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Chapter 56
Opera in Italy:
Rossini and Verdi
Lecture Overview
• Italian opera at the end of the 18th century
• Gioachino Rossini:
– life and works
– The Barber of Seville, Act 1, No. 1 (Introduzione)
• Italian opera after Rossini
• Giuseppe Verdi:
– life and works
– Otello, Act 4, scene 3
• Review
The Life of Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)
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1792 born in Pesaro,
Italy; attends
conservatory in Bologna
1815 begins career as
opera composer
1816 composes The
Barber of Seville
1824 moves to Paris
1829 retires from the
stage, travels between
France and Italy
1868 dies in a Paris
suburb
Principal Compositions by Gioachino Rossini
• Operas (selected):
– Tancredi
– L’italiana in Algeri (The Italian in Algiers)
– Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
– La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)
– Semiramide
– Le Comte Ory (Count Ory, French)
– Guillaume Tell (William Tell, French)
• Chorus: pieces include Masses, Stabat mater
Principal Characters in Rossini’s
The Barber of Seville
• Count Almaviva (tenor)
– the hero, a young count visiting Seville, smitten by
Rosina
• Rosina (soprano, originally mezzo-soprano)
– a young woman living in Seville
• Dr. Bartolo (bass)
– a doctor, guardian of Rosina
• Figaro (baritone)
– a local barber
• Basilio (bass)
– Rosina’s music teacher
Gioachino Rossini, The Barber of Seville,
1816, Act 1, No. 1 (Introduzione)
199
Ternary form
The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
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1813 born in village of
Roncole in Italy, attends
school in nearby
Busseto
1832 Milan to study, but
soon returns to Busseto
1839 moves again to Milan
to advance operatic career;
Oberto performed at La Scala
1842 Nabucco scores first
great success and begins
period of travel
1853 moves to Paris
1887 comes out of
retirement to compose Otello
and Falstaff
1901 dies in Milan
Principal Compositions by Giuseppe Verdi
• Operas include
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Nabucco
Ernani
Luisa Miller
Rigoletto
Il trovatore
La traviata
Simon Boccanegra
Un ballo in maschera
La forza del destino
Don Carlos (versions in French and Italian)
Aida
Otello
Falstaff
• Chorus: works include the Requiem and Four Sacred Pieces
Principal Characters in Verdi’s Otello
• Otello (Othello, tenor)
– a Moorish general commanding troops in Cyprus
• Iago (baritone) and Cassio (tenor)
– Othello’s officers
• Desdemona (soprano)
– Othello’s wife
• Emilia (mezzo-soprano)
– Desdemona’s servant, wife of Iago
Giuseppe Verdi, Otello, 1887, Act 4,
scene 3 (Murder Scene)
Through-composed form
Review Key Terms
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simple recitative
impresario
introduction (as an operatic number)
cavatina (in Rossini’s operas)
stretta
Rossini crescendo
Teatro alla Scala
Risorgimento
brindisi
scene
preghiera