The new overture to Rossini's Barbiere, written by the fifteen-year-old Verdi and publicly performed at the Busseto theatre, has never been heard by anybody capable of evaluating it in the context of the composer's later career. Its audience was prominent citizens – the associates of the Philharmonic Society. No critic has made any great claims for it, or for any other Verdi composition performed during that period, such as Le lamentazioni di Geremia for baritone solo, translated into Italian by Evasio Leoni, or I delirii di Saul, a kind of cantata for baritone and orchestra based on words by Alfieri. According to Barezzi, the latter, ‘composed at the tender age of fifteen’, was ‘the first work of any value, and displayed a vivid imagination, as well as knowledge and discrimination in the distribution of the instruments’. Canon Giuseppe Demalde, the inspector of schools in Busseto, added that it was ‘a real jewel, a precious stone, a great piece to which no established Maestro would disdain to lend his name’. Vague praises, of course, of little critical value, which could probably have been applied to all the other Verdi compositions which date from this period, like the various pieces for flute, clarinet, bassoon or horn, ‘with orchestral accompaniment and ripieno’, and those for voice and piano, piano solo or organ, of which Barezzi says there were an infinite number.