Composer of the Week: Rossini

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868): Son of a horn

Son of a horn

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), Son of a horn

At the peak of his fame, Rossini suddenly disappears. What led him to this moment?

At the peak of his fame, Rossini suddenly disappears from the public eye. What led him to this moment? Donald Macleod explores the composer's humble beginnings.

Gioachino Rossini, born in Italy in 1792, began writing music at the age of 12. His first opera was performed when he was 18, and he wrote 37 more in the span of 20 years. Then, at the peak of his fame, the composer suddenly disappeared from the public eye. What led him to this moment? This week, Donald Macleod traces Rossini's career, from his humble beginnings as the son of a horn player, learning to write music in order to support his family, to travelling the world and rubbing shoulders with royalty. We'll hear the truth behind his mysterious retirement and discover what made him return to composing, at the very end of his life. 

In today's programme, we meet Rossini's mother and father, a self-taught soprano and a horn-player who was in and out of prison throughout the composer's youth. Both of them uniquely inspired Rossini, and we can hear their influence in the music he began writing at just 12 years old.

Il barbiere di Siviglia
Act I: Cavatina: Largo al factotum della citta
Peter Mattei, baritone (Figaro)  
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Lawrence Renes, conductor

La cambiale di matrimonio:  
Sinfonia; Scene 14: Finale: Portero cosi il cappello; Scene 15: Qual ira, oh ciel, v’accende; Final Scene: Vi prego 
Vito Priante, bass (Tobia Mill)
Julija Samsonova, soprano (Fanny)
Daniele Zanfardino, tenor (Edoardo Milfort)
Giulio Mastrototaro, bass (Slook)
Tomasz Wija, bass (Norton)
Francesca Russo Ermolli, mezzo-soprano (Clarina)
Massimiliano Tanzini, harpsichord  
Wurttemberg Philharmonic Orchestra  
Christopher Franklin, conductor

Sonata a quattro No. 2 in A Major
Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna 
Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Sinfonia in D - "al Conventello” 
Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna 
Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Il Signor Bruschino
Sinfonia; N.3 Cavatina: "Nel teatro del gran mondo”
Samuel Ramey, bass (Gaudenzio) 
English Chamber Orchestra 
Ion Marin, conductor

Composer of the Week: Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

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Donald Macleod traces Rossini's career, from humble beginnings to hobnobbing with royalty.

Donald Macleod traces Rossini's career, from his humble beginnings as the son of a horn player, to travelling the world and rubbing shoulders with royalty.

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Son of a horn

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