Largo al factotum

"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 triplets in 6/8 meter at a presto tempo the piece 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.

Libretto

In popular culture

The overture and "Largo al factotum" have been famously parodied in animated cartoons starring Woody Woodpecker ("The Barber of Seville"), Bugs Bunny ("Rabbit of Seville" and "Long-Haired Hare"), Porky Pig and Daffy Duck ("You Ought to Be in Pictures"), Tom and Jerry ("The Cat Above and the Mouse Below"), and The Simpsons ("The Homer of Seville"), as well as in Tex Avery's "Magical Maestro" and Warner Bros' "One Froggy Evening".

"Largo al factotum" is sung by a moustached baritone, a stop-motion animated clay figure, in the opening credits of the 1991 film "Oscar", and by an animated bird in the opening credits of the 1993 film "Mrs. Doubtfire".

Singer-songwriter Mika has admitted that the tune of his hit song "Grace Kelly" is based on "Largo al factotum."

External links

*youtube|rmTcmBn56Jk|Hermann Prey Largo al factotum
*youtube|awHb-iW5Ljg|Nyle Wolfe Largo al factotum
*youtube|JgeEWUMI7n0| Titto Gobi Largo al Factotum
* [http://www.aria-database.com/translations/barber01_largo.txt The Aria database]