Essay on Rossini and Il Barbiere di Siviglia - 1141 Words

Rossini and Il Barbiere di Siviglia Gioachino Rossini, like many great composers, was born in the right place at the right time. The musical firmament was still mourning the loss of Wolfgang Mozart in 1792 when Rossini was born. His parents were both gifted musicians, and young Gioachino was in a music conservatory by the age of 14. Rossini composed ten operas within the following seven years and had established himself as a gifted composer in the opera buffa style. This genre of comic opera was strikingly different from the rigorous opera seria, but it still managed to acquire some noticeable traits. Primarily, the arias in opera buffe shirk the da capo style of the seria mold. The subject matter deals frequently†¦show more content†¦Rossini snuck out of the Teatro Argentina and went home, retiring for the evening without so much as a word to anyone. The following evening, however, was a stark contrast. The composer did not attend the performance, but he heard a crowd with torches in the street following the show. He fully expected an angry mob, but was greeted by an adulatory audience shouting â€Å"Bravo!† Almaviva became immensely popular, and the title was eventually changed to Il Barbiere di Siviglia. This alteration established Rossini’s work as the ultimate expression of the story, and the work is now considered widely as one of the greatest comic operas ever written. An aria from Barbiere that incorporates many of the typical buffa elements is La calunnia à © un venticello from the first act. Often called the Calumny aria, La calunnia is the first aria sung by the unscrupulous music teacher, Don Basilio. He sings to Bartolo about defaming Almaviva through calumny, malicious lies. The aria opens slowly, softly in D major as Basilio describes his slander as a gentle breeze which begins to gather force. Rossinis orchestration embodies this concept, as a simple ascending scale in thirds begins in the strings. The pianissimo marking gives way to piano as the pattern moves to a phrase in b minor. The tune continues to meander through tonalities until it arrives back in D major. Basilio reiterates that his lies â€Å"gatherShow MoreRelatedBel Canto Opera Essay2271 Words   |  10 Pagesin the art of â€Å"bel canto† opera changed the idea of a vocalist in opera forever. A singer’s voice was prized and Italian composers, like Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini wrote operas and works to showcase the voice, it’s color, range and agility. These Italian composers were moving away from the normal style of composition of the time, and the composer Rossini, who set the stage for many other followers. Many of the operas written during this time are still performed today and are highly acclaimedRead More History Of Music Essay2522 Words   |  11 Pagesoriginally dedicated to Napoleon. In 1813, Napoleon was defeated by Prussia and Austria in the Battle of Nations at Leipzig. A year later, Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba. During this same time, in Italy the composer Rossini wrote Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and in Germany, Weber wrote Der Freischà ¼tz. A reaction to the strict logic of the Classicists, Romanticism began in the early 19th century and radically changed the way people looked at the world around them