Largo al factotum
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Largo al factotum ("Make way for the factotum") is an aria from The Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini, sung at the first entrance of the title character; the repeated "Figaro"s before the final patter section are an icon in popular culture of operatic singing. The term "factotum" refers to a general servant and comes from the Latin where it literally means "do everything."
Due to the constant singing of sixteenth notes in the piece, it is often noted as one of the most difficult baritone arias to perform, this, along with the tongue-twisting nature of some of the lines, insisting on Italian superlative adjectivations (always ending in '-issimo'), have made it a pièce de résistance in which a skilled baritone has the chance to highlight all of its qualities.
[edit] Libretto
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Italian
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Translation in English
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Largo al factotum della città. Ah, bravo Figaro! Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!, ecc. Pronto prontissimo son come il fulmine: |
Make way for the factotum of the city, Ah, bravo Figaro! Lancets and scissors, Ladies, young lads, old men, young girls: Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!, etc. Swifter and swifter, I'm like a thunderbolt: |
