Welcome to the Rossini wrap up. We covered a lot of ground over the last two weeks. If you missed any of the posts, you could find them here:

Intro to Rossini with a focus on opera buffa
Rossini’s later works with a focus on opera seria
Listening session with Michele and Heather where we talk Rossini

While I’ve been listening to Rossini for years, I learned some new things about him this month.

• He wrote his roles for people, not voice types. That’s why you will often hear a soprano or mezzo-soprano singing the same roles (ie., Rosina in The Barber of Seville)

• He was a talented composer and a shrewd businessman. It helped that he lived in Italy during the 19th century when every town had its own theater, its own singers, and its own orchestra, but while other composers like Mozart and Beethoven often struggled to make a living out of their art, Rossini was super successful.

• Rossini is best known for his opera buffa (comic opera), but you could say that his opera seria (serious opera) is his…