Rossini: Six Overtures / William Tell, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (reference recording: Alceo Galliera)

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Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) 6 Overtures
00:00 William Tell Overture (2025 Remastered, London 1958)
12:21 La Gazza Ladra Overture (2025 Remastered, London 1958)
22:14 Il Barbiere di Siviglia Overture (2025 Remastered, London 1958)
29:00 La Scala di Seta Overture (2025 Remastered, London 1958)
35:26 L' italiana in Algeri Overture (2025 Remastered, London 1958)
43:34 Semiramide Overture (2025 Remastered, London 1958)

Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor: Alceo Galliera
Recorded in 1958, at London
New mastering in 2025 by AB for https://classicalmusicreference.com/
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Unlike his predecessors, Rossini placed great importance on the orchestra, which, for him, was not merely an accompaniment but played an independent role. It was for the orchestra that he created his famous crescendo, giving many of his overtures their distinctive gaiety and vigor. He consistently opposed the dominance of singers, who until his time had composed their own cadenzas, ornaments, and virtuosic passages. Rossini curtailed these improvisations by insisting that only his written ornaments be performed. This approach earned him a reputation for being hostile to coloratura, whereas, in reality, he simply sought to avoid the commonplace embellishments introduced by singers.

The invention of the cabaletta, a fast-paced movement following the slower cavatina, is attributed to him. This innovation left a lasting influence on German, French, and Italian opera for nearly a century.

Rossini's music undeniably contains a certain romantic quality, which initially unsettled Italian audiences. However, he was staunchly opposed to Romanticism, which he dismissed as a trend where magical and supernatural tales replaced the innocent love stories of the past. He once declared: "I have always loved what is natural and spontaneous; to me, that is the essence of art. But the current fashion is to abandon it in favor of what shocks and frightens. May Heaven forbid that I ever embark on anything of the sort!" His music, therefore, adheres to a clear classical aesthetic, imbued with a southern warmth and a sensitivity free from exaggeration. In a way, Rossini was closer to our time than to his own, which perhaps explains the renewed interest in his works today.

His orchestral style, inherited from the 18th century, recalls that of Mozart’s great Viennese operas. He retained its brilliance and clarity while infusing it with a purely Italian vocalità, foreshadowing the bel canto of Bellini and Donizetti. The melodic quality and the ever-thrilling expansion of instrumental dynamics make his overtures vibrant and exhilarating. Though Rossini’s career as a theater composer was relatively short, he nonetheless wrote around forty operas in just two decades, from Il signor Bruschino (1813) to Guillaume Tell (1829). Each of them features an overture designed not only to introduce the performance but also to immediately captivate the audience.

Rossini traveled extensively, from Bologna to Venice, Milan, and Naples, before making his way to Paris. Everywhere he went, he composed on commission, often in record time, and explored various operatic styles: opera seria (Semiramide, 1823), semi-seria (La gazza ladra, 1817), and of course, opera buffa, with masterpieces such as L’Italiana in Algeri (1813), Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816), and La Cenerentola (1817).

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Rossini - Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, Largo al factotum, Synopsis (Maria Callas,Alva,Gobbi - Cent.rec.): https://youtu.be/572cY8-aVNA