"Largo al factotum"
Make way for the Go-to man
Make way for the city’s go-to man.
I get to work early – just after dawn.
Ah, what a life, what a pleasure
For a barber of quality!
Ah, clever Figaro!
Clever, the cleverest!
I’m the luckiest, it's true!
Ready for anything, night and day
I'm always on the go.
The best life for a barber,
There’s not a grander life to be found.
Razors and combs
Lancets and scissors,
It’s all at my command.
Here, then, are the tools of my trade.
With the ladies... with the gentlemen...
Everyone asks me, everyone wants me,
women, children, old people, young ones:
Here are the wigs... Now for the beard...
Here are the leeches...
Now for the bill...
Here are the wigs... Now for the beard,
Now for the bill, hey!
Figaro! Figaro! Figaro!, etc..
Alas, what frenzy!
Alas, what a crowd!
One at a time, for mercy’s sake!
Figaro! I'm here.
Hey, Figaro! I'm here.
Figaro here, Figaro there,
Figaro up, Figaro down,
Ready, more than ready, I'm like lightning:
I'm the city’s go-to man.
Ah, clever Figaro!
Clever, the cleverest!;
Luckily for you I won’t let you down.
The Barber of Seville is one of Gioachino Rossini's best known works. The original Beaumarchais play on which it's based was considered revolutionary in giving a servant agency in the world and lives of his 'betters'.
Figaro, the barber, comes to the aid of Count Almaviva (disguised as a poor student, Lindoro) to help him win the hand and heart of the young and beautiful Rosina. Rosina's guardian, Doctor Bartolo, has designs on his ward, but is thwarted by Figaro's machinations and Rosina's quick-witted tricks.