Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was fourteen years old when he composed his first opera, the year 1806. For a time he doubted where to turn his vocation as a musician but, fortunately, he lived in a time when opera, and especially opera buffa, had become an authentic passion for the Italian people, a passion that also reached all social classes. Therefore, Rossini didn't require too much thinking about making a decision.
In those years the operatic genre lived an intense life, to the point that it was not uncommon for composers to be distressed by the urgent delivery of the next opera, even though they received a relatively modest amount of money for their work. New shows every season, was the demand of the audience of the time, and it was a need pleasing it.
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| Gioacchino Rossini (1792 - 1868) |
Thus, while the performances of his acclaimed opera Tancredi, of 1813 (his first serious opera, however) were still on stage, Rossini began working on a quite lengthy farce, although it only was in two acts, as was customary.
The text of L'Italiana in Algeri had already been put on music before, but with no much success. Rossini will be responsible for its transformation into a masterpiece, as his absurd and to some extent, grotesque situations, were fitting like a glove to the comic vein of maestro Gioacchino. (Il Barbiere and La Cenerentola will be coming later).
Released on May 22, 1813, L'Italiana in Algeri is a classic opera with a "Muslim" theme, as The Abduction from the Seraglio, by Mozart, was years before. The scene is set in the palace of the Bey of Algiers (the lord and master during the Ottoman Empire), Mustafa, an autocrat of unstoppable vocation for the female company who happens to be somewhat tired of his current wife and wants to change her for another, if Italian, better. It so happens that Isabella, an Italian, walks the coast of Algiers trying to rescue her boyfriend, Lindoro, who serves the Bey as a slave. Isabella is taken prisoner and then is handed over to the bey, but the intrepid Italian would manage to get a stunned Lindoro at her service, day and night. This gives rise to subsequent entanglements and deceptions.
We present here the Overture in the rendition of the Teatro La Fenice Orchestra conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.
The material with which Gioacchino will build his popular crescendo begins at 2:00.
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