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.
The most famous of all Rossini’s overtures, more celebrated even than
that for _The Barber of Seville_, is the one for the tragic opera
_William Tell_ (_Guillaume Tell_). This is perhaps the most popular
opera overture ever written. It is much more than merely the preface to
a stage work but is in itself an elaborate, eloquent tone poem, rich in
dramatic as well as musical interest, and vivid in its pictorial and
programmatic writing.
_William Tell_, which had its première in Paris on August 3, 1829, is
based on the drama of Friedrich Schiller, the libretto adaptation being
made by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. The hero is, of course, the
Swiss patriot who triumphs over the tyrant Gessler and helps bring about
the liberation of his country.
In the early measures of the overture we get a picture of sunrise over
the Swiss mountains, its beautiful melody presented by cellos and
basses. A dramatic episode for full orchestra then depicts an Alpine
storm. When it subsides we get a pastoral scene of rare loveliness
evoked by a poignant Swiss melody on the English horn. Trumpet fanfares
then bring on the stirring march music which, in our time and country,
has been borrowed by radio for the theme melody of “The Lone Ranger.”
The overture ends triumphantly in telling of William Tell’s victory over
tyranny and oppression.
The contemporary British composer, Benjamin Britten, has assembled
various melodies by Rossini into two delightful suites for orchestra.
_Soirées musicales_ (1936) is made up of five compositions by
Rossini—from _William Tell_ and from several pieces from a piano suite
entitled _Péchés de vieillesse_. The five movements are marked; I.
March; II. Canzonetta; III. Tyrolese; IV. Bolero; V. Tarantella.
_Matinées musicales_ (1941) also gets its material from _William Tell_
and the piano suite. Here the movements are: I. March; II. Nocturne;
III. Waltz; IV. Pantomime; V. Moto Perpetuo.