EARLY LIFE
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born on February 29, 1792 into a family of musicians in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy that was then part of the Papal States.
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| Gioachino Rossini in 1820, International Museum and Library of Music, Bologna |
His father Giuseppe was town trumpeter and inspector of slaughterhouses.
Gioachino's mother, Anna, was a soprano and a baker's daughter.
His parents began Gioachino's musical training early, and by the age of six he was playing the triangle in his father's band.
Gioachino's father was sympathetic to the French, and welcomed Napoleon's troops when they arrived in Northern Italy. This became a problem when in 1796, the Austrians restored the old regime. Rossini's father was sent to prison.
Anna took Gioacchino to Bologna, earning her living as lead singer at various theaters of the Romagna region, where she was ultimately joined by her husband. He started teaching at Bologna's prestigious Accademia Filharmonica.
Gioacchino remained at Bologna in the care of a pork butcher, while his father played the horn in the bands of the theatres at which his mother sang. The boy had three years instruction in the harpsichord from Prinetti of Novara, but Prinetti played the scale with two fingers only, combined his profession of a musician with the business of selling liquor, and fell asleep while he stood, so he was a fit subject for ridicule by his critical pupil.
Gioacchino was taken from Prinetti and apprenticed to a blacksmith. He learned to sight-read, to play accompaniments on the pianoforte, and to sing well enough to take solo parts in the church by the time he was ten years of age.
By the age of 13 Rossini could sing and play well enough to join the musical company his parents worked for. He appeared in 1805 at the theatre of the Commune in Paër’s Camilla as a singer. By now he was also a capable horn player in the footsteps of his father.
The following year, Gioacchino entered Bologna’s prestigious Accademia Filharmonica (now the G.B. Martini State Conservatory of Music).
By 15 Rossini had learned the violin, horn, and harpsichord to a proficent standard and was often appearing in public, even in the theatre, to earn some money.
CAREER AS COMPOSER
The only truly great comic composer, Rossini wrote 38 operas, mainly cheerful light-hearted ones.
Rossini's insight into orchestral resources is generally ascribed to knowledge gained while scoring the quartets and symphonies of Haydn and Mozart. At Bologna he was known as "il Tedeschino" on account of his devotion to Mozart.
Rossini's first performed piece, written when he was sixteen years of age and executed at the Lyceum of Bologna in 1808, was "Pianto d'Armonia per la Morte d'Orfeo." The cantata was inspired by his favorite subject of Orpheus. Rossini was awarded the prize at the Conservatorio of Bologna for his work.
After furthering his studies in Bologna, Rossini was invited by the manager of a Venice theater to write an opera for it. La Cambiale di Matrimonio (The Bill of Marriage) was a one-act piece. The sum paid for it was 200 francs.
Between 1810 and 1813, Rossini produced operas of varying success, most notably Il signor Bruschino, with its brilliant and unique overture. In 1813, Tancredi and L'italiana in Algeri were huge successes, catapulting the 20-year-old composer to international fame.
In 1815 Rossini retired to his home at Bologna, where Barbaja, the impresario of the Naples theatre, concluded an agreement with him by which he was to take the musical direction of the Teatro San Carlo and the Teatro Del Fondo at Naples, composing for each of them one opera a year. His payment was to be 200 ducats per month; he was also to receive a share of Barbaja's other business, popular gaming-tables, amounting to about 1000 ducats per annum. Over the next nine years, Rossini composed a series of operas and created the 19th century Italian operatic style.
In 1823, at the suggestion of the manager of the King’s Theatre, London, Rossini came to England, being much fêted on his way through Paris. In England he was given a generous welcome, which included an introduction to King George IV and the receipt of £7000 after a residence of five months.
The following year, Rossini was appointed musical director of the Théatre Italien in Paris at a salary of £800 per annum.
In 1824 Rossini was contracted by the Opéra in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the coronation of Charles X, Il viaggio a Reims, later cannibalized for Le comte Ory,
When the Théatre Italien agreement came to an end Rossini was rewarded with the offices of chief composer to the king and inspector-general of singing in France, to which was attached the same income.
Gioacchino Rossini virtually retired from music after his 1829 comic opera William Tell.
After returning to Paris from Italy in 1855 Rossini presented salon music in the form of songs, piano pieces and small chamber ensembles that he called "Sins of Old Age". The last of these "Sins" was the unusually scored Petite messe solennelle (Little solemn mass) which he wrote in 1863. (The Petite messe solennette belied its title lasting nearly two hours.)
Rossini's 1813 operatic farce Il Signor Bruschino was forward-looking in its use of new musical effects. For example, the overture had a direction in its score getting the second violinist to mark each bar of the music by striking their music stands with their violin bows.
Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) was completed by Rossini in 13 days. It was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy, Le Barbier de Séville, which took Paris by storm in 1775.
The Barber of Seville was premiered in Rome on February 20, 1816 and its first night was a disastrous failure, the audience hissing and jeering throughout. Everything went wrong, a guitar string snapped, a cat walked on stage.
There were protestations originated by a rival composer who had recently written his own version of the same Barber of Seville story. Rossini quickly added some additional humorous lyrics for characters like the resourceful, witty servant Figaro but apprehensive he missed the second night pretending to be ill. Unaware that this time, the audience loved his opera, the composer heard a commotion on the street and fearing the crowds were out to get him, he was relieved to find they were out to congratulate him.
Figaro in The Barber of Seville is the same character as in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaroopera.
The famous overture for Barber of Seville was not originally intended for it. Rossini later admitted "For the Barbiere, I did not even compose an overture, I just took one already destined for an opera called Elisabetta. Public was very pleased."
The aria and the overture of The Barber of Seville have been parodied in numerous animated cartoons including Bugs Bunny (Rabbit of Seville and Long Haired Hare), Tom and Jerry (The Cat Above and the Mouse Below and Kitty Foiled), and The Simpsons (Homer of Seville).
La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) was a two act opera which premiered on May 31, 1817 at the La Scala in Milan.
The libretto of The Thieving Magpie by Giovanni Gherardini was based on the 1815 comedy La Pie Voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez. The story tells of a maid who almost goes to the gallows for stealing silver, before it is discovered that the culprit was a magpie, which had been thieving and hiding items in the church tower.
The Thieving Magpie is best known for its overture, which is notable for its arresting beginning with several consecutive military snare drum rolls. Rossini was a quick writer and he needed to be for this piece. It was reported that the composer was locked in a room writing the overture the day before his semi-seria opera was due to be premiered at La Scala in Milan. He then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.
The Thieving Magpie’s overture has provided the background score for many television and radio adverts, including the award winning "colour like no other" 2006 British TV commercial for the Sony "Bravia" TV, featuring spectacular paint explosions.
Semiramide, the grandest of his serious operas was Rossini's last Italian work. It was based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on February 3, 1823. After this splendid work, one of his finest in the genre, Rossini turned his back on Italy and moved to Paris.
Rossini last opera, the epic Guillaume Tell (William Tell), replete with its iconic overture, helped usher in grand opera in France. Its production in 1829 brought Rossini's career as a writer of opera to a close.
William Tell is an opera in four acts to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. Rossini had high hopes for his work about the legendary Swiss bowman, which premiered on August 3, 1829. He considered it his masterpiece from which he could retire but because of its four-hour length and concerns it was glorifying a revolutionary figure, the opera flopped. Later the overture from it struck bulls eye and became Rossini's best known work.
Rossini used Friedrich von Schiller's 1803-04 play as the basis for his opera.
Today, William Tell is remembered mostly for its famous overture, especially the high-energy galloping finale, which is particularly familiar through its use in the American radio and television shows of The Lone Ranger.
Rossini married Spanish soprano Isabella Colbran on March 22, 1822. Colbran and Rossini separated in 1837 and the soprano succumbed to a gambling habit. Rossini continued to send support until her death in 1845 at age 60.
Rossini began a serious relationship with the French artists' model and hostess Olympe Pélissier (1799-1878) in Paris after separating from Isabella Colbran. She famously sat to Vernet for his picture of "Judith and Holofernes."
Under the Bourbon Restoration, Pélissier had been a notable figure in Parisian society, including a 1830 liaison with Honoré de Balzac, and was famous for her entertaining and parties.
Pélissier and Rossini first met in the 1830s. Olympe began to cook for him and manage his business affairs, although they only married after Isabella's death in 1845, on August 16, 1846.
Pélissier lived with Rossini at his Parisian house in the Passy suburb, and continued to reside there after his death in 1868.
Rossini is supposed to have composed The Barber of Seville in just 13 days, because as usual he was late in respecting the delivery date. He worked on his masterpiece in his bedroom, wearing his dressing-gown. A friend pointed out that it was undoubtedly funny that he had composed the "Barber" without shaving himself for such a long time. Rossini promptly replied that if he had to get shaved, he would have had to get out of his house, and he therefore would never had completed his opera.
Rossini suffered from alopecia, which made him completely bald and as a result, he took to wearing a wig. When really cold, he wore two or three wigs simultaneously.
Rossini was not only famous as a writer of comic operas, but was also renowned for his wit. On one occasion thinking of the prima donna singers, Rossini quipped "how wonderful opera would be if there were no singers."
He once congratulated the diva Adelina Patti with the words "Madame, I have cried only twice in my life, once when I dropped a wing of truffled chicken into Lake Como and once when for the first time I heard you sing."
Rossini was scared of travelling by railway so he never did.
After the initial failure of his opera William Tell, Gioachino Rossini gave up writing opera and decided to concentrate on cooking. He produced some inventive recipes such as Thrush and Chestnut soup and devised a way of stuffing macaroni with foie gras by means of a silver syringe.
Rossini moved to Paris from Italy in 1824. He spent his time there entertaining lavishly and giving musical evenings. He also maintained a villa in Passy nearby.
Rossini returned to Bologna for a time but political disturbances in the Romagna area compelled him to leave the city in 1847. After living for a time in Florence he settled in Paris in 1855, where his house was a center of artistic society.
When Rossini was old and eminent but still not rich a group of admirers raised a subscription of 20,000 Francs for a statue to their hero. "Give me the 20,000" said Rossini, "and I'll stand on the pedestal myself."
Rossini died at his country house at Passy of cancer of the rectum on November 13, 1868. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.
In 1887, Rossini's remains were moved to the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, at the request of the Italian government.
Sources Some of this taken from my contributions to Songfacts, Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
Rossini's first performed piece, written when he was sixteen years of age and executed at the Lyceum of Bologna in 1808, was "Pianto d'Armonia per la Morte d'Orfeo." The cantata was inspired by his favorite subject of Orpheus. Rossini was awarded the prize at the Conservatorio of Bologna for his work.
After furthering his studies in Bologna, Rossini was invited by the manager of a Venice theater to write an opera for it. La Cambiale di Matrimonio (The Bill of Marriage) was a one-act piece. The sum paid for it was 200 francs.
Between 1810 and 1813, Rossini produced operas of varying success, most notably Il signor Bruschino, with its brilliant and unique overture. In 1813, Tancredi and L'italiana in Algeri were huge successes, catapulting the 20-year-old composer to international fame.
 |
| Portrait of Rossini as a young man |
In 1815 Rossini retired to his home at Bologna, where Barbaja, the impresario of the Naples theatre, concluded an agreement with him by which he was to take the musical direction of the Teatro San Carlo and the Teatro Del Fondo at Naples, composing for each of them one opera a year. His payment was to be 200 ducats per month; he was also to receive a share of Barbaja's other business, popular gaming-tables, amounting to about 1000 ducats per annum. Over the next nine years, Rossini composed a series of operas and created the 19th century Italian operatic style.
In 1823, at the suggestion of the manager of the King’s Theatre, London, Rossini came to England, being much fêted on his way through Paris. In England he was given a generous welcome, which included an introduction to King George IV and the receipt of £7000 after a residence of five months.
The following year, Rossini was appointed musical director of the Théatre Italien in Paris at a salary of £800 per annum.
In 1824 Rossini was contracted by the Opéra in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the coronation of Charles X, Il viaggio a Reims, later cannibalized for Le comte Ory,
When the Théatre Italien agreement came to an end Rossini was rewarded with the offices of chief composer to the king and inspector-general of singing in France, to which was attached the same income.
Gioacchino Rossini virtually retired from music after his 1829 comic opera William Tell.
 |
| Rossini in 1829 (lithography by Charlet Ory) |
COMPOSITIONS
Rossini's 1813 operatic farce Il Signor Bruschino was forward-looking in its use of new musical effects. For example, the overture had a direction in its score getting the second violinist to mark each bar of the music by striking their music stands with their violin bows.
Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) was completed by Rossini in 13 days. It was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy, Le Barbier de Séville, which took Paris by storm in 1775.
The Barber of Seville was premiered in Rome on February 20, 1816 and its first night was a disastrous failure, the audience hissing and jeering throughout. Everything went wrong, a guitar string snapped, a cat walked on stage.
There were protestations originated by a rival composer who had recently written his own version of the same Barber of Seville story. Rossini quickly added some additional humorous lyrics for characters like the resourceful, witty servant Figaro but apprehensive he missed the second night pretending to be ill. Unaware that this time, the audience loved his opera, the composer heard a commotion on the street and fearing the crowds were out to get him, he was relieved to find they were out to congratulate him.
Figaro in The Barber of Seville is the same character as in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaroopera.
The famous overture for Barber of Seville was not originally intended for it. Rossini later admitted "For the Barbiere, I did not even compose an overture, I just took one already destined for an opera called Elisabetta. Public was very pleased."
The aria and the overture of The Barber of Seville have been parodied in numerous animated cartoons including Bugs Bunny (Rabbit of Seville and Long Haired Hare), Tom and Jerry (The Cat Above and the Mouse Below and Kitty Foiled), and The Simpsons (Homer of Seville).
La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) was a two act opera which premiered on May 31, 1817 at the La Scala in Milan.
The libretto of The Thieving Magpie by Giovanni Gherardini was based on the 1815 comedy La Pie Voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez. The story tells of a maid who almost goes to the gallows for stealing silver, before it is discovered that the culprit was a magpie, which had been thieving and hiding items in the church tower.
The Thieving Magpie is best known for its overture, which is notable for its arresting beginning with several consecutive military snare drum rolls. Rossini was a quick writer and he needed to be for this piece. It was reported that the composer was locked in a room writing the overture the day before his semi-seria opera was due to be premiered at La Scala in Milan. He then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.
The Thieving Magpie’s overture has provided the background score for many television and radio adverts, including the award winning "colour like no other" 2006 British TV commercial for the Sony "Bravia" TV, featuring spectacular paint explosions.
Semiramide, the grandest of his serious operas was Rossini's last Italian work. It was based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on February 3, 1823. After this splendid work, one of his finest in the genre, Rossini turned his back on Italy and moved to Paris.
Rossini last opera, the epic Guillaume Tell (William Tell), replete with its iconic overture, helped usher in grand opera in France. Its production in 1829 brought Rossini's career as a writer of opera to a close.
 |
| Rossini portrayed in 1828, the year he began composing William Tell |
William Tell is an opera in four acts to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. Rossini had high hopes for his work about the legendary Swiss bowman, which premiered on August 3, 1829. He considered it his masterpiece from which he could retire but because of its four-hour length and concerns it was glorifying a revolutionary figure, the opera flopped. Later the overture from it struck bulls eye and became Rossini's best known work.
Rossini used Friedrich von Schiller's 1803-04 play as the basis for his opera.
Today, William Tell is remembered mostly for its famous overture, especially the high-energy galloping finale, which is particularly familiar through its use in the American radio and television shows of The Lone Ranger.
RELATIONSHIPS
Rossini married Spanish soprano Isabella Colbran on March 22, 1822. Colbran and Rossini separated in 1837 and the soprano succumbed to a gambling habit. Rossini continued to send support until her death in 1845 at age 60.
 |
| Isabella Colbran |
Rossini began a serious relationship with the French artists' model and hostess Olympe Pélissier (1799-1878) in Paris after separating from Isabella Colbran. She famously sat to Vernet for his picture of "Judith and Holofernes."
Under the Bourbon Restoration, Pélissier had been a notable figure in Parisian society, including a 1830 liaison with Honoré de Balzac, and was famous for her entertaining and parties.
Pélissier and Rossini first met in the 1830s. Olympe began to cook for him and manage his business affairs, although they only married after Isabella's death in 1845, on August 16, 1846.
 |
| Vernet's Judith and Holofernes, for which Pélissier modelled |
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Rossini is supposed to have composed The Barber of Seville in just 13 days, because as usual he was late in respecting the delivery date. He worked on his masterpiece in his bedroom, wearing his dressing-gown. A friend pointed out that it was undoubtedly funny that he had composed the "Barber" without shaving himself for such a long time. Rossini promptly replied that if he had to get shaved, he would have had to get out of his house, and he therefore would never had completed his opera.
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| Gioachino Rossini, c. 1815 (portrait by Vincenzo Camuccini) |
Rossini suffered from alopecia, which made him completely bald and as a result, he took to wearing a wig. When really cold, he wore two or three wigs simultaneously.
Rossini was not only famous as a writer of comic operas, but was also renowned for his wit. On one occasion thinking of the prima donna singers, Rossini quipped "how wonderful opera would be if there were no singers."
He once congratulated the diva Adelina Patti with the words "Madame, I have cried only twice in my life, once when I dropped a wing of truffled chicken into Lake Como and once when for the first time I heard you sing."
Rossini was scared of travelling by railway so he never did.
LATER LIFE
After the initial failure of his opera William Tell, Gioachino Rossini gave up writing opera and decided to concentrate on cooking. He produced some inventive recipes such as Thrush and Chestnut soup and devised a way of stuffing macaroni with foie gras by means of a silver syringe.
Rossini moved to Paris from Italy in 1824. He spent his time there entertaining lavishly and giving musical evenings. He also maintained a villa in Passy nearby.
Rossini returned to Bologna for a time but political disturbances in the Romagna area compelled him to leave the city in 1847. After living for a time in Florence he settled in Paris in 1855, where his house was a center of artistic society.
 |
| Photograph by Étienne Carjat, 1865 |
When Rossini was old and eminent but still not rich a group of admirers raised a subscription of 20,000 Francs for a statue to their hero. "Give me the 20,000" said Rossini, "and I'll stand on the pedestal myself."
DEATH
Rossini died at his country house at Passy of cancer of the rectum on November 13, 1868. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.
In 1887, Rossini's remains were moved to the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, at the request of the Italian government.
Sources Some of this taken from my contributions to Songfacts, Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
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