Rosini Reportedly Wrote Opera Arias Even in Restaurants, Radio Series Recounts

Latvian Radio 3 Klasika's series "Did You Know?" has experts explain various terms and describe curious artefacts and unusual ideas. The latest story focuses on Italian opera composer Gioachino Rossini, whose life episodes reveal both his talent and his sense of humour. The authors are radio presenter Rūta Paula and musicologist Karina Bērziņa.

Differing opinions

The German poet Heinrich Heine called Rossini the "sun of Italy", Russian poet Pushkin called him the "Orpheus, the darling of Europe", and the Italian figure Mazzini described him as a "titan of greatness and courage". Composer Richard Wagner, by contrast, could not stand him and dismissed him as a "skilful manufacturer of artificial flowers".

A rapid start

Rossini was born into a musical family and studied singing, violin, viola and cello, but composing attracted him most. In place of another composer, he wrote the opera "The Marriage Contract" for one of Venice's opera houses. He was 18 at the time. By twenty it was said of him that he was more famous than Napoleon himself. According to the account, he could write an aria on a napkin in a restaurant while the cook prepared risotto, and he wrote "The Barber of Seville" in just two weeks.

A troubled premiere

The premiere of "The Barber of Seville" did not go as the composer wished. He reportedly arrived in a brown suit, which the audience disliked, and a cat appeared on stage alongside him, so spectators whistled and laughed. The opera was written in haste, and the overture used music from another of his operas. Rossini made some important revisions, and at the second performance, when he wore a formal black outfit, the audience showed enthusiasm at the end. The work later became one of the world's most popular operas.

Humour and the last work

After the unsuccessful opera "Cyrus in Babylon", in which a ship played an important role, Rossini reportedly ordered a ship-shaped cake from a confectioner and ate it with friends. On another occasion, he gave the intendant's favourite, who sang off-key, an aria with only one note, the B-flat of the first octave, while the orchestra carried the rest. At 37, Rossini wrote his last opera, "William Tell", and then wrote no more for 40 years.