Biography

As a son of a horn player and a singer Rossini was taught instruments early in his life. When he was older he went to the conservatory of Bologna for lessons. His first opera was such a big success that a lot of people wanted him to write more pieces. But nevertheless in 1816 his masterpiece "The Barber of Seville" failed although later it received the attention it deserved. In 1823 Rossini became the director of the Italian Opera in Paris, but when he stopped working he left for Italy only to return in 1853 and stay in Paris until his death in 1868.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Volker Boehm

He enjoyed a musical education as early as his childhood. From 1804 he was trained on the violin and harpsichord in Bologna. In 1806 he enrolled at the local music college to deepen these skills. His first compositions were created here in the following years. After he left the conservatory in 1810, he began working for theater companies in Bologna, Venice, Ferrara, Milan and Rome, for whom he composed smaller pieces as well as operas. The first successes came with the operas "Il Signor Bruschino", "Tancredi" and "L'Italiana in Algeri", all three of which were first performed in Venice in 1813. From 1815 onwards, the impresario Domenico Barbaia entrusted him with the management of the renowned royal theaters in Naples, the San Carlo and the Fondo Theaters. The contract obliged him to compose two operas a year, but also provided for performances in other cities.

In Naples he met the well-known opera singer Isabella Colbran, whom he married in 1823. In 1816 Rossini performed "Barbiere di Siviglia" for the first time in Rome, which, despite an initial failure, established the composer's fame not only throughout Italy but also in Europe. In the same year his "Otello" was celebrated as a triumphant success in Naples. This was immediately followed in January 1817 by the unsuccessful Roman premiere of "Cenerentola", which, however, soon convinced in subsequent productions. In the following years he composed several operas, which he performed at various Italian opera houses, but also in Vienna, mostly with great success. In 1824 the Rossini couple settled in Paris, where the maestro was initially entrusted with the management of the Italian Opera.

In 1826 he was appointed court composer to the French King Charles X and general inspector of singing in France. In those years, the Parisian audience celebrated him especially for "Le Comte Ory" (1828) and "Guillaume Tell" (1829), Rossini's last two operas. The French July Revolution in 1830, with the deposition of Charles X, resulted in Rossini losing his office, for which he was compensated with a state pension. During the Paris years he also separated from his first wife to unite with Olimpia Pélissier, whom he married in 1846. Rossini spent 1836 to 1848 in Bologna, where the composer worked as director of the music lyceum from 1840. His artistic work now primarily produced church and chamber music as well as orchestral and choral works. On the occasion of the revolution of 1848, a conflict with the liberal-patriotic movement, whose political liberation goals he did not share, forced Rossini to flee to Florence.

Rossini stayed in the capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1855. He then moved again to Paris, where he enjoyed his fame and the last years of his life - celebrated by international music culture.

Gioacchino Antonio Rossini died on November 13, 1868 in Paris. His remains were brought to Italy in 1887 and buried in the Church of the Holy Cross in Florence.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth