Shirley Apthorp [Financial Times, 29 March 2006]
Thirty-four years before Rossini wrote his Barber of Seville, Paisiello penned a sanitised version of Beaumarchaisí play for the court of St Petersburg. Charming, direct and uncontroversial, his opera was so popular that Rossini initially chose a different title (Almaviva, ossia líinutile precauzione), fearing to be overshadowed.