Largo al factotum

The great Italian baritone Mattia Battistini (1856-1928), dubbed the "King of the baritones" and undisputably one of the giants from the "Golden Age of Opera", in Figaro's aria 'Largo al factotum' from Act 1 of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The recording was made in 1902 for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company.

In his biography "Mattia Battistini: King of Baritones and Baritone of Kings", Jacques Chuilon has this to say about this particular recording (145-146):
"...in "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Barbiere, a warhorse for all baritones of the day, the ascent to the high G on "Là, là, là,là!" has become such common practice that no one would doubt its authenticity. We even regard it as a criterion for a great performance, and since Battistini does not do it, his reading is automatically deemed inferior. Another excellent opportunity to denounce the excessive liberties of golden-age singers!

Unfortunately, Battistini sings the passage as written (though it is seldom doneso). One might be taken aback by the ad libitum on "Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono," though it would be hard to find greater fault with that indulgence than with others' more hackneyed touches. In other words, to criticize Battistini's liberties in this aria would wrongly imply that all the other variants to which we have become accustomed are obligatory.

Comparisons with the score reveal that Battistini avoids the higher variants here, even though he tends not to shy away from them in other pieces, to an extent that makes one wonder: did a concern for preserving tradition steer Battistini toward the variants of the earliest famous interpreters of the role, who were usually bass-baritones? Yet his version sounds much more roguish than the current norm, because the singers who succeeded him and with whom we are most familiar generally have a darker voice, even a "villainous"-sounding timbre. Who is closer to the spirit of the original? The coda's acceleration is dizzying, but not performed exactly according to today's procedure: Battistini glosses over the words, which gradually melt into a liquid flow. No doubt it is the effect intended by this kind of writing, in which meaning dissolves amid the repetitive, musical sound, becoming comic. The high G is brilliant, resonant, and unforced."