it is the most beautiful opera buffa there is." For generations, since the opera's premiere in Rome in 1816, opera lovers have agreed with Verdi's praise, making it one of the most popular and frequently performed and recorded operas ever written. Based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, The Barber of Seville delights audiences with its keenly sketched characters, melodic elegance, rhythmic exhilaration, superb ensemble writing, and original, delightful orchestration. The work seems to have been written in a fever of inspiration. In his biography of the composer, Rossini: The Man and His Music, Francis Toye remarks: "Every situation, almost every idea, seems to have suggested to him one musical train of thought after another, nearly all equally felicitous. Indeed, the spontaneity of the score is such that one has an impression of music spouting from his pen, as it were, under high pressure." Now opera lovers can enjoy every note of the whole glorious masterpiece in this modestly priced publication, reproduced directly from the authoritative edition published by Ricordi. It belongs in the library of any music lover who wishes to study and absorb the innumerable felicities of one of the supreme achievements of comic opera.