II.

Early Success

In 1813 Rossini wrote the two operas destined to establish his fame. Rossini’s first serious opera, Tancredi (1813), was based on Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) by 16th-century Italian poet Torquato Tasso. It premiered successfully at La Fenice theater in Venice. Two months later the comic opera L’Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Woman in Algiers, 1813) took first Venice and later the whole of northern Italy by storm. His next several operas were less successful. Even the attractive and amusing Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy, 1814), a kind of pendant to L’Italiana in Algeri, failed to enchant audiences.

In 1815 Rossini was commissioned to write an opera for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. The opera was Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra (Elizabeth, Queen of England, 1815), an elaborate affair specially written for Spanish soprano Isabella Colbran, who was highly popular in Naples. Rossini remained in Naples until 1822, writing operas for the Teatro San Carlo as well as for other opera houses in Italy. Colbran, whom he married shortly before leaving Naples, sang the leading roles in a number of the operas he wrote during this period.

Rossini’s most popular opera, The Barber of Seville, was written in less than three weeks and first produced in Rome in 1816. He chose for it a subject already used in an extremely popular opera of the same name written in 1782 by Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello. Figaro, the barber of the title, manages to prevent the aged Don Bartolo from marrying Rosina, his pretty, young ward, and to further Rosina’s courtship by the eligible, young Count Almaviva. The witty and charming opera contains delightful ensembles for multiple voices; bubbly, inspired melodies; and spirited orchestral writing. However, its first performance was a spectacular failure, to which the jeers and hisses of Paisiello’s partisans contributed. But the sparkle and wit of the opera soon made it a universal favorite.

Later in 1816 Rossini produced the opera for which he was perhaps most esteemed by his contemporaries: Otello, an adaptation of the tragic play Othello by William Shakespeare. His next opera, La Cenerentola (Cinderella, 1817), failed at its first performances but later met Rossini’s predictions for success and was performed in London, England, in 1820 and in New York City in 1825. Although forgotten for many years, the opera reestablished itself in the affections of operagoers in the last half of the 20th century. La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie, 1817), which was extremely successful at the time, is by contrast nearly forgotten today, apart from its overture.

During the next five years, from 1818 to 1823, Rossini wrote a great number of operas, most of which are considered of little importance. Two operas produced for Naples are of great interest, however. In 1818 Rossini wrote Mosè in Egitto (Moses in Egypt), which triumphed all over Europe. It features magnificent choruses as well as a celebrated prayer for delivery from Egypt, which is sung by Moses and the Israelites. Semiramide (1823), produced for Venice, was hailed at the time as the high point of Rossini’s achievement. Its success was equally brilliant outside Italy, making him beyond question the outstanding opera composer of the day. Afterward Rossini never wrote another opera for Italy. Semiramide was also the last opera he wrote for his wife, who soon retired from the stage.

Rossini traveled to Paris and London in 1823 and received an invitation from French king Charles X to become director of the Théâtre Italien in Paris, with responsibilities for producing Italian operas and for composing a new opera every other year. He took over administration of the theater in 1824 and worked hard to raise the standard of singing. His Le Comte Ory (Count Ory, 1828), written for the theater, is a charming operetta. Next came Guillaume Tell (William Tell, 1829), after the play Wilhelm Tell by German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller. The opera was acclaimed by musicians and critics as a masterpiece but less warmly received by the public, which found it excessively long and cold. The opera’s second act contains some of Rossini’s finest music. Donizetti reportedly later said, “God wrote the second act.”