Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAP. I ROSSINI'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- CHAP. II LA PIETEA DEL PARAGONE
- CHAP. III ITALIAN OPERA UNTIL THE TIME OF ROSSINI
- CHAP. IV TANCREDI
- CHAP. V OPERATIC CUSTOMS IN ROSSINI'S TIME
- CHAP. VI ROSSINI AT NAPLES
- CHAP. VII PREPARATIONS FOR THE BARBER
- CHAP. VIII IL BARBIERE
- CHAP. IX ROSSINI AND THE COMIC IN MUSIC
- CHAP. X FROM OTELLO TO SEMIKAMIDE
- CHAP. XI ROSSINI ON HIS TRAVELS
- CHAP. XII DONIZETTI
- CHAP. XIII VERDI
- LIST OF ROSSINI'S PUBLISHED WORKS
CHAP. III - ITALIAN OPERA UNTIL THE TIME OF ROSSINI
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAP. I ROSSINI'S CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- CHAP. II LA PIETEA DEL PARAGONE
- CHAP. III ITALIAN OPERA UNTIL THE TIME OF ROSSINI
- CHAP. IV TANCREDI
- CHAP. V OPERATIC CUSTOMS IN ROSSINI'S TIME
- CHAP. VI ROSSINI AT NAPLES
- CHAP. VII PREPARATIONS FOR THE BARBER
- CHAP. VIII IL BARBIERE
- CHAP. IX ROSSINI AND THE COMIC IN MUSIC
- CHAP. X FROM OTELLO TO SEMIKAMIDE
- CHAP. XI ROSSINI ON HIS TRAVELS
- CHAP. XII DONIZETTI
- CHAP. XIII VERDI
- LIST OF ROSSINI'S PUBLISHED WORKS
Summary
Tancrcdi was Rossini's first serious opera, and the first opera by which his name became known throughout Europe. In this work, too, we find indicated, if not fully carried out, all those changes in the composition of the lyric drama which, without absolutely inventing them, he introduced from Germany, and especially from Mozart's operas, into Italy.
It seems strange, what was nevertheless the case, that when Rossini began to write, the mere forms of the lyric drama were, in Italy at least, far from being looked upon as settled. Opera could not at that time boast a history of more than about two centuries, and though it had made great progress during the previous hundred years and was scarcely the same entertainment as that which the most illustrious nobles in Italy had taken under their protection in the early part of the seventeenth century, it was still far from resembling the opera of the present day; so much more developed, so much more elaborated.
No general view of the progress of operatic art in Europe can well be taken; for its advance has been different in each country. But its progress in Italy was sufficiently regular from its birth, or rather its invention, towards the end of the sixteenth century up to the period of Scarlatti; and from Scarlatti in a continuous line to Rossini.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Rossini and his School , pp. 19 - 27Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009