Rossini was the son of an Italian town crier. He was the most famous, copied and lionized composer of his day. Famous at 20, he retired from composing
at 37, at the height of his fame. He had written 40 operas in 20 years.
Rossini's achievement was to bring to comic opera the same expressive and technical vocal demands as tragic opera. His most popular opera, The
Barber of Seville, was written in just thirteen days. It had a catastrophic first performance when one of the lead singers fell through an open
trap door in the stage and was badly hurt.
Rossini wrote a series of operas which turned traditional stories on their head, (this is what
operetta
composers such
as Offenbach were to do later in the century). Among them was Cenerentola, Rossini's version of Cinderella, first performed in England
in 1820 which abandons the fairy elements and transformation scenes in favour of
endless disguises, indeed the Prince and his entire retinue are in disguise.
Introduction
