Italian Composer, Creator
of the Early 19th-Century Italian Romantic Style of Opera.
Gioachino Rossini's brief
biography – his life, operas, other works. Master of the Italian Opera, famous for The Barber of Seville
(Il barbiere di Siviglia.)
Gioachino (Antonio) Rossini (b. 29 February, Pesaro - d. 13 November 1868), Passy), was an Italian composer famous for opera The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia), together with
countrymen Donizetti and Bellini, created the Romantic style of Italian opera in
the early 19th century. Rossini, nicknamed ‘Signor Crescendo’, was
the most successful opera composer of his time, producing 20 operas in the span
of 8 years, from 1815.
Rossini's parents were both musicians, his
father a horn player and his mother, a singer. He was born in Pesaro on the 29th of February
1792, a year after Mozart died.
He married his mistress of long-standing, the singer Isabella Colbran and re-married to Olympe Pelissier after Isabella’s death.
Rossini's first success was the opera Tancredi based on a play by Voltaire. Tancredi was followed by a string of hugely popular works, including L’Italiana in Algeri (An Italian in Algiers), Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra (Elizabeth, Queen of England, 1815), and what is considered to be his masterpiece, opera buffa Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) produced in Rome.
Le siège de Corinthe (The Siege of Corinth) was Rossini's first French opera (known also in its Italian version as L'assedio di Corinto). It was first performed at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra on October 9, 1826.
Rossini's Stabat Mater is based on the traditional structure of the Stabat Mater sequence for chorus and soloists. Initially he used his own librettos and compositions for a portion of the work and, eventually, the remainder by Giovanni Tadolini, who composed six additional movements. Rossini presented the completed work to Varela as his own. It was composed late in his career after retiring from the composition of opera. He began the work in 1831 but did not complete it until 1841.
His other operas include La gazza ladra (The
Thieving Magpie), Mosé in Egitto, Semiramide, Il viaggio a Reims (The
Voyage of Rheims , and Le comte Ory and Guillaume Tell (William Tell).
After Guillaume Tell, Rossini gave up writing opera and spent his later years in Bologna and Paris.
Among his works during this period were the Stabat Mater and the piano music
arranged for ballet by Respighi as La Boutique fantasque (The Fantastic Toyshop.)
Below, Rossini's Guillaume Tell Ouverture, with Maestro Georges Pretre conducting. Uploaded by La Fenice Opera House. Accessed February 29, 2020.
Below, Rossini's Guillaume Tell Ouverture, with Maestro Georges Pretre conducting. Uploaded by La Fenice Opera House. Accessed February 29, 2020.
Although the first opera of the same title was
composed by Paisiello in 1782, Rossini surpassed this with his version and to
this day around the world, his Il Barbiere de Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
is extremely and widely popular.
Rossini settled in Paris, had a villa built, and died aged 76.
List of Major Operas Written by Rossini
La scala di seta (The silken Ladder) 1812
Tancredi
1813
L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers), comic opera 1813
Il
barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), comic opera 1816
La Cenerentola (Cinderella), comic opera 1817
La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) 1817
Armida
1817
Mosé in Egitto (Moses in Egypt) 1818
Semiramide
1823
Il viaggio a Reims
(The Voyage of Rheims) 1825
La Siège de Corinthe
1826
Le Comte Ory (Count Ory) 1828
Guillaume Tell (William Tell) 1829
Photo Credit:
Photo Credit:
Gioachino Rossini. Wikipedia/Public Domain
Resources:
Gioachino Rossini. en.wikipedia.org
The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd
Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie (2000)
The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison
Latham (2002)
(c) February 2007. Updated February 29, 2020. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. all rights reserved.
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