Composition History
After making his mark with a number of brilliant comic operas (most notably Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, Il turco in Italia, and L'italiana in Algeri), Rossini turned more and more to serious opera (opere serie). During the years 1813 (when Rossini composed Tancredi) until 1822 he wrote a considerable series of them, mostly for the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples.
One reason for his new interest in the serious genre was his connection with the great dramatic soprano Isabella Colbran, who was first his mistress, then his wife. She created the leading female role in Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra (1815), Otello (1816), Armida (1817), Mosè in Egitto (1818), Maometto II (1820), and five other Rossini operas up to and including his final contribution to the genre, Semiramide, which was also written with Colbran in the major role.
Work began with the librettist in October 1822, composer and librettist taking Voltaire's story and making significant changes. Actual composition took Rossini 33 daysto complete the score.
Read more about this topic: Semiramide
Famous quotes containing the words composition and/or history:
“Since body and soul are radically different from one another and belong to different worlds, the destruction of the body cannot mean the destruction of the soul, any more than a musical composition can be destroyed when the instrument is destroyed.”
—Oscar Cullman. Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? The Witness of the New Testament, ch. 1, Epworth Press (1958)
“Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)