Petite messe solennelle

GIOACHINO ROSSINI

Born in Pesaro February 29, 1792, the son of a trumpet player and a singer he began to study harpsichord and singing in Lugo, and then enrolled in 1806 to study the cello, piano and composition at the Liceo Musicale of Bologna. He made his debut in 1810 with La cambiale di matrimonio at the Teatro San Moise in Venice, but his first important successes come with La pietra del paragone (1812), Tancredi and L'italiana in Algieri (1813). Hired by the impresario Domenico Barbaja as director of the theaters San Carlo and Fondo in Naples and with the obligation to write two operas a year, composed Otello(1816), Mose in Egitto (1818), Ermione (1819), Maometto II(1820). In Rome, between 1816 and 1817 were staged Il Barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola.  Again in 1817, La Gazza Ladra was produced at La Scala in Milan.  WithGuillaume Tell (1829) he abandons lyric theater and dedicates himself to the Stabat Mater (1841) and thePetite Messe Solemnelle (1863).  He died at Passy, near Paris on November 13, 1868.