Il barbiere di Siviglia — Gioachino Rossini
Rosina has heard a voice beneath her window.
It belongs to “Lindoro” — the name Count Almaviva is using while disguised as an ordinary young man.
She has barely met him, yet she has already made up her mind.
She likes him. She wants to meet him. And she intends to make it happen.
“Una voce poco fa” is much more than a young woman singing about love. In just a few minutes, Rosina reveals two very different sides of herself: she can be sweet, gentle and obedient — but if someone tries to stand in her way, she knows exactly how to fight back.
Una voce poco fa
Una voce poco fa
qui nel cor mi risuonò;
il mio cor ferito è già,
e Lindor fu che il piagò.
A voice, just a little while ago,
echoed here in my heart.
My heart is already wounded,
and Lindoro was the one who struck it.
Rosina has heard Lindoro singing beneath her window, and his voice has already affected her deeply.
The language is romantic: her heart has been “wounded” by love.
But Rosina does not remain lost in a dream for long. Almost immediately, emotion turns into determination.
Sì, Lindoro mio sarà;
lo giurai, la vincerò.
Yes, Lindoro will be mine.
I have sworn it — I will succeed.
This is the real Rosina beginning to appear.
She does not say, “I hope he loves me.”
She says, essentially: I have decided.
That confidence is important. Rosina may be young and kept under the strict control of her guardian Bartolo, but she is far from helpless.
She already has a plan of her own.
Il tutor ricuserà
Il tutor ricuserà,
io l’ingegno aguzzerò.
My guardian will refuse,
but I will sharpen my wits.
Rosina knows Bartolo well enough to predict exactly what will happen.
He will say no.
But she is not frightened by that. Instead, she will use her intelligence to outwit him.
The word ingegno is important