Mauro Giuliani – The overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville

Mauro Giuliani’s arrangement for two guitars of this world-famous overture by Rossini is full of verve and works very well in this form. This brand-new edition of 2020 edited by me is re-engraved and gives score and parts.You can hear a splendid performance of it by Claudio Maccari and Paolo Pugliese on Youtube here:

Rossini actually used this overture three times, first for his opera Aureliano in Palmira of 1813, then for Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra in 1815, and then for Almaviva (later called Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in 1816. It was the version of Elisabetta that Giuliani arranged, but it is essentially the same as the very well-known overture to the Barbiere, as you will hear.

I published this work in 1986 in volume 24 of my series of Giuliani’s Complete Works, but that was in facsimile and it reproduced the original edition which was only in parts, not in score. Now this new edition gives score and parts and is re-engraved.

You can see the first few bars at FIRST PART FREE here.

Companion to this work: Giuliani’s arrangement for two guitars of the overture to Rossini’s La gazza ladra.

Brian Jeffery