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Rossini, Master of Melody
| Article
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20308 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1992 |
2,593 Words |
| Author
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Tom Pniewski
Tom Pniewski is a musicologist at Hunter College in New York. |
Richard Wagner was never known for being especially generous or kind in his appraisals of anyone, let alone other composers. In 1860, he visited Paris, where he was trying to break into the operatic Establishment. There the 47-year-old German met the reigning Italian monarch of the Parisian and European musical world: Rossini, then nearing seventy. And Wagner, himself a proud man, was impressed.
Nowadays, Rossini is often dismissed as a composer of comic opera, or even worse, of just one comic opera. His Barber of Seville is famous as one of the greatest--if not the greatest--opera buffa ever written. But the fame of this single work, and the prevailing ignorance about his other achievements, make Rossini one of the least-known best-known composers. At last, this year the celebration of the bicentennial of his birth gives us a chance to become acquainted with the music that makes him the consummate heir of the Italian bel canto tradition, the innovator who prepared the way for both Italian and French grand opera, and even--tantalizingly--the composer who toyed with humor and a kind of "minimalism" that anticipated Satie and other twentieth-century composers.
Gioacchino Antonio Rossini was born on February 29, 1792, in Pesaro, a modest seaport on the northeastern Italian coast. His parents were both professional musicians, his father a horn player and his mother a bit-part opera singer. While they made a precarious living touring small cities in northern Italy, Gioacchino was left with his grandparents. As the boy approached his teens, the family sought a trade for him, which led to a brief apprenticeship to a blacksmith. But Gioacchino had an exceptionally beautiful voice (and little interest in smithing), so he was turned over to a priest, who taught him the rudiments of music and singing. In this he was typical of most musicians over the centuries, who learned their trade through practical service in the church.
At about this time, the Rossinis moved to Bologna, an important musical center with a famous conservatory. Gioacchino continued his studies, in voice as well as several instruments, and earned what money he could singing in local churches. The Academia Filarmonica, a musicians' association, named him a fellow at the age of fourteen, honoring him as it had Mozart at the same age thirty-six years earlier. That same year Rossini enrolled at the Liceo Musicale, where he remained for four years. His instruction included counterpoint with one of the foremost teachers of the day, Padre Stanislao Mattei, the school's director, as well as rigorous vocal training. Years later, he recalled, "I began work exclusively
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