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π Hello, and welcome to Rossini month! (and the once-a-month-free edition of Opera Daily). This post has been written in partnership with Heather Johnson.
This month will be truncated, given we started on the 15th. We will typically run a theme for one month. If you are a paid subscriber, you will get an email from us every week (Sunday mornings) with content, listening examples, interviews, or other soon-to-be-announced events. We are just warming up!
If you sign up as a paid member today, you will receive the balance of the posts for this month, to include:
Rossiniβs later works with a focus on opera seria, including Guillaume Tell, Semiramide, Otello, and more
Listening session with Michele and Heather where we will talk about Rossini and his immense understanding of the human condition, spar over our favorites, and make sense of everything youβve heard so far
Monthly wrap-up with more listening recommendations and a hint at next monthβs theme and events
Letβs dive in!
For the Love of Rossini, Part One.
Everyone knows Gioachino Rossiniβs music, whether they realize it or not. From the βLargo al factotumβ fromΒ Il Barbiere di SivigliaΒ made famous through numerous commercials to Bugs Bunny to the Long Ranger galloping on his horse to the overture of Guillaume TellΒ (William Tell),Β the broad appeal of Rossini's writing is evident to this day.Β
Born in Pesaro, Italy, in 1792 to musicians (his father was a brass player and his mother a singer), Rossini was a natural whiz with music from a young age (albeit a lazy student otherwise). His musical studies brought him to Bologna at age 14, where he was commissioned to write his first operaΒ Demetrio e Polibio. After that moment, he was a writing machine. While other composers like Mozart and Beethoven struggled to make a living out of their art, Rossini was successful. It appears he was a prolific and speedy composer and a savvy business man.
Considered the father of bel canto opera, Rossini wrote 40 operas in 20 years. 27 of which in just seven years from 1812-1819! Itβs no surprise to hear that he was known for giving his operas to the musicians with the ink still wet on the page.
He leaned into the genre in fashion at the time,Β opera buffaΒ (comic opera) quickly mastering the form. He revolutionized opera with his florid writing and embellished melodies, intricate and exciting ensembles, unusual rhythms and created different musical colors in the orchestra.
While he had great success with his comedies, it was one of his first real opera seriaΒ (serious opera) that skyrocketed him to fame. Tancredi,Β written in 1813 for the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, was an instant success.Β
The opening aria of the title character, returning to his homeland after being banished βDi tante palpitiβ was huge. It was the equivalent of a BillboardΒ #1 single today. Tancredi (sung by a woman) sings of his joy of being back in the homeland of his love, Amenaide.Β
π§ Listening Example (8 minute listen): βDi tante palpitiβ, sung here by the great Polish contralto Ewa PodleΕ
Rossini went from contract to contract, writing about 2-3 operas a year from Venice to Milan to Naples to Rome, including hits likeΒ L'italiana in Algeri and Il turco in Italia. While writing for the Neapolitan theaters, he met the great singer Isabella Colbran who became his muse and later his wife until he left her in his later years.
His most famous operaΒ Il Barbiere di SivigliaΒ premiered in Rome in 1816. While it had a rough opening, it became the overwhelming hit it still is today when it traveled to other cities. Some of Rossiniβs most famous, fun, witty, harmonically, and innovative rhythmic music comes from this jewel.Β
π§ Listening Example (5 minute listen): βLargo al factotum,β sung here by baritone Sherrill Milnes, is the introduction aria of the Barber himself. He sings about frankly, how amazing and in-demand he is. Eh FIGARO!
Now letβs listen to the second most famous piece fromΒ Barbiere "Una voce poco fa" sung by the character Rosina. It is a show-stopper aria filled with coloratura (very fast-moving notes) and plenty of room for the singer to ornament, even more, to show off their voice and Rosina's fiesta character. This type of aria is very typical of Rossini, with a repeat to let the singer show their stuff. Every singer brings something different to the ornamentation and the flare of the character of Rosina.
Here are two Rosinaβs, Marilyn Horne and Joyce DiDonato. Both incredible and quite different from each other.
π§ Listening Example (6 minute listen): "Una voce poco fa", sung by mezzo-soprano, Marilyn Horne
π§ Listening Example (6 minute listen): "Una voce poco fa", sung by mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato
Every singer does bring something different to the ornamentation, but Rossini actually does a lot of the work for the singer. In his operaΒ L'italiana in Algeri,Β in Isabella's aria, Rossini includes a bit of a "vocal wink" in the score when she is trying to be flirtatious.Β In another moment, the character of Isabella is feeling distressed. So Rossini puts an ornament in her melody line that sounds a bit like a sob.
Because of the rapid pace at which he was pumping out operas, Rossini loved borrowing from his other works, taking an overture from one opera and using it with another, using an aria from one opera and using it with another opera. A great example of this is from two of his most well-known operas: Il Barbiere di SivigliaΒ (The Barber of Seville) andΒ La Cenerentola (Cinderella) which premiered one year afterΒ Barbiere.Β The iconic aria from the end of La Cenerentola, βNon piΓΉ mestaβ where Cenerentola finally gets her prince and sings how her fate, like a lightning bolt, has changed. It is an action-packed, firework filled coloratura feat for the mezzo to sing at the end of the long night that brings down the curtain. Literally, itβs the very last moment in the opera.Β
π§ Listening Example (7 minute listen): βNon piΓΉ mestaβ, sung by mezzo-soprano, ElΔ«na GaranΔa
π§ Listening Example (3 minute listen): βNon piΓΉ mestaβ, sung by mezzo-soprano, Cecilia Bartoli
But, what you maybe didn't know is that this tune was written originally for Count Almaviva to sing at the end ofΒ The Barber of Seville. It is a vocal gymnastic feat for the tenor as it is for the mezzo and is rarely done in performance these days, but when it is, if the tenor can sing it, itβs thrilling!Β
π§ Listening example (7 minute listen): βCessa di piΓΉ resistereβ, sung by tenor Lawrence Brownlee [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
Rossini developed many musical characteristics that became his signatures but none more than the βRossini Crescendoβ. He uses this technique, creating a long, ever-building crescendo over many bars with melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic devices. He also adds instruments to build the excitement, which is almost always in his overtures and large ensembles. CrescendoΒ is Italian, derived from the wordΒ crescere, which means βto grow.βΒ
π§ Listening example (3 minute listen): βRossini Crescendoβ example, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice
Rossini is famous for his fast-paced ensembles. Each character sings their own text, all coming together, usually in a mess of comedic chaos about how they are confused and going insane.Β
Letβs listen to some of the classics.Β
π§ Listening Example (4 minute listen): Act 1 finale of Barbiere from the Metropolitan Opera with Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego FlΓ³rez, Peter Mattei, John Del Carlo, John Relyea, and Claudia Waite
π§ Listening Example (9 minute listen): Act 1 finale of Lβitaliana in Algeri from Vienna with Cecilia Bartoli, Ildar Abdrazakov, Alessandro Carbelli, Edgardo Rocha, JosΓ© Coca Loza, Rebeca Olvera and Rosa Bove
Or this masterpiece sextet fromΒ La Cenerentola. Like the example from L'italiana, it also plays on fun sounds over rolling the rβs in words to create a fun percussive sound.Β
π§ Listening Example (4 minute listen): From the La Scala film version from 1981 with Frederica von Stade, Francisco Araiza, Paolo Montarsolo, Claudio Desderi, and Laura Zannini
πWhat to listen for in Rossini comic operas:
βRossini Crescendoβ
Ornamentation
Unusual rhythmsΒ
π‘Tip: Listen to lots of different interpretations as each one will be unique with its fireworks and flare.Β
π¬ Talk about Rossini
The point is... a person feelsΒ goodΒ listening to Rossini. -- Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow (1973)
The first characteristic of Rossini's music is speed -- a speed which removes from the soul all the sombre emotions that are so powerfully evoked within us by the slow strains in Mozart. I find also in Rossini a cool freshness, which, measure by measure, makes us smile with delight. -- Stendahl, Life of Rossini (1824)
Rossini had a good grasp of the relationship between music and food: "What love is to the heart, appetite is to the stomach. The stomach is the conductor that leads and livens up the great orchestra of our emotions." -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
βEating, loving, singing and digesting are, in truth, the four acts of the comic opera known as life, and they pass like the bubbles of a bottle of champagne.
Whoever lets them break without having enjoyed them is a complete fool.β -- Gioachino Rossini
Thank you for reading (and listening),
Michele & Heather
β€οΈΒ If you enjoyed this selection, hit the heart to like it. It helps others find Opera Daily. Even better, leave a comment and let us know what you think!Β
Figaro, Figaro, FIGARO!Β
We didn't go into this much in the post but I find it fascinating that Rossini was able to become UBER wealthy in comparison to Mozart and Beethoven who struggled.
Also, the borrowing that Rossini did reminds me of the phrase:
βGood artists borrow, great artists steal.β
Unclear who to attribute it to these days, but I think it definitely applies here. Rossini stole from himself!
βGreat artists stealβ is at its root about finding inspiration in the work of others, then using it as a starting point for original creative output. Artists may recontextualize, remix, substitute, or otherwise mashup existing work to create something new. Sometimes itβs as simple as calling something art (Duchampβs βFountainβ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)
I liked most of the posts and loved three of them. Would like to to see a scrolled translation of the opera an Italian in Algeria. I loved listening to it. Please keep up the great posts. πππππππππ