Nationality:
Italian
Born:
Pesaro, February 29th
1792
Died:
Paris,
November 13th
1868
Type
of music: Opera
Main
works: William
Tell (1829), Stabat Mater (1832-41), Petite messe solennelle (1863)
After
Mozart, only a few operas were impressive enough to survive and
impress Italy's lively audiences, until Rossini.
Rossini
was only 15 when he composed his first opera, 'Dementrio e Polibio'.
From 1810 to 1822 Rossini wrote a vast number of operas for
productions all over Italy, in both the regular and comedy genres. An
example of an opera from this period is 'The barber of Seville',
which had it's debut in Rome in 1816. This opera is based on a
prequel to 'The Marriage of Figaro'.
In
1822, Rossini settled in Paris and married the singer Isabella
Colbran, who created several of the soprano roles for his operas. He
continued composing and in 1829 he composed his most famous opera,
'William Tell'. This is his last major operatic work and in fact
after this period, his only two compositions in later life are two
scared works, including a Stabat Mater.
Rossini
was immeasurably innovative in the field of opera. He is one of the
first composers to use an orchestra to accompany the recitatives, and helped develop the standard form of an aria which consisted of slow 'cavatina' phrases and fast 'caballeto' phrases.
“Rossini,
in music, is the genius of sheer animal spirits.” - Leigh Hunt
Spotify
link for the Classical Cafe playlist:
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