Opera in Italy:

1
Chapter 56

• Opera in Italy
• Rossini and Verdi

2
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

3
The Life of Gioachino Rossini (17921868)

• 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

4
Principal Compositions by Gioachino Rossini

• Operas (selected)
• Tancredi
• Litaliana 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

5
Principal Characters in Rossinis 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)
• Rosinas music teacher

6
Gioachino Rossini, The Barber of Seville, 1816,
Act 1, No. 1 (Introduzione)
199
Ternary form
7
The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (18131901)

• 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

8
Principal Compositions by Giuseppe Verdi

• Operas include
• 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

9
Principal Characters in Verdis Otello

• Otello (Othello, tenor)
• a Moorish general commanding troops in Cyprus
• Iago (baritone) and Cassio (tenor)
• Othellos officers
• Desdemona (soprano)
• Othellos wife
• Emilia (mezzo-soprano)
• Desdemonas servant, wife of Iago

10
Giuseppe Verdi, Otello, 1887, Act 4, scene 3
(Murder Scene)
Through-composed form
11
Review Key Terms

• simple recitative
• impresario
• introduction (as an operatic number)
• cavatina (in Rossinis operas)
• stretta
• Rossini crescendo
• Teatro alla Scala
• Risorgimento
• brindisi
• scene
• preghiera