Mr De Marchi, L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI is a typical opera buffa. How does Rossini go about being witty?
Oh, in so many ways! Rossini plays with language, with barriers, with vanity and pomposity. One scene is just a mass of onomatopoeic utterances, »tack tack«, »boom boom« etc and later on he uses actual tongue twisters delivered too fast for the audience to follow. Apparently, Rossini once told a conductor to quicken the tempo in a particular scene. When the man pointed out that it would make the lyrics unintelligible, Rossini is said to have replied: »Doesn’t matter. It’s all about the effect it has.« Rossini was thinking and writing like a present-day comedian.

How does his humour come over in the music, in the score?
At one point in the quintet at the start of Act 2 of L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI it starts off pianissimo, rising in the space of a few bars to fortissimo, and Rossini caps it off by jotting in the strings score that the players should »bust their bows«. He was a funny guy. His sound was as new and revolutionary as rock’n’roll was in its day – and just as loud at times. And he’s good for contradictions, like a character singing about »honour« and »loyalty« and then the orchestra striking up a goofy tune to show she’s lying. Rossini immersed himself in Haydn and Mozart and in Bologna was nicknamed »Tedeschino«, the Little German. His orchestral pieces are as complex as any from the era of Viennese Classicism.

How does a conductor do comedy?
Good question. Sometimes there’s nothing to go on, not even in the score. For both his AURELIANO IN PALMIRA, a dramma serio, and THE BARBER OF SEVILLE he used the same overture. A good conductor will do them differently: for the buffa work it’ll be peppier, exaggerated, more sparkly in tone, not as cantabile. When you do a melody staccato, with the notes short and choppy, it just sounds funny, because there’s no swing and it comes across as overly stiff.

Who’ve got the best sense of humour, Italians or Germans?
Every culture has its own brand of humour. There’s no rating according to better or worse. Humour has a lot to do with language, so there are many gags in L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI that you Germans won’t get. For instance, when the Bey of Algiers is being set up to join the fictitious Pappataci Order: ‘Pappa’ is mash for a baby and ‘taci’ means »Be quiet!« and the compound word refers to a type of mosquito. So he’s being tricked into gorging himself on pap and keeping a vow of silence at the same time – while Isabella plans their escape.

Rossini’s portrayal of Muslims is pretty clichéd. Can you do that nowadays?
A lot of it just isn’t acceptable, and the production addresses that. Other aspects are still there, like the old operatic pattern of the tenor desiring the soprano and the baritone trying to prevent it.

What are some of the differences between Italian and German humour?
There aren’t that many actually. We’ve got commedia dell’arte, you’ve got Hans Wurst. The Italian are more »hee, hee, hee«, Germans more »ho, ho, ho«.

Tell us an Italian joke?
No, no. They’re all politically incorrect.