Джоаккино Россини. Биография

Hello everyone, you're on the Composer's History channel. Today I'll tell you about the composer Gioachino Rossini. Brief Biography: Born on February 29, 1792, in Pesaro to a family of musicians, he studied music theory, violin and viola, and singing from early childhood. From 1806 to 1810, he studied at the Bologna Music Lyceum. In 1806, he wrote his first opera, Demetrio e Polibio. From then on, opera became the main genre in Rossini's work. His first success in this field came with the opera The Marriage Bill, staged in Venice in 1810. His next opera, The Strange Case, staged in Bologna in 1811, was also a great success. Already a mature master, Rossini distinguished himself in two operas written in 1813: Tancredi and L'Italiana in Algiers. But his true triumph was The Barber of Seville (1816; based on a story by Pierre Beaumarchais), originally titled Almaviva, or The Vain Precaution. The composer spent 1816-1823 in Naples. During this time, he wrote the operas Othello (1816; based on a story by William Shakespeare), Armida, The Thieving Magpie, and Cinderella (all 1817), Moses in Egypt (1818), The Lady of the Lake (1819), Mohammed II (1820), Zelmira (1822), and Semiramide (1823). The latter opera enjoyed particularly resounding success. In 1823, after a triumphant tour of London, Rossini moved to Paris, accepting the post of director of the Théâtre Italien. In 1826, he was appointed composer to the king's court and inspector general of singing in Paris. Having become familiar with the principles of French opera, Rossini reworked Mohammed II and Moses in Egypt. They were given new titles—The Siege of Corinth (1826) and Moses and the Pharaoh (1827). In Paris, he created the operas Le Comte Ory (1828) and William Tell (1829), a striking example of heroic-romantic opera. This work became the last in Rossini's operatic legacy, although it seemed he was at the height of his fame and mastery. In 1836, the composer returned to Italy. In 1845, he took up the post of director of the same Bologna Music Lyceum from which he himself had graduated. In 1855, Rossini returned to Paris, where he lived until his death. In addition to operas, he wrote two symphonies (1808 and 1809), the Petite Missa Solemnis (1863), and other works. The composer died on November 13, 1868, in Passy near Paris; in 1887, his ashes were transferred to Florence.