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Il signor Bruschino ossia Il figlio per azzardo

[Signor Bruschino or The Son by Chance]

Farsa giocosa per musica in one act by
GIUSEPPE FOPPA

First performance:
Venice - Teatro San Moisè
27 January 1813 

Critical Edition by
ARRIGO GAZZANIGA 

FONDAZIONE ROSSINI PESARO 1986

CHARACTERS:
GAUDENZIO, tutor, bass
SOFIA, soprano
BRUSCHINO senior, bass
BRUSCHINO junior, tenor
FLORVILLE, Sofia's lover, tenor
POLICE SERGEANT, tenor
FILIBERTO, innkeeper, bass
MARIANNA, maidservant, soprano
Sevants, silent

The action takes place in Gaudenzio's castle

Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 2 Oboes/English Horn, 2 Clarinets, 1 Bassoon, 2 Horns, Strings, Continuo
Performance time: 1h 15m

In this masterpiece of comic verve and invention, Rossini reveals a fully developed and outrageous opera buffa style. The burlesque plot revolves around Florville's pretense to be Bruschino junior so he can marry Sofia, even in the face of an overheated and flustered Bruschino senior, who is made to appear a fool who does not recognize his own son. A highlight of the score is the playful trio in which Florville (as Bruschino junior) begs his "father" for forgiveness while Gaudenzio upbraids Bruschino senior for his lack of fatherly feeling. To Sofia is entrusted an ironically sentimental aria with piquant obbligato English horn.

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