Gioacchino Rossini

   Italian composer

   born: 29 February 1792, Pesaro; died: 13 November 1868, Passy

              L'Italiana in Algeri:  Overture

Gioacchino Rossini was a master of operatic coloratura (ornamental singing) and a magician of orchestral effects.  A fine example of his colorful pen can be heard in the well-known Overture to his two-act comic opera, L’Italiana in Algeri, composed in 1813.  Rossini was just 21 years old but was already an experienced craftsman who had enjoyed the success of five other comic operas, as well as Tancredi, his first venture in serious opera.

The storyline of L’Italiana in Algeri concerns a fatuous governor, Mustafa, who is bored with one of his harem wives, the devoted Anita.  He orders his captured foreign servant, Lindoro, to find him a young Italian woman, one of those gentle beauties he has heard so much about.  Just then, an Italian ship is wrecked off-shore, and one of the passengers is the lovely and true Isabella, who set sail to find her missing lover – who turns out to be the governor’s servant, Lindoro.  To get rid of his wife, governor Mustafa decides that Lindoro should marry her, but first his servant should bring Isabella so the governor can have a look for himself.  Sure enough, at the sight of her beauty the silly governor falls wildly in love and insists that everything proceed as ordered.

At this point everyone is flustered except savvy Isabella, who knows very well how to handle men, especially the self-centered variety.  Through a series of hilarious scenes, she finally grants governor Mustafa a chance to approach his goal, but coyly invites the governor’s wife Anita to observe.  Anita will get a lesson in how to handle pompous men.  Through a good thrashing of human nature, the adolescent designs of the governor are exposed.  He begs his wife Anita for forgiveness, whereupon Isabella and her true love Lindoro are united.  Great fun.

With a simple introduction in pizzicato strings, the Overture begins with one of several important solos in the oboe.  After replies in the clarinet and other instruments, the main theme blends into a sassy allegro.  Note also the brilliant work in the solo piccolo and Rossini’s trademark to add a crescendo on the fly.

A curious detail of this overture, like those of Mozart and others, is that the colorful tunes are not actually derived from the opera.  Instead, the music is intended to set the tone and mood, paint the musical ambiance of the first scene, and open the curtain.  Also, throughout his career Rossini was a well-known procrastinator who sometimes dashed off his splendid overtures just hours before the downbeat.  He once remarked, “There is nothing so inspiring as the thought that the impresario will throw me from the roof of the opera house unless I delivered the overture in time for that evening’s performance.”

program notes by Edward Yadzinsky