Russian folk tunes in Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville” of 1816

Ah, why was it needful to fence a kitchen garden?
Ah, why was it needful to plant cabbages?

With the words of this folk song, Russian troops stormed the suburb of Warsaw in 1794 under Suvorov's command. It is also said that the Russians sang it as they crossed the Alps.

And in 1816 the tune found its way into one of the most celebrated operas in the world, The Barber of Seville by the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini.

When the composer Varlamov heard the opera, he recognised the Russian tune at once and called Rossini a rogue: "Why, he stole it from us, and stole it well, with real mastery, passing it off as Polish."

Rossini wrote The Barber very quickly, in 15 to 20 days, and into the famous comic opera he incorporated several finds from his earlier works, among them the Russian melody "Ah, why was it needful to fence a kitchen garden?", which he had already used in the cantata Aurora, dedicated to Kutuzov's widow, Ekaterina Ilyinichna, where the theme sounds in the scene of Aurora's appearance.

But the "kitchen garden" is not the only Russian folk tune Rossini borrowed. Listen closely to the part of the housekeeper Berta, and you will hear in it the Russian dance song "Off you go home, my little cow".