<P> The opera was first performed in England on 10 March 1818 at the King's Theatre in London in Italian, soon followed on 13 October at the Covent Garden Theatre by an English version translated by John Fawcett and Daniel Terry . It was first performed in America on 3 May 1819 in English (probably the Covent Garden version) at the Park Theatre in New York . It was given in French at the Théâtre d'Orléans in New Orleans on 4 March 1823, and became the first opera ever to be performed in Italian in New York, when Manuel Garcia (who played Almaviva) and his Italian troupe opened their first season there with Il barbiere on 29 November 1825 at the Park Theatre . The cast of eight had three other members of his family, including the 17 - year - old Maria - Felicia, later known as Maria Malibran . </P> <P> The role of Rosina was originally written for a contralto . According to music critic Richard Osborne, writing in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, "it is important to record the degree to which singers have sometimes distorted Rossini's intentions . The most serious distortion has been the upward transposition of the role of Rosina, turning her from a lustrous alto into a pert soprano ." However, it has also been noted that Rossini, who frequently altered his music for specific singers, wrote a new aria for the second act for Joséphine Fodor - Mainvielle, a soprano who had sung Rosina in the 1818 London premiere, and sang the new aria c. 1820 at the Théâtre - Italien in Paris, where it was published . </P> <P> The singing lesson in act 2 has often been turned into "a show - stopping cabaret ." Adelina Patti was known to include Luigi Arditi's "Il bacio", the Bolero from Verdi's I vespri siciliani, the Shadow Song from Meyerbeer's Dinorah, and Henry Bishop's "Home! Sweet Home!". Nellie Melba followed suit, accompanying herself on the piano in the final song . Pauline Viardot began the practice of inserting Alexander Alyabyev's "Nightingale". Maria Callas sang a cut - down version of Rossini's own "Contro un cor ." </P> <P> Once after Patti had sung a particularly florid rendition of the opera's legitimate aria,' Una voce poco fa', Rossini is reported to have asked her: "Very nice, my dear, and who wrote the piece you have just performed?" </P>

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