By Fred Kirshnit [NY Sun, 17 October 2005]

Ah, Rossini! He never wrote a melody that he didn't use over and over again. A bit of a thieving magpie, he borrowed freely from his own work and anyone else whom he admired. The overture to "The Barber of Seville," which began its current run on Saturday night at City Opera, had been used at least twice before; the famous trio "Zitti Zitti" comes from Haydn; and, of course, "Una voce poco fa" is stolen from "Citizen Kane."