Buy Rossini Opera

Review by Adam Christensen:

As with the other Black Dog Opera Library Collections, the Barber of Seville combines CDs of the full opera with a 140+ page hardbound book of pictures, history, libretto and critique. It is perfect both for those new to opera and for the opera savvy. Author David Foil offers a historical critique of the Barber of Seville and relates the impact it had on the music world. Foil also tells the story of Rossini’s experiences writing the opera, which took less than one month.The musical recordings alone are reason to buy the book. Perhaps the greatest opera conductor of our time, James Levine, conducts Beverly Sills, Sherrill Milnes and the London Symphony Orchestra in a wonderful rendition of this famous opera. I highly recommend this book and CD to anyone. Nowhere else can you find such a complete package of music, words and pictures for such a reasonable price. So, if you wish to listen to the famous strains of “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro” this is your book.

Review by :

This book and CD set are the perfect combination for those who are new to the world of opera and not fluent in foreign language. Better than just a synopsis, the libretto in English lets you read every word so you won’t miss the humor or pathos. As a homeschooling mom, I really appreciated this set as a teaching tool. I hope to increase my collection of The Black Dog Opera Library series.

Review by John Cragg:

This work contains a complete listing of the operas of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. They are presented in chronological order by composer, unnumbered to make reference to the discography more difficult. The latter is fairly useless. In most cases, only one version is listed, often one no longer available, with absolutely no discussion of the merits of the recording, either in absolute terms or relative to others. The text is very long on trivia connected with the first production with no analysis of what effect any of this had on the composition, and virtually no discussion of subsequent revisions and changes. In the case of the more obsure opera, there may be some trivia about performances in the twentieth century as well. Analysis where it occurs at all is usually superficial. One gets no idea of the composer’s development, or the development of bel canto writing. Most of the few connections drawn among the various composers comes through rather snide comments that one piece or another reminds the author of someone else.

Review by Dr. John W. Rippon:

There is a characteristic lilt to the music of Rossini and appropriately there is a lilt to the writing of Richard Osborne in his revised edition of the life of Rossini. The biographer presents enough information of interest for the devoted amateur, as I am, to grasp some appreciation of the person and the events behind the deeply loved works of this great master. This is not a data-filled three volume Verdi biography of Budden or a Spitta or Schweitzer on Bach but more akin to the anecdotal Vie de Rossini of Stendhal (but more accurate). It’s the story of an extraorinarily talented master composer that fell into one bed of roses after another for most of his life. The tiny Adriatic town of Pesero, a backwater for most of the ages, has come to be a festival site where the Rossini Institute presents his operas from critical editions and promotes ongoing scholarship on Rossini and his era. It was here that the Rossinis were blest with the birth of their only child five months after marriage. This occurred on 29 February 1792. Father Giuseppe was an itinerant horn and trumpet player and mother, Anna, was a soprano accomplished enough to have her name listed on handbills of concert engagements. A very musical family but without status or money. Rossini’s love and prowess in music developed early. His father was his first teacher and he accompanied his mother on tour of an itinerant Buffo comedy company and sang with her as well. At age twelve he sarted composing sonatas for strings and other works. He soon was writing overtures and incidental music for the shows he was in. At 18 he wrote his first staged work, a farsa comica, called La Cambiale Matrimonio. It was a great success and is still given regularly in Italy and elsewhere. Success followed success and he wrote fast and furiously. In those days reusing previously composed material in a new setting was considered acceptable. Thus we have the overture to the Barber of Seville being used for three quite different operas. Even incorporating sections from other composers’ compositions, called “pastiches”, was allowed. But Rossini’s final products were all his own and many are masterpieces. He retired from Italian opera at age 32 having written over thirty operas and took up residence in Paris. He will write or rewrite five more operas in French along with numerous other works called “Sins of Old Age”; his last opera Guilliame Tell is a French Grand Opera that was given some 500 times during his lifetime. He lived the “good life” with his second wife Olympe and presided over a grand salon in a fashionable Paris studio. In later life he had serious health problems and died at 76. The book then devotes chapters to anaysis of most of his operas as well as religious and chamber works. Some of his operas were failures at the time first given but have become appreciated in modern productions e.g. Ermione, Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghliterra etc. He said it would take time for some of his children to find favor. Osborne also includes a very useful Calender from age 1 to 76 with events in Rossini’s life and Contemporary Events, An excellent list of all the composers works and prima dates makes this a useful reference book. It is a great addition to the music lovers bookshelf.