to see it, but she explains that it is but a copy of the words of an
aria from an opera entitled "The Futile Precaution," and drops it
from the balcony, as if by accident. She sends Bartolo to recover
it, but Almaviva, who had observed the device, secures it, and
Bartolo is told by his crafty ward that the wind must have carried
it away. Growing suspicious, he commands her into the house and
goes away to hasten the preparations for his wedding, after giving
orders that no one is to be admitted to the house save Don Basilio,
Rosina's singing-master, and Bartolo's messenger and general
mischief-maker.

The letter which Rosina had thus slyly conveyed to her unknown lover
begged him to contrive means to let her know his name, condition,
and intentions respecting herself. Figaro, taking the case in hand
at once, suggests that Almaviva publish his answer in a ballad. This
the Count does ("Se il mio nome saper"), protesting the honesty and
ardor of his passion, but still concealing his name and station. He
is delighted to hear his lady-love's voice bidding him to continue
his song. (It is the phrase, "Segui, o caro, deh segui cosi," which
sounded so monstrously diverting at the first representation of the
opera in Rome.) After the second stanza Rosina essays a longer
response, but is interrupted by some of the inmates of the house.
Figaro now confides to the Count a scheme by which he is to meet his
fair enslaver face to face: he is to assume the role of a drunken
soldier who has been billeted upon Dr. Bartolo, a plan that is
favored by the fact that a company of soldiers has come to Seville
that very day which is under the command of the Count's cousin. The
plan is promptly put into execution. Not long after, Rosina enters
Dr. Bartolo's library singing the famous cavatina, "Una voce poco
fa," in which she tells of her love for Lindoro and proclaims her