Born in Pesaro in Italy, Rossini was the only
child of the town trumpeter. His mother was a singer, providing a
useful source of income when his father was imprisoned for
insubordination - which happened more than once.
The family moved to Bologna when Rossini was 12,
and the young boy contributed to the family finances by singing in
churches until his voice broke, and then by playing the keyboard
in the opera house. Even at this tender age Rossini could write
down an aria after only two hearings, and in 1806 he went to study
at the Bologna Academy. There he learned a great deal from
studying scores by Mozart and Haydn, and wrote his first opera
while still a student. Rossini was an amazingly prolific composer
and had already composed nine operas before his reputation was
established with performances in Venice in 1813 of Tancredi
and L'Italiana in Algeri. The first is a setting of a play
by Voltaire, and the second a comedy; both brimmed with spice and
vitality, appealing enormously to the audience of the day.
In 1815
Rossini became music director of the opera house at Naples and
there met his first wife, at that time the mistress of the
impresario Domenico Barbaia. The terms of his employment required
him to provide two operas a year; not a man to be daunted by a
challenge, Rossini fulfilled his obligations, m some cases by
borrowing material from his own earlier operas.
Now in full swing, in 1816 he composed music for
Il barbiere di Siiviglia (The Barber of Seville),
whose famous overture he had used twice before. The legend of the
barber had already been successfully set by Paisiello, and
Rossini's misgivings about repeating the feat appeared to be borne
out when his own version met with a muted reception. Since then,
however, the delightful comic plot and brilliantly fashioned music
have won almost universal approval and made it one of the best
loved of all operas. La Cenerentola from the following year
is based on the Cinderella fairy tale and shares with Il
barbiere the Rossini trademarks of a large-scale finale with
elaborate build-up, and the use of "patter-songs" - in which words
are sung very fast for comic effect.
In his later operas, such as Semiramide
and Mose in Egitto, Rossini turned to more dramatic
subjects and forms. Despite their huge success, he was only 37
when in 1829 he composed his last opera.
Guillaume Tell (William Tell), the story
of a Swiss hero who rebels against Austrian rule. After its
premiere. Rossini worked at the Bologna Conservatoire before
settling in Paris to indulge his second love in life, food; indeed
he became famous for his gastro-nomical gifts, bequeathing to the
world the fillet steak dish Tournedos Rossini.
Rossini was widowed in 1843 and married his
long-standing mistress, Olympe Pehssier. His days of prolific
composition for the theatre were over, but he did not entirely
renounce music. In 1864 his Petite messe solennelle
(Little Solemn Mass) was performed, followed by what would be his
final work, Peches de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age), a
collection of songs and piano pieces written over a period often
years. He completed them in 1868, the year of his death, and the
same year that saw confirmation of his greatness as an opera
composer with the five-hundredth performance of Guillaume Tell.
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