The Cambridge Companion to Rossini

A 2004 collection of specially commissioned essays on one of the most influential opera composers in the repertoire.

Emanuele Senici (Edited by)

9780521001953, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 April 2004

282 pages, 10 b/w illus. 35 music examples
25.4 x 17.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.5 kg

'…offers many hours of thoroughly delectable and mostly instructive reading.' Nineteenth-Century Music Review

This 2004 Companion is a collection of specially commissioned essays on one of the most influential opera composers in the repertoire. The volume is divided into four parts, each exploring an important element of Rossini's life, his world, and his works: biography and reception; words and music; representative operas; and performance. Within these sections accessible chapters, written by a team of specialists, examine Rossini's life and career; the reception of his music in the nineteenth century and today; the librettos and their authors; the dramaturgy of the operas; and Rossini's non-operatic works. Additional chapters centre on key individual operas chosen for their historical importance or position in the present repertoire, and include Tancredi, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Semiramide, and Guillaume Tell. The last section, Performance, focuses on the history of Rossini's operas from the viewpoint of singing and staging, as well as the influence of editorial work on contemporary performance practice.

List of illustrations
Notes on contributors
Preface and abbreviations
1. Introduction: Rossini's operatic operas Emanuele Senici
Part I. Biography and Reception: 2. Rossini's life Richard Osborne
3. Rossini and France Benjamin Walton
4. The Rossini Renaissance Charles S. Brauner
Part II. Words and Music: 5. Librettos and librettists Paulo Fabbri
6. Compositional methods Philip Gossett
7. The dramaturgy of the operas Marco Beghelli
8. Melody and ornamentation Damien Colas
9. Off the stage Richard Osborne
Part III. Representative Operas: 10. Tancredi and Semiramide Heather Hadlock
11. Il barbiere di Siviglia Janet Johnson
12. Guillaume Tell Cormac Newark
Part IV. Performance: 13. Singing Rossini Leonella Grasso Caprioli
14. Staging Rossini Mercedes Viale Ferrero
15. Editing Rossini Patricia B. Brauner
List of works
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Romantic music [c 1830 to c 1900 AVGC5], Music [AV]