William Tell (Rossini)
| Guillaume Tell | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Gioachino Rossini | |
Lithography of the composer by Charlet Ory, 1829
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| Librettist | |
| Language | French |
| Based on |
Wilhelm Tell by Friedrich Schiller |
| Premiere | 3 August 1829 Salle Le Peletier, Paris |
Guillaume Tell (English: William Tell, Italian: Guglielmo Tell) is a French opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. Based on Friedrich Schiller's play William Tell, which drew on the William Tell legend, the opera was Rossini's last, although he lived for nearly forty more years. Fabio Luisi said that Rossini planned for William Tell to be his last opera even as he composed it. The overture, in four sections and featuring a depiction of a storm as well as a vivacious finale, the "March of the Swiss Soldiers," is often played.
Charles Malherbe, archivist at the Paris Opéra, discovered the original orchestral score of the opera at a secondhand book seller's shop, resulting in its being acquired by the Paris Conservatoire.
It was first performed by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier on 3 August 1829, but within three performances cuts were being made and after a year only three acts were performed. The opera's length, roughly four hours of music, and casting requirements, such as the high range required for the tenor part, have contributed to the difficulty of producing the work. When performed, the opera is often cut. Performances have been given in both French and Italian. Political concerns have also contributed to the varying fortunes of the work.
In Italy, because the work glorified a revolutionary figure against authority, the opera encountered difficulties with the Italian censors, and the number of productions in Italy was limited. The Teatro San Carlo produced the opera in 1833, but then did not give another production for around 50 years. The first Venice production, at the Teatro La Fenice, was not until 1856. By contrast, in Vienna, in spite of censorship problems there, the Vienna Court Opera gave 422 performances over the years 1830–1907. As Hofer, or the Tell of the Tyrol, the opera was first given in at Drury Lane in London on 1 May 1830 (in English), with a production in Italian following in 1839 at Her Majesty's, and in French at Covent Garden in 1845. In New York, William Tell was first presented on 19 September 1831. It was revived at the Metropolitan Opera in 1923 with Ponselle and Martinelli, and there were revivals during the 1930s in Milan, Rome, Paris, Berlin and Florence. When the opera was performed at Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) in 1893, an anarchist threw two Orsini bombs in the theatre.
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