Othello is altogether unsuited to the lyrical drama, and supposing the
contrary, Rossini, of all composers, was the most unfit to treat such a
subject in music. The catastrophe in the English tragedy is necessary; we
see it from the beginning as through a long and gloomy vista. We weep, or
shudder, we draw a long sigh of despair, and feel that it could not have
been otherwise. But in the opera, Othello is a ruffian, without excuse for
his crime. We have suddenly a beautiful woman running distracted about the
stage to a symphony--and a very noisy symphony--of violins, and butchered
before our eyes to an allegro movement.--_Foreign Review_.
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