(1792 - 1868)
The most popular, successful and influential opera composer of the first half of the 19th century, Gioachino Rossini undertook the titanic task of dragging the cumbersome and moribund forms of 18th-century Italian opera into a new era. In the process, it took him just three weeks of 1816 to create in The Barber of Seville one of the all-time masterpieces of comic opera. That was just one of his 38 stage works in all the major contemporary genres. Unlike that other giant of 19th century Italian opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Rossini chose to take early retirement from the theatrical world – at the age of only 37 – and to devote the remaining 40 years of his life to the other great passion of his life – food. The only musical products of his later life were the delightful series of salon pieces which he called Péchés de vieillesse (‘Sins of Old Age’, 1857–68) and two sacred works, the Stabat mater (1841) and his ‘last mortal sin’, the Petite messe solennelle (1863) for two solo voices, two pianos and harmonium.
Gioachino Rossini Composition Timpani and Percussion Requirements
Barber of Seville
Timpani + 2 percussion
Triangle, orchestral bass drum
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Thieving Magpie Overture
Timpani + 3 percussion
Snare drum, orchestral bass drum, clash cymbals
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William Tell
Timpani
Int'l 29/26 Prem 30/28
3 percussion
Snare drum, triangle, orchestral bass drum, clash cymbals
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