Historical eventFebruary 201816

The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville, an opera buffa composed by Gioachino Rossini, premiered at the Teatro Argentina in Rome to jeers from the audience.

Everything on February 20Original source

In context

When
Tuesday, February 20 1816210 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
19th century · 1810s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

Russia, Greece and some other countries used the Julian calendar into the early 20th century, so local records may show a date up to 13 days earlier.

At a glance

Dates: From 1816.

Type: dramatico-musical work.

What happened

The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy The Barber of Seville (1775). The premiere of Rossini's opera took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli.

February 20 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1816The Barber of Seville
  2. 20022002 El Ayyat railway accident
  3. 2003Great White
  4. 20052005 Spanish European Constitution referendum
  5. 20092009 suicide air raid on Colombo
  6. 2009Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
  7. 2010Madeira
  8. 20102010 Madeira floods and mudslides
  9. 2014Euromaidan
  10. 2015Rafz train crash
  11. 20162016 Kalamazoo shootings

Also in 1816

  • September 5Louis XVIIIFacing rising discontent in France, Louis XVIII was forced to dissolve the Chambre introuvable, the legislature dominated by Ultra-royali…
  • May 25Kubla KhanThe poems Kubla Khan and Christabel by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge were published.
  • August 14Tristan da CunhaThe United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
  • July 2French frigate Méduse (1810)The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of present-day Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft, depicted…
  • August 5Sir John Barrow, 1st BaronetSir John Barrow, secretary at the Admiralty, rejected a proposal to use Francis Ronalds's electrical telegraph, deeming it "wholly unnece…

Everything we record for 1816 →

Sources

Cite this page

“The Barber of Seville”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/the-barber-of-seville-1816-february-20, accessed October 29, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did The Barber of Seville happen?

February 20 1816 — 210 years ago, on a Tuesday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.