90.5 Classical
February 29, all day
on 90.5 WKAR
WKAR Radio Celebrates Rossini
In “Leap Years” he’s only 54 years old.
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born on February 29, 1792 (216 years ago) in Pesaro, Italy. He was a popular Italian composer whose repertoire included 39 operas, and chamber and sacred music. His best-known works include Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), Le Cenerentola (Cinderella), and Guillaume Tell (William Tell).
90.5 WKAR-FM will celebrate Rossini’s birthday on Friday, February 29, with several of his compositions throughout the day, including: The Barber of Seville Overture, Inoffensive Prelude for Piano, Airs de danse from Siege of Corinth, Scala di Seta Overture, Petite Valse de Boudoir for Piano, Cum Sancto Spirito from Petite Messe Solennelle, and Quartet No. 6 for Winds.
Also, the Metropolitan Operawill feature an encore presentation of its 1975 production of L’Assedio di Corinto (The Siege of Corinth) with Beverly Sills on Saturday, February 9 at 1:30 p.m., on 90.5 FM.
Rossini was born into a musical family. His father, Giuseppe, was a horn player (who also inspected slaughterhouses), and his mother, Anna, was a singer. The younger Rossini’s musical training began early, and by the age of six he was playing the triangle in his father’s band.
As a child, he learned several instruments including the harpsichord and the pianoforte, and also received voice and sight-reading lessons. At age 13, Rossini made his only public appearance as a singer at the Theatre of the Commune in Paer’s Camilla.
Rossini’s first opera was La Cambiale di Matrimonio, produced in Vienna when he was only 18. Two years earlier he had already received the prize at the Conservatorio of Bolonga for his cantata Il pianto d’Armonia sulla morte d’Orfeo.
The years between 1815 and 1823 were an especially creative time for the young composer. He produced 20 operas. Six years later, in 1829, the production of his Guillaume Tell brought his prolific opera writing career to a close.
Rossini was married twice. First to the coloratura soprano Isabella Colbran, in 1822. In 1847, two years after Colbran’s death, he married Olympe Pelissier.
It has been noted that in his compositions Rossini “stole” even more freely from himself than from other musicians. One of the best examples is in The Barber of Seville: there is an aria for the Count (which is often omitted), Cessa di piu resistere which Rossini used with minor changes in Le Nozze di Teti e di Peleo (The Marriage of Thetys and Peleus) and in Cinderella.
And, one of his noted orchestral scoring characteristics was a long, steady build up of sound, creating “tempests in teapots by beginning in a whisper and rising to a flashing, glittering storm” that earned him the nickname of “Monsieur Cresendo.”
Rossini died in Passy, France on Friday, November 13, 1868. Originally buried in Paris’ Pere Lachaise Cemetery, his remains were moved in 1887 to the Basilica of the Holy Cross, in Florence.
published: February 26, 2008
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