Fifty-three is no age for a composer and so it is little wonder that Rossini - or at least his music - is alive and well. Born on February 29th, 1792, Gioachino Antonio Rossini soon discovered a penchant and talent in culinary appreciation as well as note-churning. The latter he put to use for the creation of almost 40 operas, the former to support his stately appearance.
So much has been written about Rossini, that I would not likely contribute anything new on this special Rossini-day - so instead I list below all that has been written about Rossini on Ionarts over the last few years.
Except, before I do that, I still want to rehash some reasonably well known stories about Rossini, just because they are too good to pass up on - and because they endear the composer to me, if not always his music.
There is, of course, the story that when Rossini laid on bed composing and he dropped a sheet of freshly written music, rather than making the effort to climb off the bed and pick it up, he simply wrote the music out, again. Consider this - and that tiny little Rossini's daycare consisted of a pork butchery, where he got to watch the production of sausages - and listen to his music carefully...
The most enduring story about Rossini may well be his admission to having cried only three times in his life: Once after his first opera (La cambiale di matrimonio) had a disastrous premiere. Then again when he heard Paganini play. And finally when he witnessed a truffle-stuffed turkey fall overboard in a picnic boating accident. (Sharp tongues might point out that Rossini would have known all about turkeys, but that's just not a nice thing to say on such a rare birthday.)
Rossini on ionarts:
Briefly Noted: Julia Lezhneva
CD Review, Rossini AriasCTD, October 6th, 2011
Notes from the 2011 Salzburg Festival ( 9 )
Concert Review, Stabat Materjfl, August 15th, 2011
8½ Turks in Italy at Wolf Trap Opera
Opera Review, Il Turco...CTD, July 14th, 2010
'Cinderella' Not a Dream Come True
Opera ReviewSophia Vastek, September 28th, 2009
'Barber of Seville' as Cartoon, and Not with Bugs Bunny
Opera ReviewCTD, September 15th, 2009
Wall of Horns (Munich Opera Festival 2008)
Concert Review, Works for Horn Octetjfl, August 19th, 2008
Washington Concert Opera: Bianca e Falliero
Opera ReviewCTD, April 15th, 2008
Opera on DVD: Il Viaggio a Reims
DVD ReviewCTD, November 27th, 2007
Ionarts in Siena: Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Rossini's Otello, Washington Concert Opera
WCOSonya Harway, May 1st, 2007
Flórez's Breakthrough
Siege of Baltimore
L'Assedio di Corinta, Baltimore Lyric OperaCTD, October 16th, 2006
Frolics and Frippery: A Roll in the Hay with Rossini
Le Comte Ory, WolftrapRichard K. Fitzgerarld, July 22nd, 2006
Summer Opera 2006: "Barber of Seville" in St. Louis
Il Viaggio a St. Petersburg
Il Viaggio a Reims, Kirov Opera, Mariinksy Theater, St.PetersburgOksana Khadarina, May 30th, 2006
Let's Do Silly Things in Algeria
Tancredi: Sounds Good
Summer Opera: La Cenerentola at Wolf Trap
La Cenerentola, Wolf TrapCTD, August 21st, 2005
Summer Opera: Barber of Seville in Santa Fe
Even Google celebrates Rossini today:
Michael Cavna has some thoughts on frogs and Rossini, for the Post --
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/gioachino-rossini-leap-day-google-doodle-a-high-note-musical-frog-logo-marks-leap-year-calendar-and-italian-composers-birth/2012/02/28/gIQA61PNhR_blog.html
a memorable debate between two characters in Thomas Pynchon's masterful Gravity's Rainbow:
ReplyDelete“Gustav is a composer. For months he has been carrying on a raging debate with Säure over who is better, Beethoven or Rossini. Säure is for Rossini. “I’m not so much for Beethoven qua Beethoven,” Gustav argues, “but as he represents the German dialectic, the incorporation of more and more notes into the scale, culminating with dodecaphonic democracy, where all notes get an equal hearing. Beethoven was one of the architects of musical freedom—he submitted to the demands of history, despite his deafness. While Rossini was retiring at the age of 36, womanizing and getting fat, Beethoven was living a life filled with tragedy and grandeur.”
“So?” is Säure’s customary answer to that one. “Which would you rather do? The point is,” cutting off Gustav’s usually indignant scream, “a person feels good listening to Rossini. All you feel like listening to Beethoven is going out and invading Poland. Ode to Joy indeed. The man didn’t even have a sense of humor. I tell you,” shaking his skinny old fist, “there is more of the Sublime in the snare-drum part to La Gazza Ladra than in the whole Ninth Symphony. With Rossini, the whole point is that lovers always get together, isolation is overcome, and like it or not that is the one great centripetal movement of the World. Through the machineries of greed, pettiness, and the abuse of power, love occurs. All the shit is transmuted to gold. The walls are breached, the balconies are scaled—listen!” It was a night in early May, and the final bombardment of Berlin was in progress. Säure had to shout his head off. “The Italian girl is in Algiers, the Barber’s in the crockery, the magpie’s stealing everything in sight! The World is rushing together. …”
erik
PS - totally unrelated, but check out Thielemann's new Lehar Gala CD (and DVD)-- truly beautiful music. I can't stop playing it.
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