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Biography, life story of Rossini Gioachino

ROSSINI Gioachino (1792-1868), Italian composer. The flowering of Rossini is associated with the work of Italian opera 19th century. His music is distinguished by inexhaustible melodic richness, precision, and witty characteristics. He enriched the opera buffa with realistic content, the pinnacle of which was his “The Barber of Seville” (1816). Operas: "Tancred", "Italian in Algiers" (both 1813), "Othello" (1816), "Cinderella", "The Thieving Magpie" (both 1817), "Semiramis" (1823), "William Tell" (1829 , a striking example of heroic-romantic opera).

ROSSINI (Rossini) Gioachino ( full name Gioachino Antonio) (February 29, 1792, Pesaro - November 13, 1868, Passy, ​​near Paris), Italian composer.

Rough start
The son of a horn player and singer, he studied playing the instrument from childhood. different instruments and singing; sang in church choirs and the theaters of Bologna, where the Rossini family settled in 1804. By the age of 13, he was already the author of six charming sonatas for strings. In 1806, when he was 14 years old, he entered the Bologna Musical Lyceum, where his counterpoint teacher was the prominent composer and theorist S. Mattei (1750-1825). He composed his first opera, the one-act farce “The Marriage Bill” (for the Venetian Teatro San Moise), at the age of 18. Then came orders from Bologna, Ferrara, again from Venice and from Milan. The opera Touchstone (1812), written for La Scala, brought Rossini his first major success. In 16 months (in 1811-12), Rossini wrote seven operas, including six in the opera buffa genre.

First international success
In subsequent years, Rossini's activity did not decrease. His first two operas appeared in 1813 and won international success. Both of them were created for the theaters of Venice. The opera series "Tancred" is rich in memorable melodies and harmonic turns, moments of brilliant orchestral writing; The opera buffa "Italian in Algiers" combines comic grotesque, sensitivity and patriotic pathos. Less successful were two operas intended for Milan (including The Turk in Italy, 1814). By that time, the main features of Rossini’s style had become established, including the famous “Rossini crescendo” that amazed his contemporaries: the technique of gradually increasing intensity through repeated repetitions of a short musical phrase with the addition of more and more new instruments, expanding the range, splitting durations, and varying articulation.

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"The Barber of Seville" and "Cinderella"
In 1815, Rossini, at the invitation of the influential impresario Domenico Barbaii (1778-1841), went to Naples to take up the position of resident composer and music director Teatro San Carlo. For Naples, Rossini wrote mainly serious operas; at the same time, he fulfilled orders coming from other cities, including Rome. It was for the Roman theaters that Rossini's two best buffa operas, “The Barber of Seville” and “Cinderella,” were intended. The first, with its elegant melodies, exciting rhythms and masterfully performed ensembles, is considered the pinnacle of the buffoon genre in Italian opera. At its premiere in 1816, The Barber of Seville failed, but some time later it won the love of the public in all European countries. In 1817, the charming and touching fairy tale “Cinderella” appeared; her heroine's part begins with a simple song in folk spirit and ends with a luxurious coloratura aria, befitting a princess (the music of the aria is borrowed from The Barber of Seville).

Mature master
Among the serious operas Rossini created in the same period for Naples, Othello (1816) stands out; The last, third act of this opera, with its strong, solid structure, testifies to the confident and mature skill of Rossini as a playwright. In his Neapolitan operas, Rossini paid the necessary tribute to stereotypical vocal “acrobatics” and at the same time significantly expanded the range of musical means. Many of the ensemble scenes of these operas are very extensive, the chorus plays an unusually active role, the obligatory recitatives are full of drama, and the orchestra often comes to the fore. Apparently, trying to involve his audience in the twists and turns of the drama from the very beginning, Rossini abandoned the traditional overture in a number of operas. In Naples, Rossini began an affair with the most popular prima donna, Barbaia's friend I. Colbran. They got married in 1822, but their marital happiness did not last long (the final breakup occurred in 1837).

In Paris
Rossini's career in Naples ended with the opera series Mahomet II (1820) and Zelmira (1822); his last opera created in Italy was Semiramide (1823, Venice). The composer and his wife spent several months of 1822 in Vienna, where Barbaya organized an opera season; then they returned to Bologna, and in 1823-24 they traveled to London and Paris. In Paris, Rossini took over the post of musical director of the Italian Theater. Among the works of Rossini, created for this theater and for the Grand Opera, there are editions of early operas (The Siege of Corinth, 1826; Moses and Pharaoh, 1827), partially new compositions (Count Ory, 1828) and operas, new from beginning to end (William Tell, 1829). The latter is the prototype of the French heroic grand opera- is often considered the pinnacle of Rossini’s work. It is unusually large in volume, containing many inspired pages, replete with complex ensembles, ballet scenes and processions in the traditional French spirit. In its richness and sophistication of orchestration, boldness of harmonic language and richness of dramatic contrasts, William Tell surpasses all previous works of Rossini.

Back in Italy. Return to Paris
After William Tell, the 37-year-old composer, who had reached the pinnacle of fame, decided to give up composing operas. In 1837 he left Paris for Italy and two years later was appointed adviser to the Bologna Musical Lyceum. At the same time (in 1839) he fell ill with a long and serious illness. In 1846, a year after Isabella's death, Rossini married Olympia Pelissier, with whom he had been living for 15 years by that time (it was Olympia who took care of Rossini during his illness). All this time he practically did not compose (his church composition Stabat mater, first performed in 1842 under the direction of G. Donizetti, dates back to the Parisian period). In 1848 the Rossini couple moved to Florence. The return to Paris (1855) had a beneficial effect on the health and creative tone of the composer. Last years his life was marked by the creation of many elegant and witty piano and vocal pieces, which Rossini called "The Sins of Old Age", and "The Little Solemn Mass" (1863). All this time, Rossini was surrounded by universal respect. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris; in 1887 his ashes were transferred to the Florentine Church of St. Cross (Santa Croce).

Date of death:

Portrait of Rossini

Gioachino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini(Italian: Gioachino Antonio Rossini; February 29, Pesaro, Italy - November 13, Ruelli, France) - Italian composer, author of 39 operas, spiritual and chamber music.

Biography

Rossini's father was a horn player, his mother a singer; the boy grew up from an early age in a musical environment and, as soon as his musical talent, was sent to develop his voice to Angelo Tesei in Bologna. In 1807, Rossini became a student of Abbot Mattei in composition at the Liceo filarmonico in Bologna, but interrupted his studies as soon as he completed a course in simple counterpoint, since, in Mattei's opinion, knowledge of the latter was quite enough to be able to write operas.

Rossini's first experience was a 1-act opera: "La cambiale di matrimonio" ("The Marriage Bill") (1810 at the San Mose Theater in Venice), which attracted little attention, as did the second: "L" equivoco stravagante" ( “A Strange Case”) (Bologna 1811); however, they liked them so much that Rossini was overwhelmed with work, and by 1812 he had already written 5 operas. The following year, after his “Tancred” was staged at the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italians had already decided that Rossini was Italy's greatest living opera composer, an opinion that was reinforced by the opera "An Italian in Algiers".

But Rossini’s greatest triumph came in 1816 with the production of his “The Barber of Seville” at the Teatro Argentina in Rome; In Rome, The Barber of Seville was greeted with great distrust, since they considered it impertinent for anyone to dare to write, after Paisiello, an opera on the same plot; At the first performance, Rossini's opera was even received coldly; the second performance, which the upset Rossini himself did not conduct, was, on the contrary, an intoxicating success: the audience even staged a torchlight procession.

Still in the same year, Othello followed in Naples, in which Rossini for the first time completely banished recitativo secco, then Cinderella in Rome and The Thieving Magpie of 1817 in Milan. In 1815-23, Rossini entered into a contract with the theater entrepreneur Barbaia, according to which, for an annual fee of 12,000 lire (4,450 rubles), he undertook to deliver 2 new operas every year; Barbaia at that time had in his hands not only the Neapolitan theaters, but also the Scala Theater in Milan and the Italian Opera in Vienna.

The composer's first wife dies this year. In Rossini he marries Olympia Pelissier. In the city he again settled in Paris, making his home one of the most fashionable music salons.

Rossini died on November 13, 1868 in the town of Passy near Paris. In 1887, the composer's ashes were transported to Florence.

The conservatory in his hometown, created in accordance with his will, bears the name of Rossini.

Operas

• "The Marriage Bill" (La Cambiale di Matrimonio) - 1810
• “A Strange Case” (L’equivoco stravagante) - 1811
• "Demetrius and Polybius" (Demetrio e Polibio) - 1812
• “The Happy Deception” (L’inganno felice) - 1812
• “Cyrus in Babylon, or the Fall of Belshazzar” (Ciro in Babilonia (La caduta di Baldassare)) - 1812
• “The Silk Staircase” (La scala di seta) - 1812
• “The Touchstone” (La pietra del paragone) - 1812
• “Chance makes a thief” (L’occasione fa il ladro (Il cambio della valigia)) - 1812
• “Signor Bruschino” (Il Signor Bruschino (or Il figlio per azzardo)) - 1813
• "Tancred" (Tancredi) - 1813
• “Italian in Algeri” (L’Italiana in Algeri) - 1813
• "Aureliano in Palmira" - 1813
• "The Turk in Italy" (Il Turco in Italia) - 1814
• "Sigismund" (Sigismondo) - 1814
• “Elizabeth of England” (Elisabetta regina d’Inghilterra) - 1815
• "Torvaldo and Dorliska" (Torvaldo e Dorliska) - 1815
• “Almaviva, or Futile Precaution” (The Barber of Seville) (Almaviva (ossia L’inutile precauzione (Il Barbiere di Siviglia)) - 1816
• “The Newspaper” (La gazzetta (Il matrimonio per concorso)) - 1816
• “Othello, or the Moor of Venice” (Otello o Il moro di Venezia) - 1816
• “Cinderella, or the Triumph of Virtue” (La Cenerentola o sia La bontà in trionfo) - 1817
• "The Thieving Magpie" (La gazza ladra) - 1817
• "Armida" - 1817
• “Adelaide of Burgundy, or Ottone, King of Italy” (Adelaide di Borgogna or Ottone, re d’Italia) - 1817
• “Mosè in Egitto” - 1818
• “Adina, or the Caliph of Baghdad” (Adina or Il califfo di Bagdad) - 1818
• "Ricciardo and Zoraide" - 1818
• "Hermione" - 1819
• "Eduardo and Cristina" - 1819
• “The Virgin of the Lake” (La donna del lago) - 1819
• "Bianca and Faliero" (" Council of Three") (Bianca e Falliero (Il consiglio dei tre)) - 1819
• “Mahomet second” (Maometto secondo) - 1820
• “Matilde di Shabran, or Bellezza e Cuor di Ferro” - 1821
• "Zelmira" - 1822
• "Semiramide" - 1823
• “Journey to Reims, or the Golden Lily Hotel” (Il viaggio a Reims (L’albergo del giglio d’oro)) - 1825
• "The Siege of Corinth" (Le Siège de Corinthe) - 1826
• “Moses and Pharaoh, or the Passage through the Red Sea” (Moïse et Pharaon (Le passage de la Mer Rouge) - 1827 (reworking of “Moses in Egypt”)
• "Count Ory" (Le Comte Ory) - 1828
• "William Tell" (Guillaume Tell) - 1829

Other musical works

• Il pianto d'armonia per la morte d'Orfeo
• Petite Messe Solennelle
• Stabat Mater
• Cats Duet (attr.)
• Bassoon concerto
• Messa di Gloria

Notes

Links

• Brief summaries (synopses) of Rossini's operas on the "100 Operas" website
• Gioachino Antonio Rossini: Sheet music of works at the International Music Score Library Project

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See what "Rossini" is in other dictionaries:

- (Gioachino Rossini) famous Italian composer (1792 1868), who formed an era in the history of the development of Italian opera, although many of his operas are currently forgotten. In his youth, R. studied at the Bologna Conservatory with Stanislav Mattei and already... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Gioachino Antonio Rossini Rossini Composer Date of birth: February 29, 1792 ... Wikipedia

- (Rossini) Gioachino Antonio (29 II 1792, Pesaro 13 XI 1868, Passy, ​​near Paris) Italian. composer. His father, a man of progressive, republican convictions, was a mountain musician. spirit. orchestra, mother a singer. Learned to play the spinet... Music Encyclopedia

- (Rossini) Gioachino Antonio, Italian composer. Born into a family of musicians (father is a trumpeter and horn player, mother is a singer). I studied singing since childhood... Big Soviet encyclopedia

- (Gioachino Rossini) famous Italian composer (1792 1868), who formed an era in the history of the development of Italian opera, although many of his operas are currently forgotten. In his youth, R. studied at the Bologna Conservatory with Stanislav Mattei and... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

ROSSINI- (Gioacchino Antonio R. (1792 1868) Italian composer; see also PEZARSKY) Now I drink the foamy Rossini again in a new way And I see only through love That the skies are so childishly blue. Kuz915 (192) ... Given name in Russian poetry of the 20th century: a dictionary of personal names

Gioachino Rossini is an Italian composer of wind and chamber music, the so-called “last classic”. As the author of 39 operas, Gioachino Rossini is known as one of the most prolific composers with a unique approach to creativity: in addition to studying the musical culture of the country, it includes working with the language, rhythm and sound of the libretto. Rossini was noted by Beethoven for his opera buffe “The Barber of Seville.” The works "William Tell", "Cinderella" and "Moses in Egypt" have become world opera classics.

Rossini was born in 1792 in the city of Pesaro into a family of musicians. After his father was arrested for supporting the French Revolution, the future composer had to live wandering around Italy with his mother. Wherein young talent tried to master musical instruments and was engaged in singing: Gioacchino had a strong baritone.

Rossini's work was greatly influenced by the works of Mozart and Haydn, which Rossini learned while studying in the city of Lugo from 1802. There he made his debut as an opera performer in the play “Twins”. In 1806, having moved to Bologna, the composer entered the Musical Lyceum, where he studied solfeggio, cello and piano.

The composer's debut took place in 1810 at the Venetian Teatro San Moise, where an opera buffa based on the libretto of The Marriage Bill was staged. Inspired by success, Rossini wrote the opera seria Cyrus in Babylon, or the Fall of Belshazzar, and in 1812 the opera Touchstone, which brought Gioacchino recognition from La Scala. The following works, “An Italian Woman in Algiers” and “Tancred,” brought Rossini the fame of a maestro of buffoonery, and for his penchant for melodious and melodic harmonies, Rossini received the nickname “Italian Mozart.”

Having moved to Naples in 1816, the composer wrote the best work of Italian buffoonery - the opera The Barber of Seville, which eclipsed the opera of the same name by Giovanni Paisiello, which was considered a classic. After resounding success, the composer moved on to operatic drama, writing “The Thieving Magpie” and “Othello” - operas in which the author worked not only on the scores, but also on the text, setting strict demands on the soloists.

After successful work in Vienna and London, the composer conquered Paris with the opera “The Siege of Corinth” in 1826. Rossini skillfully adapted his operas for the French public, studying the nuances of the language, its sound, as well as the characteristics of national music.

Active creative career The musician's career ended in 1829, when classicism was replaced by romanticism. Rossini then teaches music and enjoys gourmet cuisine: the latter led to a stomach illness that caused the musician’s death in 1868 in Paris. The musician's property was sold according to his will, and with the proceeds, an Educational Conservatory was founded in the city of Pesaro, which trains musicians today.

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: PISCES

NATIONALITY: ITALIAN

MUSICAL STYLE: CLASSICISM

ICONIC WORK: WILLIAM TELL (1829)

WHERE HAVE YOU HEARD THIS MUSIC: AS THE LEITMOTHIO OF THE LONE RANGER, OF COURSE.

WISE WORDS: “NOTHING IS LIKE INSPIRATION. HOW STRONG DEADLINES. AND IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER YOU HAVE A COPYER STANDING OVER YOUR SOUL, COMING UP TO PICK UP YOUR FINISHED WORK, OR YOU ARE HORRIZED BY AN IMPRESARIO AND RIPPING YOUR HAIR OUT OF IMPATIENCE. IN MY TIME, ALL IMPRESSARIOS IN ITALY WENT BALD BY THE YEARS OF THIRTY.”

The fame that befell Gioachino Rossini when he was not yet twenty-five years old fascinated Europe. In Italy, he enjoyed the kind of adoration that in this century only falls to the lot of teenage pop idols and lead singers of “boy” groups. (Imagine a young Justin Timberlake, mastering the secrets of counterpoint and standing at the conductor's stand.)

Everyone went to his operas, everyone memorized his songs. Any Venetian gondolier, Bolognese merchant or Roman pimp could easily break out into Figaro's aria from The Barber of Seville. On the street, Rossini was invariably surrounded by a crowd, and the most ardent admirers strove to cut off a lock of his hair as a souvenir.

And then he disappeared. Left everything behind and retired. Nothing like this has ever happened before in the world of music. A man who was paid £30,000 for a single tour in London suddenly puts an end to his career - it seemed unthinkable. Even more unthinkable was the man Rossini became ten years later: a recluse who barely got out of bed, paralyzed by depression and tormented by insomnia. He became fat and bald.

"Brilliant" of the Italian opera turned into a wreck with shattered nerves. What is the reason for such a change? In short, a changed time that Rossini could not - or would not - understand.

IF YOU FAIL TO COMPOSE, YOU WILL NOT EXIT

The composer's father, Giuseppe Rossini, was a traveling musician, and when he got tired of moving from place to place, he settled in Pesaro, a city on the Adriatic, where he became friends with the singer (soprano) and part-time seamstress Anna Guidarini - it was rumored, however, that Anna was together I worked on the panel with my sister from time to time. Be that as it may, in 1791, the young people got married when Anna was five months pregnant. Soon she gave birth to a son.

Gioacchino's childhood was relatively prosperous until Napoleon invaded Northern Italy. Giuseppe Rossini was seized by revolutionary fever, and in the future his sorrows and joys depended entirely on the fortune of the French general - in other words, he was in and out of prison. Anna developed the obvious as best she could musical gift son. And although Gioacchino was mentored by far from musical luminaries, in 1804 the twelve-year-old boy was already singing on stage. The public enjoyed his high, clear voice, and, like Joseph Haydn, Gioacchino thought about joining the ranks of castrati. His father wholeheartedly supported the idea of ​​castrating his son, but Anna resolutely opposed the implementation of this plan.

Real fame came to Rossini when, at the age of eighteen, having moved to Venice, he wrote his first opera, The Marriage Bill. This musical comedy became an immediate hit. And suddenly Rossini found himself in demand by all opera houses in Italy. He was respected for the speed with which he wrote scores: he could compose an opera in a month, a few weeks, and even (according to him) in eleven days. The work was made easier by the fact that Rossini did not hesitate to transfer melodies from one opera to another. Usually he did not begin to fulfill the order immediately, and these delays drove the impresario to fury. Rossini later said that when he was very late with the score of The Thieving Magpie, the stage director put him in custody, contracting four muscular stage workers for this purpose, and did not let him out until the composer had completed the score.

HOW MANY BARBERS DO YOU NEED FOR ONE OPERA?

In 1815, in Rome, Rossini worked on his most famous opera, The Barber of Seville. He later claimed that he completed the score in just thirteen days. Probably, in a sense, this was so, considering that Rossini adapted the overture, already used three times, into The Barber, only slightly reshaping it.

The libretto was written based on the famous play by Pierre de Beaumarchais, the first part of the trilogy about the magnificent Figaro. Unfortunately, the famous Roman composer Giovanni Paisiello had already written an opera on the same plot in 1782. In 1815, Paisiello was a very old man, but still had devoted fans who plotted to disrupt the premiere of Rossini's opera. The “oppositionists” booed and ridiculed every act, and at the exits the prima donnas uttered such a loud “boo-oo” that the orchestra could not be heard. In addition, they threw a cat onto the stage, and when the baritone tried to shoo the animal away, the audience meowed mockingly.

Rossini fell into despair. Locking himself in his hotel room, he flatly refused to attend the second performance, which, contrary to Paisiello’s admirers, ended in triumph. The impresario rushed to Rossini's hotel, persuading him to get dressed and go to the theater - the audience was eager to greet the composer. “I saw this audience in a coffin!” - Rossini shouted.

MUSIC, WEDDING AND MEETING WITH THE MAESTRO

By the beginning of the 1820s, Rossini became cramped within the framework of comic opera, and at the same time within Italy. Traveling around Italian cities no longer appealed to him, and he was tired of “planing” scores one after another. Rossini finally wanted to be taken as a serious composer. He also dreamed of a settled life. In 1815, Rossini met Isabella Colbran, a talented soprano singer, and fell in love with her; at that time, Colbran was the mistress of a Neapolitan opera impresario, who generously gave up the diva to the composer. In 1822, Rossini and Colbran got married.

The opportunity to show the world a more mature Rossini presented itself in the same year when the composer was invited to Vienna. He jumped at the invitation, he was eager to try out his works on a new, different audience and get to know the famous Beethoven. Rossini discovered with horror that great composer dresses in rags and lives in a smelly apartment, but a long conversation took place between two colleagues. The German master praised The Barber of Seville, but then recommended that Rossini continue to write nothing but comic operas. “You do not have sufficient knowledge of music to cope with real drama,” concluded Beethoven. Rossini tried to laugh it off, but in reality the Italian composer was deeply hurt by the suggestion that he was incapable of composing serious music.

OPPRESSED BY PROGRESS

The following year, Rossini again went on tour abroad to France and England. At first everything went well, but crossing the English Channel on a newfangled steam ship scared the composer almost to death. He fell ill for a week. And none of the honors with which he was showered in Britain - the favor of the king, long standing ovations at the opera, rave reviews in the press - helped him forget about the nightmare he had experienced. Rossini left England, having replenished his wallet considerably, but with the firm intention of never returning there again.

During the same period, the first signs of a devastating depression began to appear. Even though Rossini settled in Paris, he New Opera“William Tell” was a success, he only said that it was time for him to take a break from business. He tried to compose less lightweight music and even created the oratorio Stabat Mater (“Standing the Grieving Mother”), but deep down he was convinced that no one would take him, much less his oratorio, seriously

THE PERFORMANCE OF ONE OF ROSSINI'S OPERAS WAS DISTRESSED BY SUPPORTERS OF A RIVAL K0MP03IT0RA - THE PUBLIC RESORTED TO EXTREME MEASURES, THROWSING A CAT ON STAGE.

Family life with Colbran became unbearable. Having lost her voice, Isabella became addicted to cards and drinking. Rossini found comfort in the company of Olympia Pelissier, a beautiful and wealthy Parisian courtesan. He did not get along with her for the sake of sex - gonorrhea made Rossini impotent - no, it was a union of a devoted nurse and a helpless patient. In 1837, Rossini officially announced his separation from Isabella and settled with Olympia in Italy. Soon after Isabella died in 1845, Rossini and Pelissier got married.

Nevertheless, the 1840s were a painful time for the composer. The modern world terrified him. Travel around railway brought Rossini to a state of collapse. The new crop of composers like Wagner were puzzling and depressing. And the reasons for the political unrest that engulfed France and Italy remained an inexplicable mystery. While one Italian city after another rebelled against Austrian rule, Rossini and Olympia wandered around the country in search of a safe haven.

The range of physical ailments that Rossini suffered from is impressive: drowsiness, headaches, diarrhea, chronic urethritis and hemorrhoids. It was difficult to persuade him to get out of bed, and at the same time he constantly complained of insomnia. But most terrible disease there was depression that devoured the composer. He played the piano occasionally and always in a darkened room so that no one could see him crying over the keys.

BETTER... - AND WORSE

At Olympia's insistence, Rossini returned to Paris in 1855, and the depression eased slightly. He began to receive guests, admire the beauty of the city, and even began writing music again. The composer no longer tried to compose either serious music, which he had once passionately dreamed of, or the witty operas that made him famous - Rossini limited himself to short, elegant works that made up albums of vocal and instrumental plays and ensembles, to which the composer gave the general title “Sins of Old Age.” In one of these albums, called “Four Snacks and Four Sweets” and containing eight parts: “Radishes”, “Anchovies”, “Gherkins”, “Butter”, “Dried Figs”, “Almonds”, “Raisins” and “ Nuts,” Rossini’s music combined with the composer’s newfound gourmandism. However, in the late 1860s, Rossini became seriously ill. He developed rectal cancer, and the treatment caused him much more suffering than the disease itself. Once he even begged the doctor to throw him out the window and thereby end his torment. On Friday, November 13, 1868, he died in the arms of his wife.

BROKEN FOR LOVE

Rossini periodically entered into a love affair with opera singers, and one of these novels unexpectedly turned out to be a blessing for him. Mezzo-soprano Maria Marcolini was at one time the mistress of Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother. And when Napoleon announced forced recruitment into the French army, Marcolini, using old connections, obtained exemption from military service for the composer. This timely intervention may have saved Rossini's life - many of the 90,000 Italian conscripts of the French army died during the emperor's abortive invasion of Russia in 1812.

PERSISTENT SMALL

The following joke is told about Rossini: one day friends decided to erect a statue of the composer to commemorate his talent. When they shared this idea with Rossini, he asked how much the monument would cost. “About twenty thousand lire,” they told him. After thinking a little, Rossini declared: “Give me ten thousand lire, and I myself will stand on the pedestal!”

HOW ROSSINI DEALED WITH WAGNER

In 1860, the lodestar of the new German opera, Richard Wagner, paid a visit to Rossini, the faded star of the old Italian opera. Colleagues showered each other with compliments, although Wagner's music seemed sloppy and pretentious to Rossini.

A friend of Rossini once saw the score of Wagner's Tannhäuser on his piano, turned upside down. The friend tried to play the notes correctly, but Rossini stopped him: “I already played like this, and nothing good came of it. Then I tried it from the bottom up - it turned out much better.”

In addition, Rossini is credited with the following words: “Mr. Wagner has wonderful moments, but each is followed by a quarter of an hour of bad music.”

THE NASTY PRINCESS FROM PESARO

In 1818, a guest in hometown Pesaro, Rossini met Caroline of Brunswick, the wife of the Prince of Wales, with whom the heir to the British throne had long separated. The fifty-year-old princess lived openly with a young lover, Bartolomeo Pergami, and infuriated the Pesaro society with arrogance, ignorance and vulgarity (exactly the same, she drove her husband to white heat).

Rossini refused invitations to the princess's salon and did not bow to Her Highness when meeting her in in public places, - Caroline could not forgive such an insult. A year later, when Rossini came to Pesaro with the opera The Thieving Magpie, Carolina and Pergami were imprisoned auditorium a whole gang of bribed hooligans who whistled, shouted and waved knives and pistols during the performance. The frightened Rossini was secretly taken out of the theater, and that same night he fled the city. He never performed in Pesaro again.

From Rossini's book author Fraccaroli Arnaldo

MAIN DATES IN THE LIFE AND WORK OF GIOACCHino ROSSINI 1792, February 39 - Birth of Gioachino Rossini in Besaro. 1800 - Moves with parents to Bologna, learns to play the spinet and violin. 1801 - Work in a theater orchestra. 1802 - Moving with parents to Lugo, classes with J.

From the author's book

WORKS OF GIOACHINO ROSSINI 1. “Demetrio and Polibio”, 1806. 2. “Promissory Note for Marriage”, 1810. 3. “Strange Case”, 1811. 4. “Happy Deception”, 1812. 5. “Cyrus in Babylon”, 1812 6. “The Silk Staircase”, 1812. 7. “Touchstone”, 1812. 8. “Chance Makes a Thief, or Tangled Suitcases”, 1812. 9. “Signor

The famous Italian composer Gioachino Rossini was born on February 29, 1792 in the small town of Pesaro, located on the coast of the Gulf of Venice.

From childhood he became involved in music. His father, Giuseppe Rossini, nicknamed Veselchak for his playful disposition, was a city trumpeter, and his mother, a woman of rare beauty, had a wonderful voice. There were always songs and music in the house.

Being a supporter of the French Revolution, Giuseppe Rossini joyfully welcomed the entry of revolutionary units into Italian territory in 1796. The restoration of the power of the Pope was marked by the arrest of the head of the Rossini family.

Having lost his job, Giuseppe and his wife were forced to become traveling musicians. Rossini's father was a horn player in orchestras that performed in fair performances, and his mother performed opera arias. The beautiful soprano of Gioacchino, who sang in church choirs, also brought income to the family. The boy's voice was highly valued by the choirmasters of Lugo and Bologna. In the last of these cities, famous for its musical traditions, the Rossini family found shelter.

In 1804, at the age of 12, Gioacchino began to study music professionally. His teacher was the church composer Angelo Thesei, under whose guidance the boy quickly mastered the rules of counterpoint, as well as the art of accompaniment and singing. A year later, young Rossini set off on a journey through the cities of Romagna as a bandmaster.

Realizing the incompleteness of his music education, Gioacchino decided to continue it at the Bologna Musical Lyceum, where he was enrolled as a student in the cello class. Classes in counterpoint and composition were supplemented by independent study of scores and manuscripts from the rich Lyceum library.

His passion for the work of such famous musical figures as Cimarosa, Haydn and Mozart had a special influence on Rossini’s development as a musician and composer. While still a student at the Lyceum, he became a member of the Bologna Academy, and after graduation, in recognition of his talent, he received an invitation to conduct a performance of Haydn’s oratorio “The Seasons.”

Gioachino Rossini early discovered an amazing ability to work; he quickly coped with any task. creative task, showing the wonders of amazing compositional technique. Over the years of his studies, he wrote a large number of musical works, including spiritual compositions, symphonies, instrumental music and vocal works, as well as excerpts from the opera “Demetrio and Polibio”, Rossini’s first composition in this genre.

The year he graduated from the musical lyceum was marked by the beginning of Rossini’s simultaneous activities as a singer, conductor and opera composer.

The period from 1810 to 1815 was marked in the life of the famous composer as “vagrant”; during this time Rossini wandered from one city to another, not staying anywhere for more than two to three months.

The fact is that in Italy of the 18th - 19th centuries, permanent opera houses existed only in large cities - such as Milan, Venice and Naples; small towns had to be content with the art of traveling theater troupes, usually consisting of a prima donna, a tenor, a bass and several singers on the sidelines. The orchestra was recruited from local music lovers, military personnel and traveling musicians.

The maestro (composer), hired by the impresario of the troupe, wrote music to the provided libretto, and the performance was staged, while the maestro himself had to conduct the opera. If the production was successful, the work was performed for 20–30 days, after which the troupe disbanded and the artists scattered to cities.

Within five for long years Gioachino Rossini wrote operas for traveling theaters and artists. Close collaboration with performers contributed to the development of great compositional flexibility; it was necessary to take into account the vocal abilities of each singer, the tessitura and timbre of his voice, artistic temperament and much more.

The admiration of the public and penny fees - this is what Rossini received as a reward for his work as a composer. In his early works Some haste and negligence were noted, which caused severe criticism. Thus, the composer Paisiello, who saw Gioachino Rossini as a formidable rival, spoke of him as “a dissolute composer, little versed in the rules of art and devoid of good taste.”

Criticism did not bother the young composer, since he was well aware of the shortcomings of his works; in some scores he even noted so-called grammatical errors with the words “to satisfy pedants.”

In the first years of independent creative activity Rossini worked on writing mainly comic operas, which had strong roots in musical culture Italy. In his further creativity The genre of serious opera occupied an important place.

Unprecedented success came to Rossini in 1813, after productions in Venice of the works “Tancred” (opera seria) and “The Italian in Algiers” (opera buffa). The doors of the best theaters in Milan, Venice and Rome opened before him, arias from his compositions were sung at carnivals, city squares and streets.

Gioachino Rossini became one of most popular composers Italy. Memorable melodies, filled with irrepressible temperament, fun, heroic pathos and love lyrics, made an unforgettable impression on the entire Italian society, be it aristocratic circles or the society of artisans.

The composer's patriotic ideas, sounding in many of his works of a later period, also found a response. Thus, a patriotic theme unexpectedly wedges itself into the typically buffoonish plot of “Italian Woman in Algeria” with fights, scenes of disguises and lovers getting into trouble.

The main character of the opera, Isabella, addresses her beloved Lindor, who is languishing in captivity of the Algerian Bey Mustafa, with the words: “Think about your homeland, be undaunted and do your duty. Look: sublime examples of valor and dignity are being revived throughout Italy.” This aria reflected the patriotic feelings of the era.

In 1815, Rossini moved to Naples, where he was offered a position as a composer at the Teatro San Carlo, which promised a number of profitable prospects, such as high fees and working with famous performers. The move to Naples marked the end of the period of “vagrancy” for the young Gioachino.

From 1815 to 1822, Rossini worked in one of the best theaters in Italy, at the same time he toured the country and carried out orders for other cities. On the stage of the Neapolitan theater, the young composer made his debut with the opera seria “Elizabeth, Queen of England,” which was a new word in traditional Italian opera.

Since ancient times, the aria as a form of solo singing has been the musical core of such works; the composer was faced with the task of outlining only the musical lines of the opera and highlighting the main melodic contour in the vocal parts.

The success of the work in this case depended only on the improvisational talent and taste of the virtuoso performer. Rossini departed from a long-standing tradition: violating the rights of the singer, he wrote out all the coloraturas, virtuoso passages and embellishments of the aria in the score. Soon this innovation entered the work of other Italian composers.

The Neapolitan period contributed to the improvement of Rossini's musical genius and the composer's transition from the light genre of comedy to more serious music.

The situation of growing social upsurge, which was resolved by the Carbonari uprising in 1820–1821, required more significant and heroic images, rather than frivolous characters in comedic works. Thus, the opera seria had more opportunities to express new trends, sensitively perceived by Gioachino Rossini.

For a number of years, the main object of the outstanding composer’s work was serious opera. Rossini sought to change the musical and plot standards of traditional opera seria, defined back in early XVIII centuries. He tried to introduce significant content and drama into this style, to expand connections with real life and the ideas of his time, in addition, the composer gave the serious opera activity and dynamics borrowed from the buffa opera.

The time spent working in the Neapolitan theater turned out to be very significant in its achievements and results. During this period, such works as “Tancred”, “Othello” (1816) were written, which reflected Rossini’s attraction to high drama, as well as monumental heroic works “Moses in Egypt” (1818) and “Mohammed II” (1820) .

The romantic trends developing in Italian music required new artistic images and means. musical expressiveness. Rossini's opera “The Lady of the Lake” (1819) reflected such features of the romantic style in music as picturesque descriptions and the transmission of lyrical experiences.

The best works of Gioachino Rossini are rightfully considered “The Barber of Seville”, created in 1816 for production in Rome during the carnival holidays and which became the result of the composer’s many years of work on comic opera, and the heroic-romantic work “William Tell”.

“The Barber of Seville” preserves all the most vital and vibrant elements of opera buffa: the democratic traditions of the genre and national elements are enriched in this work, permeated through and through with intelligent, biting irony, sincere fun and optimism, realistic depiction surrounding reality.

The first production of The Barber of Seville, written in just 19 or 20 days, was unsuccessful, but already at the second showing the audience enthusiastically greeted the famous composer, and there was even a torchlight procession in honor of Rossini.

The opera libretto, consisting of two acts and four scenes, is based on the plot of the work of the same name by the famous French playwright Beaumarchais. The location of the events unfolding on the stage is Spanish Seville, the main characters are Count Almaviva, his beloved Rosina, the barber, doctor and musician Figaro, Doctor Bartolo, Rosina’s guardian and the monk Don Basilio, Bartolo’s confidant of secret affairs.

In the first scene of the first act, the loving Count Almaviva wanders near the house of Doctor Bartolo, where his beloved lives. His lyrical aria is heard by Rosina’s cunning guardian, who himself has designs on his ward. The “master of all sorts” Figaro, inspired by the Count’s promises, comes to the aid of the lovers.

The action of the second picture takes place in Bartolo’s house, in the room of Rosina, who dreams of sending a letter to her admirer Lindor (Count Almaviva is hiding under this name). At this time, Figaro appears and offers his services, but the unexpected arrival of his guardian forces him to hide. Figaro learns about the insidious plans of Bartolo and Don Basilio and hurries to warn Rosina about this.

Soon Almaviva bursts into the house under the guise of a drunken soldier, and Bartolo tries to push him out the door. In this turmoil, the Count manages to quietly pass a note to his beloved and inform her that Lindor is him. Figaro is also here, together with Bartolo’s servants, he is trying to separate the owner of the house from Almaviva.

Everyone falls silent only with the arrival of a team of soldiers. The officer gives the order to arrest the count, but the paper presented with a majestic gesture instantly changes his behavior. The government representative bows respectfully before the disguised Almaviva, causing bewilderment among everyone present.

The second act takes place in Bartolo’s room, where the love-struck count comes, disguised as a monk, posing as the singing teacher Don Alonzo. To gain Dr. Bartolo's trust, Almaviva gives him Rosina's note. The girl, recognizing her Lindor in the monk, willingly begins her studies, but the presence of Bartolo interferes with the lovers.

At this time, Figaro arrives and offers the old man a shave. By cunning, the barber manages to take possession of the key to Rosina's balcony. The arrival of Don Basilio threatens to ruin the well-performed performance, but he is “removed” from the stage in time. The lesson resumes, Figaro continues the shaving procedure, trying to shield the lovers from Bartolo, but the deception is revealed. Almaviva and the barber are forced to flee.

Bartolo, taking advantage of Rosina's note, carelessly given to him by the count, persuades the disappointed girl to sign marriage contract. Rosina reveals to her guardian the secret of her impending escape, and he goes after the guards.

At this time, Almaviva and Figaro enter the girl’s room. The Count asks Rosina to become his wife and receives consent. The lovers want to leave the house as soon as possible, but an unexpected obstacle arises in the form of a lack of stairs near the balcony and the arrival of Don Basilio with a notary.

The appearance of Figaro, who declared Rosina his niece and Count Almaviva her fiancé, saves the situation. Doctor Bartolo, who came with guards, finds the ward’s marriage already accomplished. In an impotent rage, he attacks the “traitor” Basilio and the “scoundrel” Figaro, but Almaviva’s generosity wins him over, and he joins the general chorus of welcome.

The libretto of “The Barber of Seville” differs significantly from the original source: here the social acuity and satirical orientation of Beaumarchais’s comedy turned out to be greatly softened. For Rossini, Count Almaviva - lyrical character, and not an empty rake-aristocrat. His sincere feelings and desire for happiness triumph over the selfish plans of his guardian Bartolo.

Figaro appears as a cheerful, dexterous and enterprising person, in whose role there is not even a hint of moralizing or philosophizing. Figaro's life credo is laughter and jokes. These two characters are contrasted negative heroes- to the stingy old man Bartolo and the hypocritical bigot Don Basilio.

Cheerful, sincere, infectious laughter is the main weapon of Gioachino Rossini, who in his musical comedies and farces relies on the traditional images of opera buffa - a loving guardian, a clever servant, a pretty pupil and a cunning monk.

Animating these masks with features of realism, the composer gives them the appearance of people, as if snatched from reality. It happened that the action depicted on stage or actor were associated by the public with a certain event, incident or specific person.

Thus, “The Barber of Seville” is a realistic comedy, the realism of which is manifested not only in the plot and dramatic situations, but also in generalized human characters, in the composer’s ability to typify the phenomena of contemporary life.

The overture, which precedes the events of the opera, sets the tone for the entire work. It immerses you in an atmosphere of fun and casual jokes. Subsequently, the mood created by the overture is concretized in a certain fragment of the comedy.

Despite the fact that this musical introduction was repeatedly used by Rossini in other works, it is perceived as an integral part of The Barber of Seville. Each theme of the overture is based on a new melodic basis, and the connecting parts create continuity of transitions and give the overture organic integrity.

The fascination of the operatic action of “The Barber of Seville” depends on the variety of Rossini used compositional techniques: introduction, the effect of which is the result of a combination of stage and musical action; alternating recitatives and dialogues with solo arias characterizing a particular character, and duets; ensemble scenes with a through line of development, designed to mix different plot threads and maintain intense interest in further development events; orchestral parts supporting the rapid tempo of the opera.

The source of the melody and rhythm of “The Barber of Seville” by Gioachino Rossini is the bright, temperamental Italian music. In the score of this work one can hear everyday song and dance turns and rhythms that form the basis of this musical comedy.

Created after “The Barber of Seville,” the works “Cinderella” and “The Magpie is a Thief” are far from the usual comedy genre. The composer pays more attention to lyrical characteristics and dramatic situations. However, with all his desire for something new, Rossini could not completely overcome the conventions of serious opera.

In 1822, together with a troupe of Italian artists famous composer went on a two-year tour of the capitals European countries. Fame walked ahead of the famous maestro; a luxurious reception, huge fees and the best theaters and performers in the world awaited him everywhere.

In 1824, Rossini became the head of the Italian opera house in Paris and in this post did a lot to promote Italian opera music. In addition, the famous maestro patronized young Italian composers and musicians.

During the Parisian period, Rossini wrote a number of works for French opera, and many old works were revised. Thus, the opera “Mahomet II” in the French version was called “The Siege of Coronf” and enjoyed success on the Parisian stage. The composer managed to make his works more realistic and dramatic, to achieve simplicity and naturalness of musical speech.

The influence of the French operatic tradition was manifested in a more strict interpretation of the opera plot, a shift in emphasis from lyrical scenes to heroic ones, and simplification vocal style, giving greater importance to crowd scenes, chorus and ensemble, as well as careful attention to the opera orchestra.

All the works of the Parisian period were a preparatory stage towards the creation of the heroic-romantic opera “William Tell”, in which the solo arias of traditional Italian operas were replaced by mass choral scenes.

The libretto of this work, which tells the story of the national liberation war of the Swiss cantons against the Austrians, fully met the patriotic sentiments of Gioachino Rossini and the demands of the progressive public on the eve of the revolutionary events of 1830.

The composer worked on William Tell for several months. The premiere, which took place in the fall of 1829, aroused rave reviews from the public, but this opera did not receive much recognition or popularity. Outside France, the production of William Tell was taboo.

Paintings folk life and the traditions of the Swiss served only as a background for depicting the anger and indignation of the oppressed people, the finale of the work - the uprising of the masses against foreign enslavers - reflected the feelings of the era.

The most famous fragment of the opera "William Tell" was the overture, remarkable for its colorfulness and skill - an expression of the multifaceted composition of the entire musical work.

The artistic principles used by Rossini in William Tell found application in the works of many figures of French and Italian opera of the 19th century. And in Switzerland they even wanted to erect a monument to the famous composer, whose work contributed to the intensification of the national liberation struggle of the Swiss people.

The opera "William Tell" became last work Gioachino Rossini, who suddenly stopped writing at the age of 40 opera music and started organizing concerts and performances. In 1836, the famous composer returned to Italy, where he lived until the mid-1850s. Rossini provided all possible assistance to the Italian rebels and even wrote the national anthem in 1848.

However, a serious nervous illness forced Rossini to move to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life. His house became one of the centers artistic life French capital, many world famous Italian and French singers, composers and pianists.

Leaving operatic creativity did not weaken Rossini’s fame, which came to him in his youth and did not leave him even after death. Of the works created during the second half of his life, the collections of romances and duets “Musical Evenings”, as well as the sacred music “Stabat mater” deserve special attention.

Gioachino Rossini died in Paris in 1868, at the age of 76. A few years later, his ashes were sent to Florence and buried in the pantheon of the Church of Santa Croce - a kind of tomb of the best representatives of Italian culture.