Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Rossini's chief legacy remains his extraordinary contribution to the operatic repertoire. His comedic masterpieces, including L'Italiana in Algeri, La gazza ladra, and perhaps his most famous work, Il barbiere di Siviglia, are regarded as cornerstones of the genre along with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi. He was revered from the time he was a teenager until his death.
Rossini's parents were both working musicians. His father played the horn and taught at the prestigious Accademia Filharmonica in Bologna, and his mother, although not formally trained, was a soprano. Rossini was taught and encouraged at home until he eventually enrolled at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna. After graduation from that institution, the young musician was commissioned by the Venetian Teatro San Moise to compose La cambiale di matrimonio, a comedy in one act. In 1812, Rossini wrote La pietra del paragone, for La Scala theater in Milan and was already, at the tender age of 20, Italy's most prominent composer.
In 1815, Rossini accepted a contract to work for theaters in Naples, where he would remain until 1822, composing prolifically in comfort. He composed 19 operas during his tenure, focusing his attention on opera seria and creating one of his most famous serious works, Otello, for the Teatro San Carlos. While he served in this capacity, Rossini met and courted Isabella Colbran, a local soprano whom he would eventually marry. Other cities, too, clamored for Rossini's works, and it was for Roman audiences that he composed the sparkling comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville, 1816) and La cenerentola (Cinderella, 1817).
In 1822, Rossini left Naples and embarked on a European tour. The Italian musician was received enthusiastically to say the least, and enjoyed fame and acclaim everywhere. Even Beethoven, at the opposite stylistic pole in the musical scene of the day, praised him. The following year, Rossini was commissioned to write Semiramide, a serious opera, for La Fenice, a theater in Venice. This work was less successful in its own day than some of his previous efforts, but spawned several arias that remain part of any vocalist's songbook. In 1824, Rossini traveled via London to Paris where he would live for five years and serve as the music director from 1824 to 1826 at the Théâtre Italien. The composer gained commissions from other opera houses in France, including the Paris Opéra. Rossini composed his final opera, Guillaume Tell (1829), before retiring from composition in that genre at the age of 37. Its overture is not only a concert favorite, but an unmistakable reflection and continuation of Beethoven's heroic ideal. The catalog of work Rossini had written at the time of his retirement included 32 operas, two symphonies, numerous cantatas, and a handful of oratorios and chamber music pieces. After moving back to Italy, Rossini became a widower in 1845. His marriage to Isabella Colbran had not been particularly happy, and shortly after her death, the composer married Olympe Pelissier, a woman who had been his mistress.
In 1855, Rossini, along with his new bride, moved once again, this time settling in Passy, a suburb of Paris. He spent the remaining years of his life writing sacred music as well as delectable miniatures for both piano and voice (some of which he called "sins of my old age"). Rossini was buried in Paris' Père Lachaise cemetery in proximity to the graves of Vincenzo Bellini, Luigi Cherubini, and Frédéric Chopin. In 1887, Rossini's grave was transferred from Paris to Santa Croce, in Florence, in a ceremony attended by more than 6,000 admirers.
© David Brensilver /TiVo
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Teresa Berganza Canta a Rossini (Remastered)
Opera - Released by Homokord on Jan 1, 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
L'Inganno Felice (Intégrale)
Natale de Carolis, Amelia Felle, Iorio Zennaro
Opera - Released by Claves Records on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Giuseppe Di Stefano: Gli Ospiti Radiofonici
Concertos - Released by Urania on Feb 28, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Wonders of the Opera - The Greatest Highlights
Opera - Released by Otello on May 22, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini, Óperas Famosas
Classical - Released by JamadaClassics on Nov 6, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Highlights from his early One-Act Operas
Opera - Released by Claves Records on Aug 23, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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El Barbero de Sevilla - Gioacchino Rossini
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on Feb 21, 2015
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Rossini: Sei sonate a quattro
Leningrad Orchestra of Ancient and Modern Music
Classical - Released by Bomba-Piter on Jul 31, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Sei sonate a quattro per archi
Camerata Strumentale di Santa Cecilia
Chamber Music - Released by ProClassica on Aug 8, 2012
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GRANDI VOCI - GIULIETTA SIMIONATO Una collana dedicata con registrazioni originali Decca e Deutsche Grammophon rimasterizzate con le tecniche più moderne che ne garantiscono eccellenza tecnica e artistica
Giulietta Simionato, Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Apr 27, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
EG Favorites
Gioachino Rossini, Carl Maria von Weber, Georges Bizet
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on Jul 6, 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gioacchino Rossini, Los Grandes de la Música Clásica
Classical - Released by Piros - Lucas on Jul 2, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Toscanini
The Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of New York
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on Jan 16, 2015
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Grandi Voci - Luigi Alva, Ugo Benelli Una collana dedicata con registrazioni originali Decca e Deutsche Grammophon rimasterizzate con le tecniche più moderne che ne garantiscono eccellenza tecnica e artistica
Luigi Alva, Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jun 25, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gioacchino Rossini - Overtures
Classical - Released by JamadaDigital on Jan 9, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini
Opera - Released by JamadaClassics on Sep 10, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Overtures & Arias
Philharmonia Slavonica, New Philharmonic Orchestra, Rita Noel
Opera - Released by Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. on Feb 4, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Overtures
Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Gioachino Rossini, Christian Lindberg
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on Feb 26, 2023
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The Essential Christian Lindberg
Christian Lindberg, Johann Sebastian Bach, Pyotr Illitch Tchaïkovski, Gioachino Rossini
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on Feb 14, 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music for Voices Vol. 1
John Dowland, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini, Urban Dahlberg
Classical - Released by EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE on Mar 31, 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo