ROSSITI, GIOACCHEcO, the greatest composer of the present century for the Italian lyrical stage. He was born at Pesaro in 1792, the son of a horn-player in an orchestra cf strolling players. At the age of fifteen the countess Perticari, discovering his talent, sent him to study at the lyceum of Bologna, where he received instructions in counterpoint from padre Matta He was, however, principally self-taught, giving days and nights to the study of the great Italian and German masters. Passing over a few juvenile efforts. his first important opera was Tancredi,which was performed in Venice in 1813, and excited an extraordinary sensation throughout the musical world, raising its composer at once to the summit of fame. It was followed in succession by L' Italiana in Algeri (1813), Il Tam in Italia (1814); and Aureliano in Palmira (1814); all inferior to Tancredi. In 1815 Rossini was appointed musical-director of the theater of San Carlo at Naples; and while holding that position he continued to produce operas both at Naples and elsewhere. Il Ba•biere di Seriglia, the most popular of all his works, :vas produced at Rome in 1816, and said to have been composed in twenty days; it was followed by Otello in the same year; and in 1817 appeared La Cenerentola at Rome, and La Gazza ladra at Naples. From this time to the close of Rossini's engagement at Naples in 1823, he wrote the operas of Ema in Egitto, La Donna del Lago, Maometto Second° (otherwise known as L' Assedio di Corinto), and Zelmira. In 1823 he produced Senzimmide, the most gorgeous of his operas. at Venice, and soon afterward left Italy. He first visited Paris, and then London, where
he was received with great enthusiasm. Returning to Paris, he received from Charles X. the appointment of director of the Italian opera in Paris, and while there composed his Guillaume Tell (1826), which, though ill-constructed as a drama, ranks musically as high as any of his works. When the revolution of 1830 broke out, Rossini lost the man agement of the Italian opera, but continued to live for some time ip. Paris; in 1836 he returned to Italy, where, with the exception of a visit to Paris, he principally resided till 1855. With Guillaume Tell he may almost be said to have closed his career, having after it composed nothing of importance except his well-known Stabat Mater, a pretty and popular work more secular than sacred in its style of music. Large offers from the • managers of opera houses did not succeed in tempting him from his retirement. His statue was inaugurated at Pesaro in 1S64, amid a large concourse of Italian statesmen and men of letters. In Rossini's early works he developed with great felicity the type established by his Italian predecessors. These compositions are characterized by stirring melody, brilliant instrumentation, and a highly enjoyable vivacity. Guillaume Tell, though equally original, approaches far more nearly to the character of the German school. Much as Rossini's music continues to be prized, only four of his forty operas composed from 1810 to 1829 have kept the stage. Il Barbiere, Otello, La Gazza ladra, and Semira- snide. He died Nov., 1868.