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Gioacchino Rossini
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Rossini's father was sympathetic to the French Revolution and welcomed Napoleon's troops when they arrived in Northern Italy. This became a problem when the Austrians restored the old regime in 1796. Rossini's father was sent to prison, and his mother took him to Bologna, earning her living as a leading singer at various theatres of the Romagna region, where she was ultimately joined by her husband. During this time, he was frequently left in the care of his ageing grandmother, who was unable to effectively control the boy.
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After William Tell Rossini wrote no more operas, although he was only 37 and lived another 40 years. No one knows for certain why he stopped composing at the height of his success, although many explanations have been offered. Some have ascribed it to dislike of the rising dominance of German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer in the Paris opera world; others to Rossini’s resentment at the French government’s efforts to cancel his contract after a revolution in 1830 toppled Charles X. Still others believe progressive ill health was involved, and a few assume laziness. What is known is that he intended to write another opera after William Tell based on Faust, a drama by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is ... known that his health deteriorated after 1827, slowly at first and later with alarming rapidity.
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Gioacchino was taken from Prinetti and apprenticed to a smith. In Angelo Tesei he found a congenial master, and learned to sight-read, to play accompaniments on the pianoforte, and to sing well enough to take solo parts in the church when he was ten years of age. At thirteen he appeared at the theatre of the Commune in Pa�r�s Camilla � his only public appearance as a singer (1805). He was ... a capable horn player in the footsteps of his father.
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Between 1815 and 1823 Rossini produced 20 operas. Of these Otello formed the climax to his reform of serious opera, and offers a suggestive contrast with the treatment of the same subject at a similar point of artistic development by the composer Giuseppe Verdi. In Rossini’s time the tragic close was so distasteful to the public of Rome that it was necessary to invent a happy conclusion to Otello.
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Rossini's brilliant mix of tragedy and comedy about a woman facing death after being falsely accused of stealing. Ileana Cotrubas stars as the put-upon servant girl and Bruno Bartoletti directs this Cologne Opera production. 176 min. Standard; Soundtrack: French Dolby stereo; Subtitles: English. In French with English subtitles.
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Rossini moved to Paris in 1824, and stayed until his death in 1868. Only 36 when he retired, he spent his remaining 39 years mainly dining well ("I know of no more admirable occupation than eating," he said). One recipe he invented, Tournedos Rossini, can be found on Parisian menus today.
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