Nowadays, it seems, we no longer poke fun at the rich. In fact, we baby boomers in the U.S. have taken crass materialism to new heights. Once, for example, while sitting in the cafeteria of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., I espied a well-groomed man in his early forties-lawyer-type-reading a book entitled "How to Write a Screenplay." Some wag dubbed screen plays "The Yuppie's lottery ticket," and we've probably all heard the urban myth of some friend of a friend who sold a script to a studio for six figures.

So what chord could Rossini strike in us? Let's look at the character of Dr. Bartolo. The doctor, an aged wealthy man, lusts after his young ward, Rosina. In the light of the Clinton Jennifer Flowers-Paula Jones-Monica Lewinsky debacle, he seems right on the money. Rich and powerful men think themselves above the law (Bill Gates) that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac (Henry Kissinger). And just why are the babes drawn to them?

Dr. Bartolo has his own servant, Don Basilio-Rosina's music teacher-whom he enlists to keep her from falling into Almaviva's hands. When they learn that the count is in town, and that he has designs on Rosina, Bartolo asks Basilio what he can do to thwart him. Basilio suggests they use slander to destroy the count's reputation. All he has to do is start a rumor about Almaviva and eventually the people of Seville will rise up to throw him out of town. Basilio explains how slander works in the great aria, La Calunnia, which shows just how accurate a finger Beaumarchais had on the pulse of his own time and once again displays Rossini's mastery at matching his music to the words:

La Calunnia e un venticello un'aurette assai gentile Che insensible, sottile Incomincia a sursurar

Slander is a little breeze A very nice little breeze Which subtly, imperceptibly Begins to murmur

Basilio starts out quietly enunciating every syllable and sounding so innocent. He continues on about how the rumors start inflaming the minds of the hearers, who in turn repeat it, embroidering on the story and embellishing the perfidy. As he sings, his voice grows louder, the syllables more rapid. By the end he's almost shouting as he tells how the townspeople will rise up like an earthquake or a storm and hound the Count out of town.

Sound far-fetched? On hearing it again the other day, the Kenneth Starr Whitewater investigation, which culminated in the Congressional impeachment of Clinton instantly sprang to mind. Starr's investigation, however, was not so subtle but it was as slanderous. Imagine being given the power of a grand jury plus $50 million to go after your enemy. I was glad at the outcome though. It showed me that people with an open mind and a sense of proportion will prevail. The Republicans tried to use this technique (to much effect on their constituency) and it was gratifying to see the vote split along party lines, thus proving that the GOP represents the uneducated yahoo class of the Americans.

Kenneth Starr might have taken a lesson from Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

After Don Basilio sings his aria about the power of rumor and slander he says to Dr. Bartolo "Well, what do you think?" Bartolo replies, "That may well be so, but were losing time," and he just dumps the plan. Too bad we didn't have someone like that around seven years ago.

Rossini Bio

RealAudio Sound Samples of "Ecco Ridente" under Album

Recording at Amazon

Enjoy

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