Gioachino Rossini

Gioachino Rossini
Photograph by Étienne Carjat, 1865
Born	29 February 1792 Pesaro, Papal States of Italy
Died	13 November 1868(1868-11-13) (aged 76) Passy, Paris
Occupation	Composer
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Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Italian: [dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni]; 29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote operas, as well as some sacred music, songs, chamber music and piano pieces.

A precocious composer of operas, he made his full debut at the age of eighteen (with La cambiale di matrimonio). His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella). He also wrote a string of serious operas in Italian, including works such as Tancredi, Otello and Semiramide. The semi-serious opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) has one of Rossini's most celebrated overtures. After moving to Paris in 1824, he eventually started to write in French. His last opera, the epic Guillaume Tell (William Tell), replete with its iconic overture, helped usher in grand opera in France.

After composing thirty-nine significant operas in nineteen years Rossini retired from the theatre in 1829. Later, he was affected by both physical and mental illnesses and for decades wrote relatively little apart from a setting of the Stabat Mater. A return to Paris from Italy in 1855 was followed by better health and the provision of exclusive musical and culinary soirées. During these, he presented salon music in the form of songs, piano pieces and small chamber ensembles that he called "Sins of Old Age". He considered the last of these "Sins" to be the unusually scored Petite messe solennelle (Little solemn mass) that he wrote in 1863.