Gioachino Antonio Rossini.
Born Pesaro, 29 February 1792.
Died Paris, 13 November 1868.
Italian composer.
Frequency of performances of Rossini's operas since his death have varied according to the fashion of the day. While he composed them, he was enormously successful. During the near-forty year period of his 'retirement' several pieces in addition to The Barber of Seville held the stage while there were great singers willing (and able) to perform them. The problem with assessing his output seems to be that right from the start liberties were taken by editors and performers to the extent that by the opening of the twentieth century few of the operas survived in performance, and even the Barber was invariably performed in a way that the composer would scarcely have recognised.
The situation has been transformed in thr past thirty years, with the arrival of a squad of singers (especially tenors) who are capable of singing the fiendishly demanding music as written. While the Barber, Cinderella and the Italian Girl are now considered to be far greater works than was previously thought, the real change has been effected in our appreciation of the serious works, especially the revolutionary output of his time in Naples.
After his retirement from opera composition, Rossini continued to produce songs and other small-scale compositions. Religious works include a Stabat Mater and later still, a Petite Messe Solenelle.
Operas and choral works performed in Scotland are shown in bold. Links to the works for which we have performance details are at the bottom.
01 Demetrio e Polibio (pre-1809; Rome 1812) (Mombelli)
02 La cambiale di matrimonio (Venice 1810) (Rossi)
03 L'equivoco stravagante (Bologna 1811) (Gasbarri)
04 L’inganno felice (Venice 1812) (Foppa)
05 Ciro in Babilonia (Ferrara 1812) (Aventi)
06 La scala di seta (Venice 1812) (Foppa)
07 La pietra del paragone (Milan 1812) (Romanelli)
08 L'occasione fa il ladro (Venice 1812) (Prividali)
09 Il Signor Bruschino, ossia Il figlio per azzardo (Venice 1813) (Foppa)
10 Tancredi (Venice 1813) (Rossi)
11 L'italiana in Algeri (Venice 1813) (Anelli)
12 Aureliano in Palmyra (Milan 1813) (Romani)
13 Il turco in Italia (Milan 1814) (Romani)
14 Sigismondo (Venice 1814) (Foppa)
15 Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (Naples 1815) (Schmidt)
16 Torvaldo e Dorliska (Rome 1815) (Sterbini)
17 Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rome 1816, as “Almaviva, ossia l’inutile precauzione”) (Sterbini)
18 La gazzetta (Naples 1816) (Palomba & Tottola)
19 Otello, o il Moro di Venezia (Naples 1817) (Berio di Salsa)
20 La cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (Rome 1817) (Ferretti)
21 La gazza ladra (Milan 1817) (Gherardini)
22 Armida (Naples 1817) (Schmidt)
23 Adelaide di Borgogna (Rome 1817) (Schmidt)
24 Mosè in Egitto (Naples 1818) (Tottola)
25 Ricciardo e Zoraide (Naples 1818) (Berio di Salsa)
26 Adina, o Il califfo di Bagdad (1818; prod Lisbon 1826) (Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini)
27 Ermione (Naples 1819) (Tottola)
28 Eduardo e Cristina (Venice 1819) (Tottola, Schmidt, & Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini)
29 La donna del lago (Naples 1819) (Tottola)
30 Bianca e Falliero, o sia Il consiglio dei tre (Milan 1819) (Romani)
31 Maometto secondo (Naples 1820) (della Valle)
32 Matilde di Shabran, ossia Bellezza, e cuor di ferro (Rome 1821) (Ferretti)
33 Zelmira (Naples 1822) (Tottola)
34 Semiramide (Venice 1823) (Rossi)
35 Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L’albergo del giglio d’oro (Paris 1825) (Balocchi)
36 Le Siège de Corinthe (Paris 1826) (Balocchi & Soumet)
37 Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Paris 1827) (Balocchi & de Jouy)
38 Le comte Ory (Paris 1828) (Scribe & Delestre-Poirson)
39 Guillaume Tell (Paris 1829) (de Jouy, Bis, & Marast)
30 Stabat Mater (part Madrid 1833; comp Paris 1841) (Anon 13th century)
31 Petite Messe Solenelle (Paris 1864) (Liturgy)
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