Gioachino Rossini

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Gioachino Rossini, 1865. Photograph by Étienne Carjat

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (also Gioacchino ) [ dʒoakiːno antɔːnjo Rossini (*] 29 February 1792 in Pesaro , Papal States , today marks ; †  13. November 1868 in Passy , Paris ) was an Italian composer . He is considered one of the most important belcanto opera composers ; his operas Il barbiere di Siviglia (“The Barber of Seville”), L'italiana in Algeri (“The Italian in Algiers”) and La Cenerentola (“Cinderella”) are part of the standard repertoire of opera houses around the world.

Life

Childhood and youth

Gioachino Rossini was the only son from the marriage of the horn player Giuseppe Rossini (1758–1839) with the singer Anna Rossini nee. Guidarini (1771-1827). The son was actually baptized Giovacchino on the day of his birth in Pesaro, but his name became known without the "v", and Rossini himself almost always spelled it as Gioachino, which is why this unusual form of name is now commonly used by musicology.

As a child, Rossini learned to play the violin and harpsichord ; he also had a good singing voice. His mother, however, firmly refused her brother's suggestion to keep her child's soprano voice as a castrato , for which Rossini was later grateful. When the family moved to Lugo in 1802 , Gioachino Rossini made the acquaintance of the wealthy Giuseppe Malerbi, who had a lasting influence. In Malerbi's library, Rossini got to know the works of Haydn and Mozart . On April 22, 1804, the twelve-year-old Rossini and his mother had a first public appearance in the municipal theater of Imola . In the same year Rossini wrote his first composition for two violins, violoncello and double bass, the Sei sonate a quattro , the complete original version of which was first published in 1954.

In 1805 the family moved to Bologna , where Gioachino Rossini appeared as a singer. From April 1806 he attended the Liceo Musicale . Here he received lessons in composition as well as cello , horn , piano and singing . In 1810 Rossini left the Liceo without a degree and went to Venice . At this point he had already composed his first opera, Demetrio e Polibio, as well as several other pieces. He was honored for his achievements as a singer by being accepted into the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna. In Venice, the twenty-year-old Rossini appeared for the first time as a composer with the premiere of the opera La cambiale di matrimonio on November 3, 1810.

The road to fame

Gioachino Rossini, around 1820. Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica, Bologna

In the following years Rossini wrote several operas, which, however, were not yet well known. It was not until February 1813 that he had his first resounding success with the Opera seria Tancredi . The world premiere took place in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice , with alto Adelaide Malanotte in the title role; her performance aria Di tanti palpiti became so famous that it was even sung by the gondoliers , and Niccolò Paganini wrote Variations (Op. 13) for violin and orchestra on it. Only a few months later, on May 22, 1813, Rossini's opera buffa L'italiana also enjoyed a rousing success in Algeri , also in Venice, but at the Teatro San Benedetto .

After a few more opera compositions for various opera houses in Italy, Rossini became director of the two opera houses in Naples , the Teatro San Carlo and the Teatro del Fondo, in 1815 . The Teatro San Carlo was one of the two leading opera houses in Italy, along with La Scala in Milan, and this offered it unique opportunities: It had an unusually good orchestra, and the singing ensemble consisted of virtuosos like the prima donna Isabella Colbran , as well as the tenors Andrea Nozzari , Manuel Garcia , Giovanni David , and the bass Michele Benedetti . For this extraordinary ensemble, Rossini composed a number of opera serie that are among his most elaborate and inventive scores: Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra (1815), Otello (1816), Armida (1817), Mosè in Egitto (1818), Ricciardo e Zoraide (1818), Ermione (1819), La donna del lago (1819) and Maometto II (1820).

Although he was contractually obliged to write an opera a year for each of the two Neapolitan houses, Rossini was also able to work for other cities. He composed his Barbiere di Siviglia for the carnival season of 1816 in the Teatro Argentina in Rome . The first performance was a complete fiasco, but the second performance received great acclaim, and that same night the audience made a torchlight procession to his inn in Rossini's honor and woke him from his sleep. The Barber later became his most popular opera to this day. The first performance of the Cenerentola in the Carnival of 1817 in the Roman Teatro Valle was initially unsuccessful, and it was only through later performances that the work became popular. A few months later, Rossini was at La Scala in Milan, where the premiere of La gazza ladra on May 31, 1817 was celebrated.

Isabella Colbran, around 1810–1815. Detail from a painting by Heinrich Schmidt, Museo del Teatro alla Scala, Milan

In Naples Rossini began a love affair with Isabella Colbran, the prima donna of his Neapolitan operas, whom he finally married on March 16, 1822 in Castenaso near Bologna, where the Colbran owned a villa. The wedding took place in the smallest circle in the small church Vergine del Pilar . Shortly afterwards, the Rossini couple and the two tenors Giovanni David and Andrea Nozzari traveled to Vienna, where Barbaja had organized a Rossini season at the Kärntnertortheater . Rossini had composed the Opera seria Zelmira for this tour , and his Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra and Ricciardo e Zoraide were also performed. It was a triumphant success and all of Vienna was in the famous “Rossini frenzy”. On this occasion Rossini visited the deaf Beethoven, who had looked at the score of the Barber of Seville and had "leafed through" those of the Seria operas Tancredi , Otello and Mosè ; he advised Rossini to limit himself to comic operas and added: “... you see, serious opera is simply not for the Italians. They have too little musical knowledge to deal with true drama ... ”.

Rossini and his wife returned to Italy in late summer of the same year, where his last opera Semiramide, written for Colbran and Italy, was premiered on February 3, 1823 at La Fenice in Venice. The opera was repeated 28 times by March 17, the day of her departure alone, and became one of his most popular operas (see below).

London and Paris

Gioachino Rossini, around 1822, portrait by Friedrich Lieder

At the end of 1823, the Rossini couple went first to Paris, and a month later to London for five months , where the high society tore them over. In January 1824 his Zelmira was performed at the King's Theater . It was unsuccessful, but Rossini was generously rewarded at £ 7,000. From August 1824 they were in Paris , where Rossini accepted the post of director of the Italian opera . Two years later he became a royal court composer and inspector general of singing in France. As early as 1825, Rossini had composed the opera Il viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Reims) for the coronation celebrations of Charles X , with an immense star line-up of singers, including Giuditta Pasta , Laure Cinti-Damoreau , Ester Mombelli , Domenico Donzelli and Nicholas -Prosper Levasseur belonged. A few years later he used large parts of this unrepeatable work for his only comic opera in French, Le comte Ory (1828). He had previously reworked two of his Neapolitan seria operas into French grand operas for the Paris Opera : Maometto II (from 1820) became Le siège de Corinthe (1826), and Mosé in Egitto (from 1818) became Moïse et Pharaon (1827 ). In 1829 Rossini's Guillaume Tell was performed. This also belonged to the genre of the Grand Opéra. It was to be the last opera of his life.

A life as an icon

Gioachino Rossini. Marble medallion by H. Chevalier for the foyer of the Paris Opera, 1865.
Music Mile Vienna

The year 1830 saw the loss of his offices for Rossini, as the French king had to abdicate during the July Revolution . However, Rossini managed to enforce a lifelong pension in court.

Rossini lived de facto separated from his wife Isabella Colbran since 1830; she lived with his father in Castenaso and Bologna; the latter complained frequently about them in numerous letters to Gioachino. An official separation from Isabella took place in 1837. At this time he was already with his new partner, the French woman Olympe Pélissier , whom he had met in 1832. After Isabella's death in 1845, he married Olympe on August 16; this marriage lasted until his death. In 1839 Rossini's father had also died.

From 1836 to 1848 Rossini worked in Bologna as director of the music school. He continued to work as a composer at least sporadically, but devoted himself more to sacred and chamber music. During this time his famous Stabat Mater , which had its world premiere in 1842, was written on January 7th in Paris, in the Salle Ventadour des Théâtre-Italy, and on March 13th in Bologna under the direction of Gaetano Donizetti.

Because of political unrest in Bologna, Rossini fled to Florence in 1848.

After retiring from the stage, Rossini often suffered from depression; he also suffered from complications from gonorrhea , which he contracted at a young age. A general improvement, at least in his mental state, began in 1855, after his return to Paris ( Passy ), which had been initiated by his wife Olympe. From 1858 onwards they even gave soirees every Saturday evening, at which music was also made and to which invitations were much sought-after.

From 1858 onwards he also created numerous, mostly unknown works, the so-called Péchés de vieillesse , the “sins of old age”, which Rossini collected in 13 volumes and two supplements. These include over 100 piano pieces that are known for their wit. Among other things, the pieces are called Tortured Waltz , Asthmatic Etude , Chromatic Turntable or Miscarriage of a Polka - Mazurka . One of the well-known and great works after his time as an opera composer was the Petite Messe solennelle (1863), which despite its name ("small mass") is a ninety-minute work.

Rossini's grave in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris until 1887
Rossini's grave since 1887 in Santa Croce in Florence

Rossini was known for his humorous, lovable character, even in conversation with a musical opponent like Richard Wagner (1860) he had a lot of funny bon mots on the tongue, and also possessed self-irony. However, this was partly a reaction on the one hand to his enormous fame, and on the other hand to certain painful and restrictive classifications as the supposedly exclusive master of opera buffa, which he had already received from the deaf (!) Beethoven, but above all in the second half of his life as well sometimes had to accept. He was also a very helpful person who selflessly supported younger colleagues (and competitors) as best he could. This applies e.g. B. for Vincenzo Bellini , for whom he placed an order at the Paris Opéra in 1834, and then assisted him with lots of good advice while working on the opera I puritani . The same applies to Gaetano Donizetti and even to Carl Maria von Weber , who, although publicly did not express himself particularly benevolently about Rossini's music, he sent him letters of recommendation to influential acquaintances in London in 1826 out of respect for his genius and out of pity for his deadly consumption gave.

Rossini died on November 13, 1868 as a result of an intestinal operation. He was first buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris before his remains were transferred to the Santa Croce Church in Florence in 1887 .

Under the impression of Rossini's death, Giuseppe Verdi invited the twelve most important Italian composers of his time to participate in the joint composition of a funeral mass for Rossini, which was to be performed on the first anniversary of his death. The Messa per Rossini was completed in 1869, but it was not performed because of adverse circumstances. The collective composition was first performed posthumously in 1988 . Verdi took on his own contribution, the concluding Libera me , as the nucleus for the composition of his own Requiem . The Florentine musician Guido Tacchinardi also composed his Requiem a Rossini at the same time , which was only published in 2014.

The Italian state has awarded Rossini's birthplace in Pesaro, which now houses a museum , with the European Heritage Label , together with the birthplace of Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi . Rossini was honored many times, including his admission as a foreign member in the Académie des Beaux-Arts (1823) and as a foreign member in the Prussian order Pour le Mérite for science and arts on May 31, 1842. In the opera house of his native city Pesaro and in The Scala of Milan already had busts of Rossini around 1840, and in Bologna his name day was declared an official feast day.

The operas

Up until 1829, Rossini had written a total of 39 operas in just under two decades, which drove half of Europe into a real Rossini frenzy. As was customary at the time, most of them were created under enormous time pressure and in an incredibly short time. Rossini himself told Hiller (1854) that Semiramide (1823) was "... the only one of my Italian operas", "... that I could write in peace; my contract allowed me forty days, ”but he delivered the score after 33 days. It only took him 13 days to write the Barbiere di Siviglia , as he himself reported to Wagner in 1860.

The twenty-one year old Rossini rose from 1813 with Tancredi and L'Italiana in Algeri within a short time to the leading and generally recognized opera composer in Italy, as a master in all branches of Italian opera ( Opera seria , Opera buffa and Opera semiseria ) and in the French Grand Opéra . Like very few other composers, he was honored and celebrated as a genius during his lifetime for his achievements in this field.

Stylistically, Rossini was a composer of the transition from late classical or late classical style to romantic Italian opera, and he was the driving force behind this change of style during his creative period. Typical for Rossini is a richly decorated singing, a melting melody that is already tending towards romanticism, a colorful and sometimes unusual harmony for its time, an imaginative and brilliant orchestral setting with often virtuoso solo winds, effective and often intoxicating use of an orchestral ( or tutti) crescendos . All Italian opera composers of his and the somewhat younger generation followed his example and composed in a “Rossini style” until around 1830 (and sometimes beyond), this is particularly true of Giovanni Pacini , Saverio Mercadante , and also Gaetano Donizetti in his early phase; Even the German Giacomo Meyerbeer experienced a phase of "Rossinism" in his six Italian operas.

In his works composed for Naples - beginning with Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (1815) - Rossini dispensed with the traditional secco recitatives , that is, the orchestral composition of these works is thoroughly composed. This was by no means customary in Italian opera of the time, and certainly not a matter of course, but was implemented under the influence of French opera according to Gluck ( Orfeo ed Euridice and others) and Spontini ( La vestale ) especially in the French-dominated Naples; Another model for Rossini in this regard was Giovanni Simone Mayr's opera Medea in Corinto , which was also written for the Teatro San Carlo in 1813. In orchestration, Rossini was often accused of German influence because of his extensive use of woodwinds and brass, and in fact the composer himself said in a conversation with Wagner in 1860 that as a youth he had made scores of Haydn's creation and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro , as well as the Magic Flute , eagerly studied and copied; he had "... learned more than in all the lessons at the Bolognese Conservatory".

With Rossini there are also other romantic elements - melody, harmony, and also drama - in operas such as Otello , La donna del lago , Mosè in Egitto , Ricciardo e Zoraide , Zelmira and Semiramide , which had a strongly forward-looking character and influence. Here he often anticipates stylistic developments by Bellini , Donizetti and even Verdi .

Rossini also had a strong influence on the development of French opera, particularly composers such as Daniel Auber , Meyerbeer, Jacques Halévy , Ferdinand Hérold and Adolphe Adam .

On the popularity of operas in the 19th century

Manuel Garcia as Otello
Maria Malibran as Desdemona in Otello after Henri Decaisne
Giulia Grisi as Semiramide, after Alexandre Lacauchie
Giuditta Pasta as Tancredi by Rossini
Laure Cinti-Damoreau and Adolphe Nourrit as Mathilde & Arnold in Guillaume Tell . Engraving by Cicéri, 1829.
Giovanni David as Ilo in Zelmira , Vienna 1822.
Isabella Colbran probably as Elisabetta

Among his greatest and most lasting successes were the three seria operas Mosè in Egitto (or Moïse et Pharaon ), Otello and Semiramide . For the first two more than 130 productions in the 19th century can be proven and for Semiramide more than 120. Otello was particularly popular with romantic heroines such as Giuditta Pasta and Maria Malibran , especially because of the Scena, Romance and Preghiera (prayer) of Desdemona " Assisa a 'piè d'un salice ”. This, like the entire third act with the tragic death of Desdemona, already corresponded to the romantic taste of the time, so that Mazzini spoke of “a divine work”, “which because of its strong drama, its fatalistic aura and the wonderful unity of inspiration was completely new Listening to the epoch ”. After its premiere in Naples on December 4, 1816, the opera was played in Munich in 1818, in addition to numerous performances in Italy , followed by Dresden (1820), Barcelona (1821), Paris (1826, with Giuditta Pasta and Rubini ), the last performances were given it still 1868–1869 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and in 1870 at the Scala in Milan and at the Teatro Goldoni in Modena . After the success of Verdi 's work of the same name, the opera was later forgotten.

Mosè was similarly successful in Egitto , the third act of which Rossini edited and supplemented the next year after the premiere on March 5, 1818, and which he brought out as the French Grand Opéra for Paris in 1827 in a new version as Moïse et Pharaon . The preghiera "Dal tuo stellato soglio" in the third act was particularly famous, Paganini wrote a series of variations on it. The opera, in one form or another, was performed regularly and often throughout Italy until 1862. She also experienced productions in Munich and Dresden (1822), Vienna (1825, with Giuseppina Fodor , Giovanni David, Lablache and Carolina Ungher ), Barcelona (1825), even in New York , Havana and Antwerp (1847). Because of the biblical reference, Mosè in Egitto was also performed in concerts in churches.

Also Semiramide was played regularly after its world premiere in Venice on 3 February 1823, Italy and even experienced performances in New York (1845) and Konstantin Opel (1852-1853).

Among the comic operas, the most successful were La Cenerentola , as well as L'italiana in Algeri , Il barbiere di Siviglia and La gazza ladra , which were also performed across Europe and beyond.

Rossini's last opera, Guillaume Tell , deserves a special mention. It premiered on August 3, 1829 in Paris and, as a Grand Opéra and due to its extremely progressive stylistic features, is no longer part of his oeuvre. Although this was praised as ingenious (e.g. by Donizetti, who described the second act as “written by God”), the very long opera was not particularly well received by the audience. On the other hand, the extremely modern character of the music and the less virtuoso, more romantic treatment of the voices, which can originally be traced back to the singing tradition of French opera, is probably responsible for the fact that 17 of the total of 35 productions alone, i.e. almost half, only after Took place in 1850, starting with London in 1851 through to Milan in 1881–1882. It should also be emphasized that the figures given here relate almost exclusively to Italy or to Italian productions. Tell was shown so often at the Paris Opera that it had its 500th performance in 1868, the year Rossini died.

To the ornate singing at Rossini

In order to understand this composer, it is crucial that he is rooted in the tradition of Italian bel canto , a style of singing that was founded in the Baroque and was originally shaped primarily by castrati . In addition to technically perfectly trained voices, this also included an ornate singing with many coloraturas, the canto fiorito .

Belcanto was the dominant style of opera in his time in Italy, and most singers, such as Angelica Catalani , Isabella Colbran , Manuel Garcia , Giovanni David , decorated their vocal lines themselves, which was also taken into account by the composers (as in the Baroque). According to Stendhal, the last great castrato Giovanni Battista Velluti in Rossini's opera Aureliano in Palmira (1813–1814) in the role of Arsace is said to have exaggerated his own art of ornamentation so much that the composer is said to have decided to use all his ornaments and coloratura Noting music himself, supposedly because he no longer wanted to leave it to the singers' arbitrariness. Although Stendhal was generally very inclined to fabulous in his biography and this story is somewhat dubious, as Rossini had already written down his parts in a highly ornate way, it does contain the real essence that he made unusually precise specifications. This led to heavily to very heavily ornamented singing with an often intoxicating effect, which places the highest demands on the singers in the main roles, not only in the high (female) sopranos, but in all voices, including alto, tenor and bass , and not only in solo arias, but also in duets and other ensembles (see the sheet music examples of the trio from Otello , for soprano (Desdemona) and two coloratura tenors (Otello and Iago)).

Rossini: Otello , Act II, trio Desdemona - Otello - Iago, detail: "... non cangia di sembiante ..." Manuscript from approx. 1850, Biblioteca del Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella di Napoli , p. 122
Rossini: Otello , Act II, Trio Desdemona - Otello - Iago, detail: "... non cangia di sembiante ..." Manuscript from approx. 1850, Biblioteca del Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella, p. 124

Coloratura traditionally played a special role, especially in the opera seria, they were part of the characterization of high-ranking, aristocratic and royal figures and of mythological heroes and gods. Already at the beginning of the 17th century Monteverdi determined the canto di garbo , that is, the "graceful" coloratura chant for unearthly figures of gods. Correspondingly, Rossini - like other composers before and next to him (such as Nicolini , Mayr , Pucitta , etc.) - often characterizes the knights and heroes popular in classicist opera with ostentatious coloratura at their first appearance. In practice, these are either tenor parts, such as B. Rinaldo in Armida or the title character in Otello , or also for contralto musico , d. H. for female elderly and mezzo-sopranos who appeared as a substitute for the rare castrati in male hero roles: z. B. the title role of Tancredi , Arsace in Aureliano in Palmira , or Arsace in Semiramide . Traditionally, very virtuoso coloraturas were also used from the 17th to the early 19th centuries, especially in moments of excitement or anger, the most famous example being the second aria of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute . With Rossini such feelings play e.g. B. a major role in the opera Otello , both in arias by the protagonist and in ensembles (see sheet music examples). A typical use for virtuoso coloratura are moments of joy. B. in the Rondò finale of Elena in La donna del lago ; softer, graceful, lovely ornaments also in love arias and duets (e.g. in Armida ). So Rossini used the coloratura in his seria operas in a very similar way to that of many other composers before and next to him, but he had a preference for particularly virtuoso singing, as in Bianca e Falliero or Semiramide .

However, he also had characters sing coloratura in Buffa and Semiseria operas, such as B. Rosina and the Count d'Almaviva in the Barber of Seville . In such cases this can on the one hand be a sign of noble descent (Count) or noble character, but not infrequently also of joy, as in the case of the famous Aria Finale of the Cenerentola . But at the same time - and this was something new - Rossini also used coloratura in comic opera for ironic purposes (e.g. Rosina's famous Cavatina “Una voce posso fa” in Barbiere ). While an extremely virtuoso, babbling and tongue- twisting parlando and sillabato was typical of the opera buffa before , Rossini used it particularly effectively and wittily, e.g. B. in Figaro's famous performance aria “Largo al factotum” ( Barbiere di Siviglia , Act I), and very often in ensembles and turbulent final scenes ( Barbiere di Siviglia , Cenerentola etc.). The ironic use of coloratura singing in the buffa opera and, at the same time, the traditionally noble and usually even more virtuoso ornamentation of Rossini's aristocratic figures in the opera seria led to misunderstandings in the long run, especially in posterity. In a way, he had "mixed up" everything and turned it upside down.

Rossini also composed simpler romantic chants, especially in the roles of Desdemona in Otello , Elena in La donna del Lago , Zelmira , Ricciardo e Zoraide , or the title hero in Mosè in Egitto . Guillaume Tell should also be mentioned in this context , although he is in the French tradition and stylistically falls out of Rossini's work. In this context, it is also worth mentioning almost Verdi-like choir and ensemble passages such as in Mosè .

After the extreme fireworks of virtuosity of the Rossini era, it was almost inevitable that younger Italian composers such as Vincenzo Bellini and Donizetti began to purify and simplify singing from the end of the 1820s; this applies to all voices, but especially to the male voices, which after 1830 hardly had any ornaments to sing. Women's roles were often decorated until the early Verdi until around 1855, but not (or rarely) as strongly as in Rossini's.

All of this led to a change in the art of singing as early as 1830–1840, based on a different understanding of the romantic opera drama, in the sense of greater realism and violent feelings, which are expressed directly, in extreme cases almost shouted. A development that continued even more extreme in verismo .

In France, at least in the women's voices, the situation was almost reversed due to Rossini's influence: since his operas written for Paris, composers such as Auber , Meyerbeer, Halévy , Adam , Gounod , Delibes and Offenbach have used coloratura sopranos and even mezzo sopranos, although it was had not given any coloratura singing in traditional French opera by Lully until the beginning of the 19th century. There was also a tendency to use coloratura sopranos in the Opéra-comique ( Auber ) or in a happy or funny context (Meyerbeer: the Page Urbain in Les Huguenots , Offenbach: the doll Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann ). This was also adopted in the German (or Viennese) operetta (e.g. Johann Strauss (son) : Adele in Die Fledermaus , or the spring voice waltz ).

The consequence of all these developments was that Rossini's operas, especially his seria operas with their often extreme coloratura, were understood less and less (in some cases even today). There were also fewer and fewer singers, especially in the male tenor and bass roles, who were up to the enormous demands on agility and fluency, but also on nuances and softness of the singing. Apart from the enthusiasm for Verdi from at least 1850, by 1880 or 1890 at the latest there were almost no tenors and basses who could adequately sing Rossini's seria roles. This is particularly a problem in the seria operas written for Naples, for which Rossini had an ensemble of absolutely top singers available, with at least two or three coloratura tenors (originally Giovanni David , Andrea Nozzari , Manuel Garcia , Giovanni Battista Rubini and others ) and at least one coloratura bassist (originally Michele Benedetti et al.). Even the occupation of female roles became a problem, since by the end of the 19th century there were hardly any (or no) coloratura mezzo-sopranos and alto voices. For example, the role of Rosina in the Barbier of Seville - at that time actually the only opera that was still in the repertoire - was then cast exclusively with high coloratura sopranos, who of course had to move the role up (this was still the case until the 1980s ). Above all, the roles for Isabella Colbran would no longer have been available because they require an expressive and in places even dramatic coloratura singing that no longer existed around and after 1900. The high coloratura sopranos of the early twentieth century were often highly virtuoso, but they were usually limited to a kind of flirtatious “twittering” and sang completely without expression. All of this led to the fact that bel canto coloratura singing was generally considered superficial or "funny" and despised.

revival

A milestone was therefore a performance of Rossini's Armida at the Maggio Musicale in Florence in 1952 with Maria Callas , who actually only stepped in for a short time, but interpreted this role with expression and with romantic and dramatic accents; At the same time, however, the execution of the male roles was a big problem (if not a fiasco), especially the seven (!) roles for coloratura tenors (some of which can, however, be sung by the same person). However, actual Rossini renaissance began only in 1960, both by the "rediscovery" of the coloratura mezzo-soprano and -Alts by singers such as Teresa Berganza and Giulietta Simionato , the roles like Rosina in Barbiere or in L'italiana in Algeri again the original location (this was also done by the Spanish Conchita Supervia in the 1920s with a little special technique ). A particular highlight in the revival of Rossini opera was the performance and recording of Rossini's Semiramide with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne in the mid-1960s.

A really satisfactory situation did not arise until around 1980, however, when tenors appeared who were better able to cope with the acrobatic difficulties of the Rossini roles, such as Ernesto Palacio , Raúl Giménez , Rockwell Blake , José Carreras , Chris Merritt , Bruce Ford , William Matteuzzi , John Aler , Jeffrey Kunde and Juan Diego Flórez ; also baritones and basses such as Samuel Ramey , Ferruccio Furlanetto , Alastair Miles , Ildebrando d'Arcangelo . Virtuoso singers such as: Montserrat Caballé , Cecilia Gasdia , June Anderson , Lella Cuberli , Katia Ricciarelli , Edita Gruberová , Sumi Jo , Renée Fleming in soprano have also made outstanding contributions to Rossini singing ; the mezzo-sopranos Agnes Baltsa , Huguette Tourangeau , Frederica von Stade , Cecilia Bartoli , Vesselina Kasarova , Jennifer Larmore , Joyce DiDonato and Vivicagenaux ; as well as the contralto Lucia Valentini-Terrani , Bernadette Manca di Nisso , Ewa Podles , Daniela Barcellona .

Despite the Rossini renaissance described, there are unfortunately still only a few operas by Rossini on the repertoire of many opera houses because of technical performance problems, and sometimes also because of certain reservations on the part of Rossini as an exclusive master of comic opera.

Overtures

Even if many of Rossini's operas were or are still forgotten, the overtures of some operas have survived as popular concert pieces. This practice can already be found with Johann Strauss (father) , who as early as 1830 mixed his own waltzes and gallop with overtures to operas that were popular or new at the time in his concert programs , not only by Rossini, but also by Bellini, Auber and other composers.

Many of Gioachino Rossini's early overtures are primarily intended as a festive introduction and are therefore not directly related to the following opera. An extreme case of an arbitrarily interchangeable overture is the one for Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816), which he originally composed for Aureliano in Palmira (1813) and also used for Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (1815).

However, he subsequently overcame such arbitrariness. The overture to the opera La gazza ladra (1817) , for example, is closely related to the operatic content: the surprisingly military beginning with several drum rolls alludes to the content of the opera - namely to the impending execution of the main character Ninetta and her fugitive father Soldiers. After a first section in a festively dotted but very elegant marching rhythm, with tragic harmonic and melodic inflections, there are several sections that later recur in the prison scene in the second act: The triplet- falling melody in minor , played by the strings Immediately after the martial introduction, it returns in the duet by Ninetta and Pippo "E ben, per mia memoria". And Rossini used the apparently funny, flirtatious and "snappy" theme in three time at the end of the overture as a bridge motif in the cabaletta of the rejected and angry Podestà, where it does not seem funny at all . The overture to Semiramide (1823) also contains musical material from the opera: the introductory Largo, which is romantically instrumented with horns, corresponds to the quartet “Giuro ai numi” (“I swear by the gods”) in the first finale.

Most of Rossini's opera overtures are composed according to a similar formal scheme. At the beginning there is usually a slow and often tense introduction. In L'italiana in Algeri (1813), on the other hand, there is a quick part with two contrasting themes that are increased in dynamics and tempo. There is no development in the classical sense, which is why one can only speak of a shortened sonata main clause, since the harmonic sequence usually oscillates between tonic and dominant. The effective final effects at the end of many overtures, which are intended to serve as a snappy curtain opener, are due to Rossini's handling of the crescendo in the orchestra, whereby short, often two- or four-bar motifs are constantly repeated, but with heightened dynamics and instrumentation. For example, this occurs in the overtures to Semiramide and Otello . Despite this frequent formal uniformity, all overtures show Rossini's own melodic (and formal) inventions, such as the surprisingly intimate recitative at the beginning of the overture to Guillaume Tell , the elegiac oboe solos in Otello and L'italiana in Algeri , the anarchic beating of the violin bow to the Music stands with Il signor Bruschino or the quasi canonical beginning with La scala di seta .

It should also be noted that Rossini used no independent overtures in several of his operas, but discharges (= Introduzione ) wrote that the reconciled directly to the action on stage and singing songs like choirs and ensembles. This applies, for example, to the Neapolitan operas Mosè in Egitto (version 1818/1819) and Ricciardo e Zoraide (1818). In the case of the latter, the introduction is the length of an overture, but can be heard when the curtain is open, and has many interjections from a banda from the background of the stage; it then goes directly and inseparably into the introductory chorus.

Festival

Rossini's work is the focus of several annual festivals. The Rossini Opera Festival (since 1980) in Pesaro, the town of his birth, and the Rossini Festival in Wildbad (since 1989) in Bad Wildbad in Baden-Württemberg perform several rarely performed operas by Rossini and his contemporaries every year. The Knoxville Opera in Knoxville (Tennessee) has also organized an annual Rossini Festival since 2001 , which is accompanied by an Italian street festival.

Gioachino Rossini, March 1856. Photograph by Nadar , Metropolitan Museum of Art

Quote

"I admit that I cried three times in my life: when my first opera failed, when I heard Paganini play the violin and when a truffle turkey fell overboard at a boat picnic."

- Gioachino Rossini

various

The Swiss post horn motif, a sequence of 3 tones, comes from Rossini's opera Wilhelm Tell (Italian Guillaume Tell) and is heard from 1923 on Swiss Postbuses, especially on mountain routes with confusing curves.

"Tournedos alla Rossini" or Tournedos Rossini , a way of preparing beef fillet steaks with a slice of goose liver , are named after Gioachino Rossini.

The same applies to Rossini Point , a headland in the south of the Antarctic Alexander I Island .

Works

Operas (with premiere dates)

Incidental music

  • Edipo a Colono (1817)

Cantatas

  • Il pianto d'Armonia sulla morte di Orfeo (1808)
  • La morte di Didone (1811/1818)
  • Dalle quiete e pallid 'ombre (1812)
  • Egle ed Irene (1814)
  • L'Aurora (1815)
  • Le nozze di Teti, e di Peleo (1816)
  • Omaggio umiliato ... (1819)
  • Cantata da eseguirsi ... (1819)
  • La riconoscenza (1821)
  • La Santa Alleanza (1822)
  • Il vero omaggio (1822)
  • Omaggio pastorale (1823)
  • Il pianto delle Muse in morte di Lord Byron (1824)
  • Cantata per Aguado (1827)
  • Giovanna d'Arco (1832)
  • Cantata in onore del Sommo Pontefice Pio Nono (1847)

Hymns, choirs

  • Inno dell'Indipendenza (1815)
  • De l'Italie et de la France (1825)
  • Coro in onore del Marchese Sampieri (1830)
  • Santo Genio de l'Italia terra (1844)
  • Grido di Esultazione… (1846)
  • Coro delle Guardia Civica di Bologna (1848)
  • Inno alla Pace (1850)
  • Hymn to Napoléon III (1867)

Religious music

  • Messa (Bologna 1808)
  • Messa (Ravenna 1808)
  • Messa (Rimini 1809)
  • Laudamus
  • Quoniam (1813)
  • Miserere
  • Messa di Gloria (1820) solos, choir, orchestra, 65 '[Ed. Kunzelmann CH-Adliswil]
  • Deh tu pietoso cielo (1820)
  • Tantum ergo (1824)
  • Stabat Mater (1833/42)
  • Trois Chœurs religieux (1844)
  • Tantum ergo (1847)
  • O salutaris hostia (1857)
  • Louse Deodorant (1861)
  • Petite fair solennelle (1863)

Vocal music

  • Soirées musicales (1830–1835)

Instrumental music

  • Sei sonate a quattro (1804)
  • Sinfonia di Bologna (1807)
  • Sinfonia al Conventello (1808)
  • Variazzioni di clarinetto (Variazioni per Clarinetto e piccola orchestra) (1809)
  • Introduzione, tema e variazioni (1819)
  • Duet for violoncello and double bass (1824)
  • Le rendez-vous de chasse (1828)
  • Sonata for harp (1837)

Péchés de vieillesse ("Sins of Age")

  • Une caresse à ma femme
  • Un petit train de plaisir (comique-imitatif)
  • Petit Caprice (Style Offenbach)
  • Unofficial prelude
  • Bolero tartare
  • Quatre hors-d'œuvres et quatre mendiants
  • Un rêve
  • Memento homo - Assez de memento. Dansons
  • Un profond sommeil - Un réveil en sursaut
  • Petite Fanfare (à quatre mains)
  • Quelques riens pour album (24 miniatures)

literature

  • Stendhal : Vie de Rossini. Paris 1824 and Michel Levy Frères, Paris 1854.
    • German new edition: Rossini. Translated from the French by Barbara Brumm. Athenaeum, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-610-08472-3 .
  • Ferdinand Hiller : Chatting with Rossini. In: Kölnische Zeitung 1855 (as a book edition in: From the sound life of our time. 1868, Vol. 2, pp. 1–84; new edition, edited by Guido Johannes Joerg, Stuttgart 1993).
  • Adolph Kohut : Rossini (= Biographies of Musicians. 14; Reclam's Universal Library. 2927). Reclam, Leipzig 1892.
  • Joachim Campe: Rossini: the light and the dark years . Theiss, Darmstadt [2018], ISBN 978-3-8062-3671-2 .
  • Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191 (Original: Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983).
  • Arnold Jacobshagen : Gioachino Rossini and his time. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2015, ISBN 978-3-89007-770-3 .
  • Arnold Jacobshagen: Opera semiseria. Genre convergence and cultural transfer in music theater (= Archive for Musicology . Supplement 57). Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08701-X (also habilitation thesis, University of Bayreuth 2002).
  • Guido Johannes Joerg: “Divine Master, I misunderstood you!” - Gioachino Rossini from the perspective of the early biographical literature in German, transcribed, introduced and commented on from the original sources. With an introduction by Siegfried Carl , Dohr , Cologne 2020, ISBN 978-3-86846-150-3 .
  • Wilhelm Keitel , Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-8135-0364-X .
  • Ariella Lanfranchi:  Colbran, Isabella Angela. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 26:  Cironi-Collegno. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1982.
  • Marcus Chr. Lippe: Rossini's opera series . For the musical-dramatic conception. Publication from the DFG opera project , Steiner, Wiesbaden 2005.
  • Reto Müller:  Rossini, Gioachino Antonio. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 88:  Robusti – Roverella. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2017.
  • Richard Osborne: Rossini. Life and work. Translation by Grete Wehmeyer . List, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-471-78305-9 .
  • Volker Scherliess: Gioacchino Rossini. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1991, ISBN 3-499-50476-6 .
  • Doris Sennefelder: "Moitié italien, moitié français". Investigations into Gioachino Rossini's operas. Herbert Utz Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-8316-0502-5 .
  • Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991.
  • Herbert Weinstock : Rossini. A biography. Edition Kunzelmann, Adliswil 1981, ISBN 3-85662-009-0 .

Web links

Commons : Gioachino Rossini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner: Gioachino Rossini. Munich 1992, p. 17
  2. ↑ Volker Scherliess , Gioacchino Rossini , 5th edition, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2009, p. 16f.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner: Gioachino Rossini. Munich 1992, p. 22
  4. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner: Gioachino Rossini. Munich 1992, p. 36
  5. ^ Rossini: Tancredi , Venice, Carnival 1812–1813 in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna (as of November 5, 2017)
  6. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 61.
  7. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 72-74.
  8. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 84-85.
  9. ↑ a b c d Ariella Lanfranchi:  Colbran, Isabella Angela. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 26:  Cironi-Collegno. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1982.
  10. ^ Michael Jahn, The Vienna Court Opera from 1810 to 1836. The Kärnthnerthortheater as a court opera. (Publications of rism-Austria B / 6). Vienna 2007, p. 152ff.
  11. ↑ An original printout by Beethoven. Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 109.
  12. ↑ This is what Rossini reported himself according to Michotte and Radiciotti ( Gioacchino Rossini , Tivoli 1927–1929), here quoted from: Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 109.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner: Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 283.
  14. ↑ Ariella Lanfranchi: "Colbran, Isabella Angela", Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 26 (1982) (viewed November 5, 2017)
  15. ^ Wilhelm Keitel , Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Verlag Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 125.
  16. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 185 (on Olympe Pélissier, p. 178).
  17. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 180.
  18. ^ Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation ...), Rusconi, Milan 1991, p. 186.
  19. ↑ This is already documented for 1832. Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991, p. 183 (“1832”).
  20. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 193 and 195 ff.
  21. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 199 f.
  22. ↑ See also the chats with Rossini by Ferdinand Hiller (1868), whom Rossini met several times in his life, including during a cure in the 1850s. Here after: Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 196–198.
  23. ^ Wagner visited Rossini in Paris in 1860; the conversation was meticulously transmitted by Michotte. Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 206-224. See also: Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991, p. 189.
  24. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 196–198 (Hiller, Plaudereien mit Rossini (1868)), & pp. 198 ff.
  25. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 177.
  26. ^ Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991, p. 184.
  27. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 177.
  28. ^ Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991, pp. 177–178.
  29. ↑ The Order Pour le Mérite for Science and the Arts. The members of the order. Volume 1 (1842-1881), Berlin 1975, p. 84
  30. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 180.
  31. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, pp. 116–117.
  32. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 210.
  33. ↑ Hiller, for example, also expressed himself about Rossini's influence on French opera and his corresponding veneration in his chats with Rossini (1868). Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 196.
  34. ↑ Heine wrote in a comparison between Rossini and Meyerbeer: "Meyerbeer was then considered an imitator of Rossini ... Rossinism was Meyerbeer's great crime at that time". Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 172.
  35. ^ Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991, p. 162.
  36. ↑ Jeremy Commons: Medea in Corinto. Booklet text for the CD box Giovanni Simone Mayr: Medea in Corinto. Opera Rara ORC 11, pp. 16-18.
  37. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 211.
  38. ↑ See also Hiller, Chatting with Rossini (1868). Here after Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 196.
  39. ^ Corago - Repertorio e archivio di libretti del melodramma italiano dal 1600 al 1900
  40. ^ Giuseppe Mazzini: Filosofia della musica , Rome / Milan, 1954. Here after: Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini . Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 92.
  41. ↑ Seldom also called Il nuovo Mosè , u. a. in Barcelona in 1842, 1849 and 1858.
  42. ↑ Paganini also wrote variations on "Non più mesta" from Rossini's Cenerentola (Op. 12) and on "Di tanti palpiti" from Rossini's Tancredi (Op. 13).
  43. ^ Frédéric Vitoux: Rossini (Italian translation by Maria Delogu of the French original: Gioacchino Rossini , Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1986), Rusconi, Milan 1991, p. 181.
  44. ^ Vitoux: Rossini, p. 181.
  45. ↑ http://corago.unibo.it/evento/0001272180 (accessed November 8, 2017)
  46. ↑ http://corago.unibo.it/evento/0000280610 (accessed November 8, 2017)
  47. ↑ Do not confuse “performance” with “production” (500 performances could, for example, add up to 25 productions of 20 performances each)! Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 243.
  48. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191 (Original: Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983).
  49. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191, here: p. 152 and p. 176–177.
  50. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191, pp. 148–150.
  51. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 146–152.
  52. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Die Gesangtypen Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 162–175.
  53. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Die Gesangtypen Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, p. 13, p. 33, p. 201.
  54. ↑ ital .: contralto = alt; musico = musician; However, " musico" has been the common name for a castrato singer in Italy since the 17th century!
  55. ↑ The contralto musico was not an invention of Rossini, but typical of the era when there were almost no castrati any more. Rodolfo Celletti: “Rossini”, in: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191, here: pp. 163–164.
  56. ↑ This was actually composed for the castrato Velluti, but later mostly by contralto such as Rosmunda Pisaroni and others. a. sung.
  57. ↑ The roles for contralto musico , however, are mostly more romantic and nostalgic in color than the tenor roles.
  58. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191, here: p. 151.
  59. ^ A b Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191, here: p. 161.
  60. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191, here: p. 173.
  61. ^ Arnold Jacobshagen: Opera semiseria. Genre convergence and cultural transfer in music theater . ( Archive for Musicology . Supplement 57), Habilitation thesis, University of Bayreuth 2002, Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08701-X , pp. 26-27.
  62. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, here: pp. 198–202.
  63. ↑ Celletti also speaks of the "cry of the soul". Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: History of Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, here: p. 202.
  64. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, here: pp. 203 ff.
  65. ↑ Well-known examples are: Auber : Elvire in La muette de Portici , Angèle in Le domino noir u. a .; Meyerbeer: Isabelle in Robert le diable , Queen Marguerite and Urbain in Les Huguenots ; Halévy : Eudoxie in La Juive ; Gounod : Juliette in Roméo et Juliette ; Delibes : title role in Lakmé ; Offenbach : Olympia in Les contes d'Hoffmann .
  66. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, here: pp. 202–203.
  67. ↑ d. H. for funny in the sense of comic opera or operetta.
  68. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, here: p. 209.
  69. ↑ On the male voices of the 1950s to 1970s with regard to the ability to sing roles of Belcanto, see: Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191 (original : Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983), here: pp. 212-213.
  70. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191 (Original: Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983), here: p. 212 (Simionato), P. 213 f (Berganza).
  71. ↑ Rodolfo Celletti: "Rossini", in: Geschichte des Belcanto , Bärenreiter, Kassel / Basel 1989, pp. 141–191 (Original: Storia del belcanto , Discanto Edizioni, Fiesole, 1983), here: pp. 213 f.
  72. ↑ This is particularly the case in the German-speaking area, where, in addition to the problems and developments mentioned, a simple style of singing was propagated by Gluck and even more so in the Romantic period ( Beethoven , Carl Maria von Weber, etc.); this led to a contempt for Italian bel canto and the allegedly “superficial” and “unnecessary” coloratura. This situation was, of course, exacerbated by Richard Wagner's work and his special dramatic treatment of the voices and continues to have an effect on part of the audience and music lovers to this day, in the form of distrust of Rossini and other Belcantists.
  73. ^ Wilhelm Keitel and Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, p. 70.
  74. ↑ The falling triplet melody in minor played by the strings, which follows in the overture directly after the martial introduction.
  75. ↑ The cabaletta is in the second act before the duet Ninetta-Pippo, so the order in which the melodies are used in the overture is reversed.
  76. ↑ Sung by Assur, Arsace, Idreno and Oroe.
  77. ^ Postbus history schwyzer-poschti.de, accessed May 30, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Rossini, Gioachino
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rossini, Gioachino Antonio; Rossini, Gioacchino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 29, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH Pesaro , Papal States
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1868
Place of death Passy near Paris