Monday, April 1, 2013

Music #351 - Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini

[dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni]  (1792 – 1868)
- nicknamed "The Italian Mozart"
- the greatest opera composer of the 1810s through to the 1830s

He was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces. Until his retirement in 1829 (at an early age of 37), Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history.

His comic operas bubble with invention and fun.
His serious operas have great melodic beauty and superb writing for both voice and orchestra.

His innovations included:
- the revitalization of opera buffa 
- the replacement of keyboard-accompanied recitative by orchestral accompaniment, creating an uninterrupted flow of music 
- the expansion of the chorus and its dramatic integration
- the development of the coloratura aria

His best-known operas include
* the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella)
* the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon (Moses and Pharaoh) and Guillaume Tell (William Tell).


Il barbiere di Siviglia opera

(The Barber of Seville)
Overture 

* Largo al factotum della città (Make way for the city factotum) - aria
Figaro, the barber, approaches singing.  Since Figaro used to be a servant of the Count, the Count asks him for assistance in helping him meet Rosina, offering him money should he be successful in arranging this.

 
Full opera (2.5 hours)


Guillaume Tell  (William Tell) opera

Today, the opera is remembered mostly for its famous overture:

(L)  Ranz des Vaches
 
(R)  Finale 
Bonus:  
The Lone Ranger version 
* 'Happy Valley' version
erutrevO lleT mailliW - a backward version  
The Mom Song version


La Cenerentola opera

(Cinderella)


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