{"id":21092,"date":"2022-11-13T00:51:56","date_gmt":"2022-11-13T05:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=21092"},"modified":"2022-11-13T00:51:56","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T05:51:56","slug":"per-un-barbiere-di-qualita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/13\/per-un-barbiere-di-qualita\/","title":{"rendered":"Per Un Barbiere di Qualit\u00e0!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Princess Sack-of-Potatoes\u2019 birthday party was a great success.\u00a0 My daughter\u2019s in-laws were very congenial and we all good-naturedly performed all the kids\u2019 party rituals.\u00a0 We dutifully sang off key to \u2018Happy Birthday\u201d and applauded the blowing out of the four candles.\u00a0 We watched as the cake was cut and the opening of the presents and even a spirited game of pin the tail on the donkey.\u00a0 Only for some unknown reason it was tape the nose on the clown.\u00a0 This particular clown looked like some kind of nightmarish psychopath which I found quite disturbing but the kids were unperturbed.<\/p>\n

When we had all eaten enough burgers and potato salad and cake and ice cream and all the presents were opened the parents gathered up their kids and headed home.\u00a0 Camera Girl agreed that the event was a great success and we began some of the clean-up.<\/p>\n

But I was in the mood for something interesting.\u00a0 Lately I have been watching YouTube videos of the operatic aria \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d from the Barber of Seville.\u00a0 It\u2019s the song that everyone remembers from various classic cartoons of the 1940s that has the famous stanza, \u201cFigaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-ipb9xbXSAY<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aJIpVj_YkNo<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TKDXr_fimQ8<\/a><\/p>\n

I watched about a dozen different versions, some going back to the 1920s.\u00a0 And it occurred to me, \u201cWhat an interesting character Figaro is!\u201d\u00a0 Here is the swaggering braggart.\u00a0 He is a big fish in a little pond.\u00a0 In his own mind he is a hero, a Hercules of a thousand great labors.\u00a0 He is always in demand and always acclaimed by the crowd.<\/p>\n

And of course, he is merely a legend in his own mind.\u00a0 His actual trades are barber, dentist, wig maker and a sort of go-between for couples in love.\u00a0 He passes love notes and such things.\u00a0 So, he really is a nothing.<\/p>\n

But he has a quick wit, the gift of gab, a way with women and enormous self-confidence.\u00a0 And putting those things together creates a formidable character.\u00a0 Some people may recognize someone like this.\u00a0 I knew someone of exactly the type.\u00a0 They always have a treasure trove of amazing personal stories.\u00a0 And their personal lives tend to be an awful mess.\u00a0 They combine recklessness, selfishness and even a bit of cruelty along with their natural abilities as a clown, a skirt chaser and a leader of the riff-raff.\u00a0 In many ways they are fascinating personalities but they leave a trail of angry women in their wake and never seem to grow up.<\/p>\n

And it occurred to me that is why I enjoy the aria.\u00a0 I recognize the type that Figaro is the symbol of.\u00a0 And the scene captures that reality splendidly.\u00a0 And the music is wonderful.<\/p>\n

And what a great character he would be to put in a story!\u00a0 Somehow, I\u2019ve got to have a swaggering braggart in one of my stories.\u00a0 It would just be too great a thing to ignore.\u00a0 And in fact, I need him to be a recurring character in a \u201cworld\u201d that I make.\u00a0 It will be a sort of an homage to an old friend that I knew long, long ago in a place far, far away.<\/p>\n

Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo!\u00a0 Fortunatissimo per verit\u00e0!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Princess Sack-of-Potatoes\u2019 birthday party was a great success.\u00a0 My daughter\u2019s in-laws were very congenial and we all good-naturedly performed all the kids\u2019 party rituals.\u00a0 We<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2510,551,1289,818,1263,237],"tags":[76,3794,3795,1290,3757],"class_list":["post-21092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-literature","category-music-reviews","category-fiction-by-me","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","tag-fiction-writing","tag-figaro","tag-largo-al-factotum","tag-my-fiction","tag-opera"],"yoast_head":"\nPer Un Barbiere di Qualit\u00e0! 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