The Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) is best known for his operas, of which he wrote 39 between 1806 and 1829. Adopting the opera buffa style of Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Paisiello, Rossini became the dominant composer of Italian opera during the first half of the 19th-century. Though working at the same time as Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti, he was recognized by his contemporaries as the greatest Italian composer of his time, an evaluation which has lasted into the 21st-century.

The operas are catalogued in a critical edition from the Fondazione Rossini [it], Pesaro, and published by Casa Ricordi.[1] This edition identifies individual operas by their EC numbers (Edizione critica).[2]

List of operas

Operas by Gioachino Rossini[3]
Title Genre Acts Libretto Premiere EC
Date Venue
Demetrio e Polibio
(composed 1806–1809) 		dramma serio 2 acts Vincenzina Viganò-Mombelli, possibly after Pietro Metastasio 18 May 1812 Teatro Valle,
Rome 		I/1
La cambiale di matrimonio farsa comica 1 act Gaetano Rossi, after Camillo Federici and Giuseppe Checcherini's [it] libretto (1807) for Carlo Coccia 3 November 1810 Teatro San Moisè,
Venice 		I/2
L'equivoco stravagante dramma giocoso 2 acts Gaetano Gasbarri [ca] 26 October 1811 Teatro del Corso,
Bologna 		I/3
L'inganno felice farsa 1 act Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after Giuseppe Palomba's [it] libretto (1798) for Giovanni Paisiello 8 January 1812 Teatro San Moisè,
Venice 		I/4
Ciro in Babilonia ,
ossia La caduta di Baldassare 		dramma con cori 2 acts Francesco Aventi [ca] 14 March 1812 Teatro Comunale, Ferrara I/5
La scala di seta farsa comica 1 act Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after Eugène de Planard's libretto (1808) for Pierre Gaveaux 9 May 1812 Teatro San Moisè,
Venice 		I/6
La pietra del paragone melodramma giocoso 2 acts Luigi Romanelli 26 September 1812 Teatro alla Scala,
Milan 		I/7
L'occasione fa il ladro ,
ossia Il cambio della valigia 		burletta per musica 1 act Luigi Prividali [ca], after Eugène Scribe's Le prétendu sans le savoir (1810) 24 November 1812 Teatro San Moisè,
Venice 		I/8
Il signor Bruschino,
ossia Il figlio per azzardo 		farsa giocosa 1 act Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after Le fils par hasard (1809) by René de Chazet and Maurice Ourry 27 January 1813 Teatro San Moisè,
Venice 		I/9
Tancredi
(revised March 1813) 		melodramma eroico 2 acts Gaetano Rossi, after Voltaire;
revised by Luigi Lechi [it] 		6 February 1813;
rev. 21 March 1813 		Teatro La Fenice,
Venice
rev. Ferrara, Teatro Comunale 		I/10
L'italiana in Algeri dramma giocoso 2 acts Angelo Anelli[a] 22 May 1813 Teatro San Benedetto,
Venice 		I/11
Aureliano in Palmira dramma serio 2 acts Attributed to Felice Romani, possibly in collaboration with Luigi Romanelli, or Gian Francesco Romanelli[b] 26 December 1813 Teatro alla Scala,
Milan 		I/12
Il turco in Italia dramma buffo 2 acts Felice Romani, after Caterino Mazzolà's libretto (1788) for Franz Seydelmann [it] 14 August 1814 Teatro alla Scala,
Milan 		I/13
Sigismondo dramma 2 acts Giuseppe Maria Foppa 26 December 1814 Teatro La Fenice,
Venice 		I/14
Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra dramma 2 acts Giovanni Schmidt, after Carlo Federici and Sophia Lee 4 October 1815 Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples 		I/15
Torvaldo e Dorliska dramma semiserio 2 acts Cesare Sterbini, after Jean-Baptiste de Coudry's Vie et amours du chevalier de Faubles (1790)[c] 26 December 1815 Teatro Valle,
Rome 		I/16
Il barbiere di Siviglia,
ossia L'inutile precauzione
(initially titled Almaviva) 		commedia 2 acts Cesare Sterbini, after Pierre Beaumarchais and Giuseppe Petrosellini's libretto (1782) for Giovanni Paisiello 20 February 1816 Teatro Argentina,
Rome 		I/17
La gazzetta,
ossia Il matrimonio per concorso 		dramma (opera buffa) 2 acts Giuseppe Palomba [it] (rev. by Andrea Leone Tottola), after Il matrimonio per concorso (1763) by Carlo Goldoni 26 September 1816 Teatro de' Fiorentini,
Naples 		I/18
Otello,
ossia Il Moro di Venezia 		dramma 3 acts Francesco Maria Berio di Salsa [ca], after Othello, ou le More de Venise (1792) by Ducis 4 December 1816 Teatro del Fondo,
Naples 		I/19
La Cenerentola,
ossia La bontà in trionfo 		dramma giocoso 2 acts Jacopo Ferretti, after Cendrillon (1698) by Charles Perrault[d] 25 January 1817 Teatro Valle,
Rome 		I/20
La gazza ladra melodramma 2 acts Giovanni Gherardini [it], after La Pie voleuse (1815) by Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez 31 May 1817 Teatro alla Scala,
Milan 		I/21
Armida dramma 3 acts Giovanni Schmidt, after Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso 11 November 1817 Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples 		I/22
Adelaide di Borgogna,
ossia Ottone, re d'Italia 		dramma 2 acts Giovanni Schmidt 27 December 1817 Teatro Argentina,
Rome 		I/23
Mosè in Egitto azione tragico-sacra 3 acts Andrea Leone Tottola, after L'Osiride (1760) by Francesco Ringhieri 5 March 1818 Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples 		I/24
Adina,
ossia Il califfo di Bagdad
(composed 1818) 		farsa 1 act Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini[e] 22 June 1826 Teatro Nacional de São Carlos,
Lisbon 		I/25
Ricciardo e Zoraide dramma 2 acts Francesco Maria Berio di Salsa, after the poem Ricciardetto by Niccolò Forteguerri 3 December 1818 Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples 		I/26
Ermione azione tragica 2 acts Andrea Leone Tottola, after Andromaque (1667) by Jean Racine 27 March 1819 Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples 		I/27
Eduardo e Cristina
(sometimes titled Edoardo e Cristina) 		dramma 2 acts Giovanni Schmidt[f] 24 April 1819 Teatro San Benedetto,
Venice 		I/28
La donna del lago melodramma 2 acts Andrea Leone Tottola, after The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott 24 October 1819 Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples 		I/29
Bianca e Falliero,
ossia Il consiglio dei tre 		melodramma 2 acts Felice Romani, after Blanche et Montcassin by Antoine-Vincent Arnault 26 December 1819 Teatro alla Scala,
Mialn 		I/30
Maometto II
(revised December 1822) 		dramma 2 acts Cesare della Valle, possibly after Felice Romani;[g]
revised by Gaetano Rossi 		3 December 1820;
rev. 26 December 1822 		Teatro di San Carlo,
Naples
rev. Venice, Teatro La Fenice 		I/31
Matilde di Shabran,
ossia Bellezza e Cuor di Ferro
[h] 		opera semiseria 2 acts Jacopo Ferretti, after François-Benoît Hoffman's libretto Euphrosine, ou Le tyran corrigé (1790) for Étienne Méhul and Jacques-Marie Boutet de Monvel (1798), derived from Voltaire 24 February 1821 Teatro Apollo,
Rome 		I/32
Zelmira dramma 2 acts Andrea Leone Tottola, after Zelmire (1762) by Dormont de Belloy 16 February 1822 Teatro di San Carlo, Naples[i] I/33
Semiramide melodramma tragico 2 acts Gaetano Rossi, after Voltaire[j] 3 February 1823 Teatro La Fenice,
Venice 		I/34
Ugo, re d'Italia
(composed 1823–1824, unfinished) 		dramma? 3? acts Gaetano Rossi? not performed intended for London –
Il viaggio a Reims,
ossia L'albergo del Giglio d'Oro 		dramma giocoso 3 acts[k] Luigi Balocchi, after Corinne ou l'Italie by Madame de Staël 19 June 1825 Théâtre Italien,
Paris 		I/35
Le siège de Corinthe
(revision of Maometto secondo) 		tragédie lyrique 3 acts Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet, after the libretto for Maometto II 9 October 1826 Salle Le Peletier,
Paris Opéra 		I/36
Moïse et Pharaon,
ou Le passage de la mer rouge
(revision of Mosè in Egitto) 		opéra 4 acts Luigi Balocchi and Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, after the libretto for Mosè in Egitto 26 March 1827 Salle Le Peletier,
Paris Opéra 		I/37
Le comte Ory opéra bouffe 2 acts Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson 20 August 1828 Salle Le Peletier,
Paris Opéra 		I/38
Guillaume Tell opéra 4 acts Victor-Joseph-Ėtienne de Jouy, Hippolyte-Louis-Florent Bis and Armand Marrast, after Friedrich Schiller[l] 3 August 1829 Salle Le Peletier,
Paris Opéra 		I/39

Pasticci with Rossini's permission

Title Genre Acts Libretto Notes Premiere date Venue
Ivanhoé pastiche 3 acts Emile Deschamps and Gustave de Wailly, after Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (consists entirely of music taken from earlier Rossini operas by Antonio Pacini) 15 September 1826 Odéon, Paris
Robert Bruce pastiche 3 acts Jean-Nicolas van Nieuwenhuysen and Alphonse Royer, after Walter Scott's History of Scotland (adapted by Louis Niedermeyer from La donna del lago, Zelmira, Bianca e Falliero, Torvaldo e Dorliska and Armida) 30 December 1846 Salle Le Peletier, Paris
(Paris Opéra)

Other pasticci utilising Rossini's music

Title Genre Acts Libretto Notes Premiere date Venue
La fausse Agnès,
ou Le poète campagnard		 pastiche 3 acts Castil-Blaze after Destouches (consists of music by Rossini and other composers, including Domenico Cimarosa and Giacomo Meyerbeer) Before June 1826 Théâtre de Madame, Paris
Le Neveu de Monseigneur pastiche 2 acts Jean-François Bayard, Thomas Sauvage and Romieu (consists of music adapted by Luc Guėnėe from operas by Rossini and other composers, including Giovanni Pacini, Valentino Fioravanti and Francesco Morlacchi) 7 August 1826 Odéon, Paris
Le testament pastiche 2 acts Joseph-Henri de Saur and Léonce de Saint-Géniès (adapted by Jean Frédéric-Auguste Lemierre de Corvey after operas by Rossini) 22 January 1827 Odéon, Paris
M. de Pourceaugnac pastiche 3 acts Possibly Castil-Blaze after Molière (adapted from operas by Rossini and Carl Maria von Weber) 24 February 1827 Odéon, Paris
Cinderella or The Fairy and the Little Glass Slipper pastiche 2 acts Michael Rophino Lacy, after Jacopo Ferretti's libretto for La Cenerentola (adapted from La Cenerentola, Guillaume Tell, Maometto secondo and Armida) 13 April 1830 Covent Garden, London
L'ape musicale pasticcio 1 act Lorenzo Da Ponte (adapted from operas by Rossini, Cimarosa, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli and Antonio Salieri) 20 April 1830 Park Theatre, New York​[m]
Andremo a Parigi? pastiche 2 acts Luigi Balocchi and Jean-Henri Dupin (adapted by Jean-Henri Dupin from Il viaggio a Reims) 26 October 1848[n] Théâtre-Italien, Paris
Un curioso accidente pastiche 2 acts Arcangelo Berettoni, after Carlo Goldoni (adapted by Torribio Calzado from Aureliano in Palmira, La cambiale di matrimonio, La pietra del paragone and L'occasione fa il ladro) 27 November 1859[o] Théâtre-Italien, Paris

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Originally written (1808) for Luigi Mosca
  2. ^ Richard Osborne 2007, p. 216, credits Romani, while Charles Osborne 1994, p. 38, and Weinstock 1987, p. 40, credit Gian Frencesco Romanelli. Libretti d'opera italiani lists Luigi Romanelli as librettist. See Aureliano in Palmira for more details; after Gaetano Sertor [Wikidata]
  3. ^ Other libretti based on this work such as Claude-François Fillette-Loraux's libretto (1791) for Luigi Cherubini and Francesco Gonella's libretto for (1796) Simon Mayr and Ferdinando Paer
  4. ^ Several libretti derived from it such as Charles-Guillaume Étienne's libretto for Nicolas Isouard (1810) and Francesco Fiorini's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Agatina (1814)
  5. ^ Possibly after Felice Romani's libretto Il Califfo e la schiava for Francesco Basily (1819)
  6. ^ originally written [1810] for Stefano Pavesi), revised for Rossini by Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini and Andrea Leone Tottola
  7. ^ The libretto is stated to have been derived from della Valle's own play Anna Erizo (1820) but may have come from Romani's libretto Maometto (1817) for Peter von Winter. Others have erroneously stated Voltaire's Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet le Prophète as a potential source.
  8. ^ also titled Matilde Shabran [initially], Bellezza e Cuor di Ferro [Naples, 1821] and Corradino [Milan, also 1821]
  9. ^ The opera was originally intended for performance in Vienna.
  10. ^ The libretto may also have been derived from one by Metastasio, which Rossi used for Semiramide riconosciuta by Giacomo Meyerbeer.
  11. ^ now usually 1 act
  12. ^ Rossini and Adolphe Crémieux have also been credited for the libretto (Sadie, 2006, p. 270).[incomplete short citation]
  13. ^ Da Ponte had written the work in 1789 and revised it in 1791, 1792 and 1830. Only the 1830 revision uses Rossini's music.
  14. ^ Stanford University erroneously cites the premiere taking place in 1846.
  15. ^ Also its only performance

References

  1. ^ Fondazione Rossini 1979–2021.
  2. ^ "Gioachino Rossini – Critical Editions", Casa Ricordi
  3. ^ Information is from Gossett (2001), unless otherwise noted.

Sources

External links

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