Rossini, Gioachino Antonio

As a son of a trumpet player and an opera singer, Rossini was young when he became a choir singer and an opera pianist. He made his living as a talented and famous opera composer, and his "The Italian Girl in Algiers" ("L'Italiana in Algeri") and "Tancredi", two fascinating operas, were extremely successful, and helped him get the office of managing the Opera of Naples.

There, he wrote the "The Barber of Seville" ("Il Barbiere di Siviglia"), which, although it failed on opening night, later became one of the highlights of world opera; it was in this opera where he created the comic "song chatting" formula of the “opera buffa”, in which the singer sings his words very quickly. Beethoven, whom Rossini met in his triumphant visit to Vienna, admired this opera. Many identified Mozart's influence in this amusing, vibrant music, yet he confessed to Wagner that "the angel of music is Mozart, and whoever touches him is a blasphemer".

In his last pieces, Rossini turned to more serious opera style, as he did in "William Tell" ("Guillaume Tell"), based on the play by Schiller and telling the story of the known Swiss hero.

At 37, he refused to write operas, and till the end of his life, he lived in Paris and devoted himself to preparing gourmet food. He composed some music as well, but did not concentrate on it as before, and as we said, turned his back on opera.

In nowadays concert halls, apart from his popular operas, we can hear the overtures to many of these operas, among which are "The Thieving Magpie" ("La Gazza ladra"), and the "William Tell" overtures.

He was buried in "Pere La-Cheze" cemetery in Paris, where Chopin and Bizet also found their final rest.

Sites

Audio

Video

Images

MIDI