|
Patriot and Terrorist?
New aspects of Rossini
brought to light at the
2011 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro,
discussed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) is generally known for his comic operas, always in repertory even during Romanticism and 'Verismo', his abilities as a cook (as well as an inventor of very special recipes), his attraction for beautiful ladies and his right-to-center political views. Over the last thirty-two years, the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF), certainly the most important opera festival of the Italian summer, has unveiled his mastery in opera seria, tragédie lyrique and even grand opéra. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, he was a tremendously brilliant composer of all genres of musical theatre. Even though he retired from the stage in 1829 at the age of thirty-seven, he composed a lot of operas and other types of music. Now, operas previously unknown like Tancredi, La Donna del Lago, Mosé in Egitto and Maometto Secondo are standard fare of the major opera houses in all continents...
Copyright © 14 August 2011
Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy
|
