Aria of Count Almaviva (in disguise) from the first act of Paisiello's opera. For voice and harpsichord (originally mandolin). Disbound upright folio. Engraved. "Racolta" number doubles as PN. 4 pp. Text in Italian. Signature, "Mrs Danley [?]," in faded ink to upper right corner of title. 9.75 x 14 inches (24.3 x 35.5 cm). Somewhat dampstained and soiled; imperfections to title leaf; in good condition overall.

One of the earliest appearances of this famous aria, and the first of any part of the opera to be published in Vienna. Strangely, the vocal part is marked "Soprano" even thought Count Almaviva is a tenor in the opera. "Racolta d'arie" was a series of solo numbers and ensembles from operas in Artaria's catalogue. Not in CPM or BUC; RISM P215, listing just four copies.

Paisiello's Il barbiere di Siviglia, with a libretto by Giuseppe Petrosellini, was the first successful operatic adaptation of Beaumarchais's 1775 play, Le barbier de Séville. First performed in St. Petersburg on September 15 (26), 1782, the opera was soon played all over Europe. For a German-language production in Vienna, Mozart wrote an aria as an insert ("Schon lacht der holde Frühling," K 580). Rossini raised eyebrows when he wrote his own setting of the story in 1816, and only gradually did his new opera supersede Paisiello's in the repertory.

This celebrated aria has enjoyed some life of its own accord outside of the opera, after the usage of it as part of the film music in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon.