Gioacchino Rossini was born in Pesaro, Italy, on February 29, 1792. He received his musical training at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. In 1810 he wrote his first opera, La Cambiale di matrimonio, produced in Venice. Success came in 1812 with his third opera, La Pietra del paragone, given at La Scala in Milan. Tancredi and L’Italiana in Algeri, performed in Venice in 1813, further added to his fame and helped make him an adulated opera composer at the age of twenty-one. In 1815 Rossini was appointed director of two opera companies in Naples for which he wrote several successful operas. But his masterwork, which came during this period, was not written for Naples but for Rome: The Barber of Seville introduced in the Italian capital in 1816. In 1822 Rossini visited Vienna where he became the man of the hour. In 1824 he came to Paris to assume the post of director of the Théâtre des Italiens. Among the operas written for Paris was William Tell, introduced at the Paris Opéra in 1829. Though Rossini was now at the height of his fame and creative power—and though he lived another thirty-nine years—he never wrote another work for the stage. He continued living in Paris, a dominant figure in its social and cultural life. His home was the gathering place for the intellectual élite of the city, the scene of festive entertainments. He died of a heart attack in Paris on November 13, 1868.
Rossini was the genius of Italian comic opera (opera buffa). His melodies are filled with laughter and gaiety; his harmonies and rhythms sparkle with wit and the joy of life. He was at his best when he brought to his writing an infallible instinct for comedy, burlesque, and mockery. But he was also capable of a lyricism filled with poetry and infused with heartfelt sentiments. He was, moreover, a master of orchestral effect—especially in his dramatic use of the extended crescendo—and highly skilled in contrasting his moods through rapid alternation of fast and slow passages. He was also a daring innovator in his instrumentation.
He is a giant in opera, but with his infectious moods and endless fund of melodies he is also a crowning master in semi-classical music. His masterwork, The Barber of Seville (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) is as popular with salon orchestras through its merry overture and main selections as it is in the opera house. The Barber of Seville is based on two plays by Beaumarchais, Le Barbier de Séville and Le Mariage de Figaro, adapted by Cesare Sterbini. It is a vivacious comedy in which Count Almaviva, in love with Rosina (ward of Doctor Bartolo who is in love with her himself) tries to penetrate Bartolo’s household by assuming various disguises. The Count and Rosina plan to elope, but Rosina reneges when Bartolo convinces her that the Count is unfaithful to her. Eventually, Rosina discovers that Bartolo has deceived her. She marries the Count, and Bartolo finds consolation in the fact that the Count is willing to renounce Rosina’s dowry in his favor.
When this work was first performed in Rome on February 20, 1816 it was a dismal failure. This was largely due to a carefully organized uproar in the theater by admirers of another famous Italian composer, Paisiello, who had previously written an opera on the same subject. A sloppy performance did not help matters either. The furor in the auditorium was so great that it was impossible at times to hear the singers; and Rossini was in the end greeted with hisses and catcalls. But the second performance told a far different story. The singing and staging now went off much more smoothly, and Rossini’s enemies were no longer present to do their damage. Consequently the opera was acclaimed. Five years later, a tour of the opera throughout Italy established its fame and popularity on a solid and permanent basis.
The deservedly famous overture is so much in the carefree and ebullient spirit of the opera as a whole—and so felicitously sets the tone for what is soon to follow on the stage—that it comes as a shock to discover that it was not written for this work. Rossini had actually created it for an earlier opera, and then used it several times more for various other stage works, tragedies as well as comedies. The overture opens with a slow introduction in which the violins offer a graceful tune. A transition of four chords leads to the main body in which strings doubled by the piccolo offer a spicy little melody. The same infectious gaiety is to be found in the second theme which is first given by oboe and clarinet. A dramatic crescendo now leads into the development of both themes, and the overture ends with a vivacious coda.
Besides the overture, some of the principal melodies from this opera are frequently given in various orchestral potpourris and fantasias: Count Almaviva’s beautiful serenade, “Ecco ridente in cielo” and Figaro’s patter song, “Largo al factotum” from the first act; in the second act, Rosina’s coloratura aria, “Una voce poco fa” and Basilio’s denunciation of slander in “La Calunnia”; and in the third act, Basilio’s unctuous greeting “Pace e gioia sia con voi” and Figaro’s advice to the lovers to get married in haste and silence, “Zitti, zitti, piano, piano.”
La Gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie), first produced at La Scala on May 31, 1817, is also a light comedy; libretto by Giovanni Gherardini, based on a French play. The central character is a servant girl falsely accused of having stolen a silver spoon; she is exonerated when the spoon is found in a magpie’s nest just as the girl is about to be punished at the scaffold. The overture begins with an attention-arresting roll on the snare drum. This is followed by a brisk, march-like melody for full orchestra. In the main section, the principal themes consist of a sensitive little tune for strings and a pert melody for strings and woodwind.
L’Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Lady in Algiers) is, on the other hand, a serious opera. It was first produced in Venice on May 22, 1813, libretto by Angelo Anelli. In Algiers, Lindoro and Isabella are in love, but their romance is complicated by the fact that Isabella is sought after by the Mustafa. The lovers manage to effect their escape while the Mustafa is involved in complicated rites serving as his initiation into a secret society. The solemn opening of the overture has for its main thought a beautiful song for oboe. A crescendo then carries the overture to its principal section in which two lively melodies are heard, the first for woodwind, and the second for oboe.
La Scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) is an opera buffa which had its first performance in Venice on May 9, 1812. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi was based on a French farce involving a young girl who tries desperately to keep secret from her jealous guardian her marriage to the man she loves. A brief and electrifying opening for strings in the overture brings on a sentimental duet for flute and oboe. Two principal subjects in the main body of the overture include a gay and sprightly melody for strings, echoed by oboe, and a tender theme for flute and clarinet accompanied by strings.
Semiramide—introduced in Venice on February 3, 1823—is a serious opera based on Voltaire with libretto by Gaetano Rossi. Semiramis is the Queen of Babylon who is driven by her love for Asur to murder her husband. Her later love life is complicated when she discovers that the object of her passion, a Scythian, is actually her son. Semiramis is killed by a dagger which Asur directs at her Scythian son; Semiramis’ son then murders Asur and assumes the throne. The overture opens dramatically with a gradual crescendo at the end of which comes a slow and solemn melody for four horns, soon taken over by woodwind against plucked strings. A short transition in the woodwind brings on a return of the opening crescendo measures. We now come to the main part of the overture in which the first theme is for strings, and the second for the woodwind.