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{{Short description|Italian opera composer (1792–1868)}}
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[[File:Rossini young-circa-1815.jpg|thumb|alt=Oil painting of head and torso of Rossini with medium length dark hair|Rossini as a young man, {{circa|1810–1815}}]]

'''Gioachino{{refn|According to his baptismal certificate, Rossini's first name was originally ''Giovacchino'',{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=84}} and he is so referred to in at least one later document from his early years.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=9}} In the ''Cambridge Companion to Rossini'', the editor, Emanuele Senici, writes that Rossini spelt the name variously as ''Gioachino'' or ''Gioacchino'' in his early years, before finally settling on the former in the 1830s. The latter spelling is now more usual among bearers of the forename, but Rossini experts generally regard ''Gioachino'' as the appropriate form so far as the composer is concerned.{{sfn|Senici|2004|p=xiv}} Among the authorities favouring that spelling are the Fondazione G. Rossini in Pisa,{{sfn|Fondazione G. Rossini}} the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'',{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc= Introduction}} and the Centro Italo-Americano per l'Opera (CIAO).{{sfn|Centro Italo-Americano per l'Opera }} |group= n}} Antonio Rossini'''{{refn|Pronunciation: {{IPAc-en|UK|ˌ|dʒ|oʊ|ə|ˈ|k|iː|n|oʊ|_|r|ɒ|ˈ|s|iː|n|i}},<ref>{{Cite dictionary |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Rossini,+Gioacchino+Antonio |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501140226/https://www.lexico.com/definition/rossini,_gioacchino_antonio?s=t |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 May 2021 |title=Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref><ref name="Collins">{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/rossini|title=Rossini|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="Longman">{{cite web|url=https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/gioacchino-rossini|title=Rossini, Gioacchino|work=[[Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English]]|publisher=[[Longman]]|access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|-|_|r|oʊ|ˈ|-|,_|r|ə|ˈ|-|,_|r|ɔː|ˈ|-}};<ref name="Collins"/><ref name="Longman"/><ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Rossini|access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Rossini|access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|it|dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni|lang|It-Gioachino Rossini.oga}}.|group=n}} (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late [[Classical period (music)|Classical ]] and early [[Romantic music|Romantic]] eras. He  gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some [[chamber music]] and [[piano piece]]s and some [[Church music|sacred music]]. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.

Born in [[Pesaro]] to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of twelve and was educated at music school in [[Bologna]]. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823, he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, [[Ferrara]], Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and a certain amount of self-borrowing. During this period he produced his most popular works, including the comic operas ''[[L'italiana in Algeri]]'', ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' (known in English as ''[[The Barber of Seville]]'') and ''[[La Cenerentola]]'', which brought to a peak the ''[[opera buffa]]'' tradition he inherited from masters such as [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]], [[Domenico Cimarosa]] and [[Giovanni Paisiello]]. He also composed ''[[opera seria]]'' works such as ''[[Tancredi]]'', ''[[Otello (Rossini)|Otello]]'' and ''[[Semiramide]]''. All of these attracted admiration for their innovation in melody, harmonic and instrumental colour, and dramatic form. In 1824 he was contracted by the [[Paris Opera|Opéra]] in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the [[coronation of Charles X]], ''[[Il viaggio a Reims]]'' (later cannibalised for his first [[French opera|opera in French]], ''[[Le comte Ory]]''), revisions of two of his [[Italian opera]]s, ''[[Le siège de Corinthe]]'' and ''[[Mosè in Egitto|Moïse]]'', and in 1829 his last opera, ''[[William Tell (opera)|Guillaume Tell]]''.

Rossini's withdrawal from opera for the last 40 years of his life has never been fully explained; contributory factors may have been ill-health, the wealth his success had brought him, and the rise of spectacular [[grand opera]] under composers such as [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]]. From the early 1830s to 1855, when he left Paris and was based in Bologna, Rossini wrote relatively little. On his return to Paris in 1855 he became renowned for his musical salons on Saturdays, regularly attended by musicians and the artistic and fashionable circles of Paris, for which he wrote the entertaining pieces ''[[Péchés de vieillesse]]''. Guests included [[Franz Liszt]], [[Anton Rubinstein]], [[Giuseppe Verdi]], Meyerbeer, and [[Joseph Joachim]]. Rossini's last major composition was his ''[[Petite messe solennelle]]'' (1863).

==Life and career==
===Early life===
{{multiple image|title=Rossini's parents|caption_align=center| align = right | direction = horizontal | header_align = center | footer_align = left | image1 = Giuseppe Rossini (father of Gioachino Rossini).jpg| width1 = 207| alt1=painting of elderly man, smiling at the artists|caption1 = Giuseppe Rossini<br />(1758–1839) | image2 = Anna Rossini (mother of Gioachino Rossini).jpg|alt2=painting of a middle-aged woman, looking with serious expression in the direction of the painter| width2 =200 | caption2 = Anna Rossini<br />(1771–1827)}}

Rossini was born on 29 February in 1792<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gioachino-Rossini |title=Gioachino Rossini |encyclopedia=Britannica |access-date=27 February 2024}}</ref> in [[Pesaro]], a town on the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] coast of Italy that was then part of the [[Papal States]].{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p= 9}} He was the only child of Giuseppe Rossini, a trumpeter and horn player, and his wife Anna, ''née'' Guidarini, a seamstress by trade, daughter of a baker.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=4}} Giuseppe Rossini was charming but impetuous and feckless; the burden of supporting the family and raising the child fell mainly on Anna, with some help from her mother and mother-in-law.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|pp= 10–11}}{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=9}} [[Stendhal]], who published a colourful biography of Rossini in 1824,{{sfn|Prunières|1921|p=143}} wrote:

{{Blockquote|Rossini's portion from his father, was the true native heirship of an Italian: a little music, a little religion, and a volume of [[Ariosto]]. The rest of his education was consigned to the legitimate school of southern youth, the society of his mother, the young singing girls of the company, those prima donnas in embryo, and the gossips of every village through which they passed. This was aided and refined by the musical barber and news-loving coffee-house keeper of the Papal village.{{sfn|Stendhal|1824|p=4}}{{refn|Stendhal's ''Memoirs of Rossini'', quoted here, is not the same as his ''Life of Rossini'', and is believed to be compiled from the author's first draft. The musicologist [[Henry Prunières]] commented in the 20th century, "From the historical point of view this [i.e. the ''Memoirs''] is the first and, without doubt, the best book written on Rossini in the first half of the nineteenth century. For Stendhalians, however, it is far from possessing the same interest as ''The Life of Rossini'', which is an improvisation of genius, exuberant with life, bubbling over with ideas."{{sfn|Prunières|1921|p=143}}|group= n}}|}}
Giuseppe was imprisoned at least twice: first in 1790 for insubordination to local authorities in a dispute about his employment as town trumpeter; and in 1799 and 1800 for republican activism and support of the troops of [[Napoleon]] against the Pope's Austrian backers.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=5}} In 1798, when Rossini was aged six, his mother began a career as a professional singer in comic opera, and for a little over a decade was a considerable success in cities including [[Trieste]] and [[Bologna]], before her untrained voice began to fail.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=11}}

In 1802 the family moved to [[Lugo, Emilia-Romagna|Lugo]], near [[Ravenna]], where Rossini received a good basic education in Italian, Latin and arithmetic as well as music.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=11}} He studied the horn with his father and other music with a priest, Giuseppe Malerbe, whose extensive library contained works by [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], both little known in Italy at the time, but inspirational to the young Rossini. He was a quick learner, and by the age of twelve, he had composed a set of [[Six string sonatas (Rossini)|six sonatas]] for four stringed instruments, which were performed under the aegis of a rich patron in 1804.{{refn|The quartets were written for the unusual combination of two violins, one cello and one double bass. They achieved some popularity in 1825 and 1826 when five of the six were published in an arrangement for the traditional [[string quartet]] combination of two violins, one viola and one cello. The remaining sonata was not published until 1954.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=13}}|group= n}} Two years later he was admitted to the recently opened [[Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini|Liceo Musicale, Bologna]], initially studying singing, cello and piano, and joining the composition class soon afterwards.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;1. Early years}} He wrote some substantial works while a student, including a mass and a cantata, and after two years he was invited to continue his studies. He declined the offer: the strict academic regime of the Liceo had given him a solid compositional technique, but as his biographer Richard Osborne puts it, "his instinct to continue his education in the real world finally asserted itself".{{sfn|Osborne|2004|pp=11–12}}

While still at the Liceo, Rossini had performed in public as a singer and worked in theatres as a [[répétiteur]] and keyboard soloist.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=16}} In 1810 at the request of the popular tenor [[Domenico Mombelli]] he wrote his first operatic score, a two-act operatic ''[[Dramma per musica|dramma serio]]'', ''[[Demetrio e Polibio]]'', to a libretto by Mombelli's wife. It was publicly staged in 1812, after the composer's first successes.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;1. Early years}} Rossini and his parents concluded that his future lay in composing operas. The main operatic centre in northeastern Italy was [[Venice]]; under the tutelage of the composer [[Giovanni Morandi (composer)|Giovanni Morandi]], a family friend, Rossini moved there in late 1810, when he was eighteen.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|pp=25–25}}

===First operas: 1810–1815===
Rossini's first opera to be staged was ''[[La cambiale di matrimonio]]'',{{refn|"The Marriage Contract"|group= n}} a one-act comedy, given at the small [[Teatro San Moisè]] in November 1810. The piece was a great success, and Rossini received what then seemed to him a considerable sum: "forty ''[[Italian scudo|scudi]]'' – an amount I had never seen brought together".{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=27}} He later described the San Moisè as an ideal theatre for a young composer learning his craft – "everything tended to facilitate the début of a novice composer":{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;2. 1810–1813}} it had no chorus, and a small company of principals; its main repertoire consisted of one-act comic operas (''[[farsa|farse]]''), staged with modest scenery and minimal rehearsal.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=13}} Rossini followed the success of his first piece with three more ''farse'' for the house: ''[[L'inganno felice]]'' (1812),{{refn|"The Lucky Deception"|group= n}} ''[[La scala di seta]]'' (1812),{{refn|"The Silken Ladder"|group= n}} and ''[[Il signor Bruschino]]'' (1813).{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=274}}

Rossini maintained his links with Bologna, where in 1811 he had a success directing Haydn's ''[[The Seasons (Haydn)|The Seasons]]'',{{sfn|Ricciardi|2003|p=56}} and a failure with his first full-length opera, ''[[L'equivoco stravagante]]''.{{refn|"The Extravagant Misunderstanding"|group= n}}{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=xviii}}{{sfn|Osborne|2007|pp=17–18}} He also worked for opera houses in [[Ferrara]] and Rome.{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=xix}} In mid-1812 he received a commission from [[La Scala]], Milan, where his two-act comedy ''[[La pietra del paragone]]''{{refn|"The Touchstone"|group= n}} ran for fifty-three performances, a considerable run for the time, which brought him not only financial benefits, but exemption from military service and the title of ''maestro di cartello'' – a composer whose name on advertising posters guaranteed a full house.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=13}} The following year his first ''[[opera seria]]'', ''[[Tancredi]]'', did well at [[La Fenice]] in Venice, and even better at Ferrara, with a rewritten, tragic ending.{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=xix}} The success of ''Tancredi'' made Rossini's name known internationally; productions of the opera followed in London (1820) and New York (1825).{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=328}} Within weeks of ''Tancredi'', Rossini had another box-office success with his comedy ''[[L'italiana in Algeri]]'',{{refn|"The Italian Girl in Algiers"|group= n}} composed in great haste and premiered in May 1813.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=331}}

1814 was a less remarkable year for the rising composer, neither ''[[Il turco in Italia]]''{{refn|"The Turk in Italy"|group= n}} or ''[[Sigismondo]]'' pleasing the Milanese or Venetian public, respectively.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=332}}{{sfn|Osborne|1994|p=44}} 1815 marked an important stage in Rossini's career. In May he moved to [[Naples]], to take up the post of director of music for the royal theatres. These included the [[Teatro di San Carlo]],{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=xix}} the city's leading opera house; its manager [[Domenico Barbaia]] was to be an important influence on the composer's career there.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=24}}

===Naples and ''Il barbiere'': 1815–1820===
[[File:Alexandre Fragonard - Scène de L'orage (Barbier de Séville).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|The storm scene from ''[[The Barber of Seville|Il barbiere]]'' in an 1830 lithograph by [[Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard|Alexandre Fragonard]]]]
The musical establishment of Naples was not immediately welcoming to Rossini, who was seen as an intruder into its cherished operatic traditions. The city had once been the operatic capital of Europe;{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=46}} the memory of [[Domenico Cimarosa|Cimarosa]] was revered and [[Giovanni Paisiello|Paisiello]] was still living, but there were no local composers of any stature to follow them, and Rossini quickly won the public and critics round.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;4. Naples and the opera seria, 1815–23}} Rossini's first work for the San Carlo, ''[[Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra]]''{{refn|"Elizabeth, Queen of England"|group=n}} was a [[dramma per musica]] in two acts, in which he reused substantial sections of his earlier works, unfamiliar to the local public. The Rossini scholars [[Philip Gossett]] and Patricia Brauner write, "It is as if Rossini wished to present himself to the Neapolitan public by offering a selection of the best music from operas unlikely to be revived in Naples."{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=334}} The new opera was received with tremendous enthusiasm, as was the Neapolitan premiere of ''L'italiana in Algeri'', and Rossini's position in Naples was assured.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=48}}

For the first time, Rossini was able to write regularly for a resident company of first-rate singers and a fine orchestra, with adequate rehearsals, and schedules that made it unnecessary to compose in a rush to meet deadlines.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;4. Naples and the opera seria, 1815–23}} Between 1815 and 1822 he composed eighteen more operas: nine for Naples and nine for opera houses in other cities. In 1816, for the [[Teatro Argentina]] in Rome, he composed the opera that was to become his best-known: ''[[The Barber of Seville|Il barbiere di Siviglia]]'' (''The Barber of Seville''). There was already [[The Barber of Seville (Paisiello)|a popular opera of that title by Paisiello]], and Rossini's version was originally given the same title as its hero, ''Almaviva''.{{refn|In full, ''Almaviva, ossia L'inutile precauzione'' – Almaviva, or the Useless Precaution.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=334}}|group= n}} Despite an unsuccessful opening night, with mishaps on stage and many pro-Paisiello and anti-Rossini audience members, the opera quickly became a success, and by the time of its first revival, in Bologna a few months later, it was billed by its present Italian title and it rapidly eclipsed Paisiello's setting.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=334}}{{refn|Paisiello's version had vanished from the operatic repertory by the 1820s, along with his other once-popular operas, such as ''[[Nina (opera)|Nina]]''.{{sfn|Robinson|2002}}|group= n}}
[[File:Isabella Colbran in Saffo 1817.jpg|thumb|alt=painting of young woman in long white frock with purple shawl; she holds a lyre|upright|[[Isabella Colbran]], ''[[prima donna]]'' of the [[Teatro San Carlo]], who married Rossini in 1822]]
Rossini's operas for the Teatro San Carlo were substantial, mainly serious pieces. His ''[[Otello (Rossini)|Otello]]'' (1816) provoked [[Lord Byron]] to write, "They have been crucifying ''[[Othello]]'' into an opera: music good, but lugubrious – but as for the words!"{{sfn|Osborne|1994|p=65}} Nonetheless, the piece proved generally popular and held the stage in frequent revivals until it was overshadowed by [[Otello|Verdi's version]], seven decades later.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|pp= 74 and 76–77}} Among his other works for the house were ''[[Mosè in Egitto]]'', based on the biblical story of [[Moses]] and the [[the Exodus|Exodus]] from Egypt (1818), and ''[[La donna del lago]]'', from [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]]'s poem ''[[The Lady of the Lake (poem)|The Lady of the Lake]]'' (1819). For La Scala he wrote the [[opera semiseria]] ''[[La gazza ladra]]'' (1817),{{refn|"The Thieving Magpie"|group= n}} and for Rome his version of the [[Cinderella]] story, ''[[La Cenerentola]]'' (1817).{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;3. From 'Tancredi' to 'La gazza ladra'}} In 1817 came the first performance of one of his operas (''L'Italiana'') at the [[Comédie-Italienne|Theâtre-Italien]] in Paris; its success led to others of his operas being staged there, and eventually to his contract in Paris from 1824 to 1830.{{sfn|Charlton & Trevitt|1980|p= 214}}

Rossini kept his personal life as private as possible, but he was known for his susceptibility to singers in the companies he worked with. Among his lovers in his early years were [[Ester Mombelli]] (Domenico's daughter) and [[Marietta Marcolini|Maria Marcolini]] of the Bologna company.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|pp=27–28}} By far the most important of these relationships – both personal and professional – was with [[Isabella Colbran]], prima donna of the Teatro San Carlo (and former mistress of Barbaia). Rossini had heard her sing in Bologna in 1807, and when he moved to Naples he wrote a succession of important roles for her in ''[[opere serie]]''.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=300}}{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=25}}

===Vienna and London: 1820–1824===
By the early 1820s, Rossini was beginning to tire of Naples. The failure of his operatic tragedy ''[[Ermione]]'' the previous year convinced him that he and the Neapolitan audiences had had enough of each other.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=66}} An insurrection in Naples against the monarchy, though [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies#1820 revolution|quickly crushed]], unsettled Rossini;{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=99}} when Barbaia signed a contract to take the company to Vienna, Rossini was glad to join them, but did not reveal to Barbaia that he had no intention of returning to Naples afterwards.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=70}} He travelled with Colbran, in March 1822, breaking their journey at Bologna, where they were married in the presence of his parents in a small church in [[Castenaso]] a few miles from the city.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=92}} The bride was thirty-seven, the groom thirty.{{refn|[[Stendhal]], whose dislike of Colbran is undisguised in his 1824 biography of Rossini, put the bride's age at 40 to 50, and suggested that Rossini married her for her (considerable) money.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=106}}|group= n}}

In Vienna, Rossini received a hero's welcome; his biographers describe it as "unprecedentedly feverish enthusiasm",{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=95}} "Rossini fever",{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=75}} and "near hysteria".{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=17}} The authoritarian chancellor of the [[Austrian Empire]], [[Klemens von Metternich|Metternich]], liked Rossini's music, and thought it free of all potential revolutionary or republican associations. He was therefore happy to permit the San Carlo company to perform the composer's operas.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|pp=97–98}} In a three-month season they played six of them, to audiences so enthusiastic that [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s assistant, [[Anton Schindler]], described it as "an idolatrous orgy".{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=75}}

[[File:Charles Motte - Rossini et Georges IV - la soirée de Brighton.jpg|thumb|left|alt=drawing of plump man in court dress greeting a slimmer, balding one, also in formal court dress| [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] (left) greeting Rossini at the [[Brighton Pavilion]], 1823]]While in Vienna Rossini heard Beethoven's ''[[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Eroica]]'' symphony, and was so moved that he determined to meet the reclusive composer. He finally managed to do so, and later described the encounter to many people, including [[Eduard Hanslick]] and [[Richard Wagner]]. He recalled that although conversation was hampered by Beethoven's deafness and Rossini's ignorance of German, Beethoven made it plain that he thought Rossini's talents were not for serious opera,{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=100}} and that "above all" he should "do more ''Barbiere''" ''(Barbers)''.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=76}}{{refn|"Vor allem machen Sie noch viele Barbiere".{{sfn|Caeyers|2012|p=667}}|group= n}}

After the Vienna season Rossini returned to Castenaso to work with his librettist, [[Gaetano Rossi]], on ''[[Semiramide]]'', commissioned by La Fenice. It was premiered in February 1823, his last work for the Italian theatre. Colbran starred, but it was clear to everyone that her voice was in serious decline, and ''Semiramide'' ended her career in Italy.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=109}} The work survived that one major disadvantage, and entered the international operatic repertory, remaining popular throughout the 19th century;{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=343}} in Richard Osborne's words, it brought "[Rossini's] Italian career to a spectacular close."{{sfn|Osborne|2002d}}

In November 1823 Rossini and Colbran set off for London, where a lucrative contract had been offered. They stopped for four weeks ''en route'' in Paris. Although he was not as feverishly acclaimed by the Parisians as he had been in Vienna, he nevertheless had an exceptionally welcoming reception from the musical establishment and the public. When he attended a performance of ''Il barbiere'' at the Théâtre-Italien he was applauded, dragged onto the stage, and serenaded by the musicians. A banquet was given for him and his wife, attended by leading French composers and artists, and he found the cultural climate of Paris congenial.{{sfn|Prod'homme|1931|p=118}}

At the end of the year Rossini arrived in London, where he was received and made much of by the king, [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]], although the composer was by now unimpressed by royalty and aristocracy.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=119}} Rossini and Colbran had signed contracts for an opera season at the [[Her Majesty's Theatre#Second theatre: 1791–1867|King's Theatre]] in the [[Haymarket, London|Haymarket]]. Her vocal shortcomings were a serious liability, and she reluctantly retired from performing. Public opinion was not improved by Rossini's failure to provide a new opera, as promised.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=121}} The impresario Vincenzo Benelli defaulted on his contract with the composer, but this was not known to the London press and public, who blamed Rossini.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=121}}{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=90}}

In a 2003 biography of the composer, [[Gaia Servadio]] comments that Rossini and England were not made for each other. He was prostrated by the [[English Channel|Channel]] crossing and was unlikely to be enthused by the English weather or English cooking.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=123}} Although his stay in London was financially rewarding – the British press reported disapprovingly that he had earned over £30,000{{refn|A sum equal to £{{Inflation|UK|30000|1824|fmt=c}} today|group=n}} – he was happy to sign a contract at the French embassy in London to return to Paris, where he had felt much more at home.{{sfn|Blanning|2008|p=46}}{{sfn|Kendall|1992|pp=125–126}}

===Paris and final operas: 1824–1829===
[[File:Gioachino Rossini, 1828, by Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot.jpg|thumb|Rossini, painted in Paris in 1828 by [[Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot]]]]
Rossini's new, and highly remunerative, contract with the French government was negotiated under [[Louis XVIII]], who died in September 1824, soon after Rossini's arrival in Paris. It had been agreed that the composer would produce one [[grand opera]] for the Académie Royale de Musique and either an ''opera buffa'' or an ''opera semiseria'' for the Théâtre-Italien.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=125}} He was also to help run the latter theatre and revise one of his earlier works for revival there.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|pp=128–129}} The death of the king and the accession of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] changed Rossini's plans, and his first new work for Paris was ''[[Il viaggio a Reims]]'',{{refn|"The Journey to Rheims"|group=n}} an operatic entertainment given in June 1825 to celebrate Charles's coronation. It was Rossini's last opera with an Italian libretto.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=344}} He permitted only four performances of the piece,{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=128}}{{refn|The score was reconstructed from rediscovered manuscripts in the 1970s, and has since been staged and recorded.{{sfn|Everist|2005|pp=342–343}}|group= n}} intending to reuse the best of the music in a less ephemeral opera.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=18}} About half the score of ''[[Le comte Ory]]'' (1828) is from the earlier work.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=347}}

[[File:Le comte Ory - Dubois & chez Martinet - Final scene.jpg|alt=coloured drawing of leading operatic players in costume|thumb|Isolier, Ory, Adèle and Ragonde, in ''[[Le comte Ory]]'']]
Colbran's enforced retirement put a strain on the Rossinis' marriage, leaving her unoccupied while he continued to be the centre of musical attention and constantly in demand.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=109}} She consoled herself with what Servadio describes as "a new pleasure in shopping";{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=125}} for Rossini, Paris offered continual gourmet delights, as his increasingly rotund shape began to reflect.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=125}}{{refn|Several [[haute cuisine]] dishes were named after Rossini; some of them later featured on menus at his house after he returned to live in Paris in the 1850s. They included ''Crema alla Rossini'', ''[[Frittata]] alla Rossini'', ''[[Tournedos Rossini]]'', and were rich dishes that generally involved the use of [[truffles]] and [[foie gras]].{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=212}}|group=n}}

The first of the four operas Rossini wrote to French librettos were ''[[Le siège de Corinthe]]''{{refn|"The Siege of Corinth"|group=n}} (1826) and ''[[Mosè in Egitto|Moïse et Pharaon]]''{{refn|"Moses and Pharaoh"|group=n}} (1827). Both were substantial reworkings of pieces written for Naples: ''[[Maometto II]]'' and ''Mosè in Egitto''. Rossini took great care before beginning work on the first, learning to speak French and familiarising himself with traditional French operatic ways of declaiming the language. As well as dropping some of the original music that was in an ornate style unfashionable in Paris, Rossini accommodated local preferences by adding dances, hymn-like numbers and a greater role for the chorus.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=346}}

Rossini's mother, Anna, died in 1827; he had been devoted to her, and he felt her loss deeply. She and Colbran had never got on well, and Servadio suggests that after Anna died Rossini came to resent the surviving woman in his life.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=133}}

In 1828 Rossini wrote ''Le comte Ory'', his only French-language comic opera. His determination to reuse music from ''Il viaggio a Reims'' caused problems for his librettists, who had to adapt their original plot and write French words to fit existing Italian numbers, but the opera was a success, and was seen in London within six months of the Paris premiere, and in New York in 1831.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=347}} The following year Rossini wrote his long-awaited French grand opera, ''[[William Tell (opera)|Guillaume Tell]]'', based on [[Friedrich Schiller]]'s [[William Tell (play)|1804 play]] which drew on the [[William Tell]] legend.{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|p=348}}

===Early retirement: 1830–1855===
''Guillaume Tell'' was well received. The orchestra and singers gathered outside Rossini's house after the premiere and performed the rousing finale to the second act in his honour. The newspaper ''[[Le Globe]]'' commented that a new era of music had begun.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=137}} [[Gaetano Donizetti]] remarked that the first and last acts of the opera were written by Rossini, but the middle act was written by God.{{sfn|Kendall|1992|p=145}} The work was an undoubted success, without being a smash hit; the public took some time in getting to grips with it, and some singers found it too demanding.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=111}} It nonetheless was produced abroad within months of the premiere,{{refn|The London production was "selected and adapted to the English stage" by [[Henry Bishop (composer)|Henry Bishop]] and [[James Planché|J. R. Planché]], "with taste and ability" according to ''[[The Times]]'', and was given at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]] in May 1830 under the title ''Hofer, the Tell of the Tyrol''.{{sfn|The Times|1830|p=3}}|group= n}} and there was no suspicion that it would be the composer's last opera.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=79–80}}

[[File:OlympePélissierStudy.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=painting of head and torso of young white woman, not wearing very much clothing|[[Olympe Pélissier]] in 1830]] [[File:Rossini 7.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=photograph of middle-aged man, looking ill|Rossini, {{circa|1850}}]]
Jointly with ''Semiramide'', ''Guillaume Tell'' is Rossini's longest opera, at three hours and forty-five minutes,{{sfn|Gossett & Brauner|1997|pp=343 and 348}} and the effort of composing it left him exhausted. Although within a year he was planning an operatic treatment of the [[Faust]] story,{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=137}} events and ill health overtook him. After the opening of ''Guillaume Tell'' the Rossinis had left Paris and were staying in Castenaso. Within a year events in Paris had Rossini hurrying back. Charles X was overthrown in [[July Revolution|a revolution in July]] 1830, and the new administration, headed by [[Louis Philippe I]], announced radical cutbacks in government spending. Among the cuts was Rossini's lifetime annuity, won after hard negotiation with the previous regime.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=83}} Attempting to restore the annuity was one of Rossini's reasons for returning. The other was to be with his new mistress, [[Olympe Pélissier]]. He left Colbran in Castenaso; she never returned to Paris and they never lived together again.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|pp=140–141}}

The reasons for Rossini's withdrawal from opera have been continually discussed during and since his lifetime.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;6. Retirement}}{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=19}} Some have supposed that aged thirty-seven and in variable health, having negotiated a sizeable annuity from the French government, and having written thirty-nine operas, he simply planned to retire and kept to that plan. In a 1934 study of the composer, the critic [[Francis Toye]] coined the phrase "The Great Renunciation", and called Rossini's retirement a "phenomenon unique in the history of music and difficult to parallel in the whole history of art":
{{blockquote|Is there any other artist who thus deliberately, in the very prime of life, renounced that form of artistic production which had made him famous throughout the civilized world?{{sfn|Toye|1947|p=139}}|}}
The poet [[Heinrich Heine|Heine]] compared Rossini's retirement with [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s withdrawal from writing: two geniuses recognising when they had accomplished the unsurpassable and not seeking to follow it.{{refn|Heine added that the title "The Swan of Pesaro", sometimes applied to Rossini, was clearly wrong: "Swans sing at the end of their lives, but Rossini has become silent in the middle of his."{{sfn|Heine|2008 |p=18 }}|group=n}} Others, then and later, suggested that Rossini had retired because of pique at the successes of [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]] and [[Fromental Halévy]] in the genre of grand opéra.{{refn|These suggestions often took on a tinge of [[Antisemitism|Jew-hatred]] – for example the assertion that Rossini had retired "until the Jews finished their Sabbath" (a quip sometimes, without foundation, attributed to Rossini himself),{{sfn|Gerhard|1998|p=116}} or [[Richard Wagner]]'s crack (in his 1851 ''[[Opera and Drama]]''), referring to the friendships of the [[Rothschild family]] with both Rossini and Meyerbeer (who stemmed from a banking family): "[Rossini] never could have dreamt that it would someday occur to the Bankers, for whom he had always made their music, to make it for themselves."{{sfn|Wagner|1995|p=47}}{{sfn|Conway|2012|p=249}} Such allegations were wide of the mark; Rossini was on friendly terms with Meyerbeer, visiting him regularly, and wrote a memorial elegy for male voice choir on Meyerbeer's death in 1864, "Pleure, muse sublime!" ("Weep, Sublime Muse!"){{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=118}}|group=n}} Modern Rossini scholarship has generally discounted such theories, maintaining that Rossini had no intention of renouncing operatic composition, and that circumstances rather than personal choice made ''Guillaume Tell'' his last opera.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=20}}{{sfn|Johnson|1993|p=74}} Gossett and Richard Osborne suggest that illness may have been a major factor in Rossini's retirement. From about this time, Rossini had intermittent bad health, both physical and mental. He had contracted [[gonorrhoea]] in earlier years, which later led to painful side-effects, from [[urethritis]] to [[arthritis]];{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=157}} he suffered from bouts of debilitating depression, which commentators have linked to several possible causes: [[cyclothymia]],{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=68}} or [[bipolar disorder]],{{sfn|Janka|2004}} or reaction to his mother's death.{{refn|Daniel W. Schwartz hypothesises that Rossini's failure to write any more operas after 1829 was due to "narcissistic withdrawal and depression" following his mother's death two years earlier.{{sfn|Schwartz|1990|p=435}} Richard Osborne rejects this as "idle speculation", "less well researched" than other psychological theories.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=78–80}}|group= n}}

For the next twenty-five years following ''Guillaume Tell'' Rossini composed little, although Gossett comments that his comparatively few compositions from the 1830s and 1840s show no falling off in musical inspiration.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;6. Retirement}} They include the ''Soirées musicales'' (1830–1835: a set of twelve songs for solo or duet voices and piano) and his [[Stabat Mater (Rossini)|Stabat Mater]] (begun in 1831 and completed in 1841).{{refn|The first version of the Stabat Mater consisted of six sections by Rossini and six by his friend [[Giovanni Tadolini]]. Under pressure from his publisher in Paris, Rossini later replaced Tadolini's contributions and the all-Rossini version was published in 1841.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;6. Retirement}}|group= n}} After winning his fight with the government over his annuity in 1835 Rossini left Paris and settled in Bologna. His return to Paris in 1843 for medical treatment by [[Jean Civiale]] sparked hopes that he might produce a new grand opera – it was rumoured that [[Eugène Scribe]] was preparing a libretto for him about [[Joan of Arc]]. The Opéra was moved to present a French version of ''Otello'' in 1844 which also included material from some of the composer's earlier operas. It is unclear to what extent – if at all – Rossini was involved with this production, which was in the event poorly received.{{sfn|Everist|2009|pp=644–646, 650}} More controversial was the ''[[pasticcio]]'' opera of ''[[Robert Bruce (opera)|Robert Bruce]]'' (1846), in which Rossini, by then returned to Bologna, closely cooperated by selecting music from his past operas which had not yet been performed in Paris, notably ''La donna del lago''. The Opéra sought to present ''Robert'' as a new Rossini opera. But although ''Othello'' could at least claim to be genuine, canonic Rossini, the historian [[Mark Everist]] notes that detractors argued that ''Robert'' was simply "fake goods, and from a bygone era at that"; he cites [[Théophile Gautier]] regretting that "the lack of unity could have been masked by a superior performance; unfortunately the tradition of Rossini's music was lost at the Opéra a long time ago."{{sfn|Everist|2009|pp=646–648, 650–651}}

The period after 1835 saw Rossini's formal separation from his wife, who remained at Castenaso (1837), and the death of his father at the age of eighty (1839).{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=278–279}} In 1845 Colbran became seriously ill, and in September Rossini travelled to visit her; a month later she died.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=165}} The following year Rossini and Pélissier were married in Bologna.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=278–279}} The events of the [[Revolutions of 1848|Year of Revolution]] in 1848 led Rossini to move away from the Bologna area, where he felt threatened by insurrection, and to make [[Florence]] his base, which it remained until 1855.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=218–282}}

By the early 1850s Rossini's mental and physical health had deteriorated to the point where his wife and friends feared for his sanity or his life. By the middle of the decade, it was clear that he needed to return to Paris for the most advanced medical care then available. In April 1855 the Rossinis set off for their final journey from Italy to France.{{sfn|Till|1983|pp=113–114}} Rossini returned to Paris aged sixty-three and made it his home for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=145}}

===Sins of old age: 1855–1868===
{{Quote box |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 | salign=right| quote = I offer these modest songs to my dear wife Olympe as a simple testimony of gratitude for the affectionate, intelligent care which she lavished on me during my overlong and terrible illness.| source = Dedication of ''Musique anodine'', 1857{{sfn|Stokes|2008}}| align=left| width=25%}}
Gossett observes that although an account of Rossini's life between 1830 and 1855 makes depressing reading, it is "no exaggeration to say that, in Paris, Rossini returned to life". He recovered his health and ''[[joie de vivre]]''. Once settled in Paris he maintained two homes: a flat in the [[rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin]], a smart central area, and a neo-classical villa built for him in [[Passy]], a [[Communes of France|commune]] now absorbed into the city, but then semi-rural.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|pp=146 and 153}} He and his wife established a [[Salon (gathering)|salon]] that became internationally famous.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;6. Retirement}}{{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=153}} The first of their Saturday evening gatherings – the ''samedi soirs'' – was held in December 1858, and the last, two months before he died in 1868.{{sfn|Osborne|2007|pp=153 and 354}}

[[File:Composer Rossini G 1865 by Carjat - Restoration.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Photo of fat old man looking genial and happy|Rossini in 1865, by [[Étienne Carjat]]]]
[[File:The grave of Rossini, Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.jpg|thumb|upright|Rossini's original grave monument, [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]], Paris|alt=funerary monument]]
Rossini began composing again. His music from his final decade was not generally intended for public performance, and he did not usually put dates of composition on the manuscripts. Consequently, musicologists have found it difficult to give definite dates for his late works, but the first, or among the first, was the song cycle ''Musique anodine'', dedicated to his wife and presented to her in April 1857.{{sfn|Marvin|1999|p=1006}} For their weekly salons he produced more than 150 pieces, including songs, solo piano pieces, and chamber works for many different combinations of instruments. He referred to them as his ''[[Péchés de vieillesse]]'' – "sins of old age".{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;6. Retirement}} The salons were held both at Beau Séjour – the Passy villa – and, in the winter, at the Paris flat. Such gatherings were a regular feature of Parisian life – the writer James Penrose has observed that the well-connected could easily attend different salons almost every night of the week – but the Rossinis' ''samedi soirs'' quickly became the most sought after: "an invitation was the city's highest social prize."{{sfn|Penrose|2017}} The music, carefully chosen by Rossini, was not only his own but included works by [[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi]], Haydn and Mozart and modern pieces by some of his guests. Among the composers who attended the salons, and sometimes performed, were [[Daniel Auber|Auber]], [[Charles Gounod|Gounod]], [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], [[Anton Rubinstein|Rubinstein]], Meyerbeer, and [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]. Rossini liked to call himself a fourth-class pianist, but the many famous pianists who attended the ''samedi soirs'' were dazzled by his playing.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=339}} Violinists such as [[Pablo Sarasate]] and [[Joseph Joachim]] and the leading singers of the day were regular guests.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=153}} In 1860, Wagner visited Rossini via an introduction from Rossini's friend [[Edmond Michotte collection#Biography|Edmond Michotte]] who some forty-five years later wrote his account of the genial conversation between the two composers.{{sfn|Michotte|1968|pp=27–85}}{{refn|Michotte was later to bequeath an [[Edmond Michotte collection|extensive collection of scores, documents and other Rossiniana]] to the Library of the [[Royal Conservatory of Brussels]].{{sfn|RCB}}|group=n}}

One of Rossini's few late works intended to be given in public was his ''[[Petite messe solennelle]]'', first performed in 1864.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=159}} In the same year Rossini was made a grand officer of the [[Legion of Honour]] by Napoleon III.{{sfn|Gallo|2012|p=xxiv}}

After a short illness, and an unsuccessful operation to treat [[colorectal cancer]], Rossini died at Passy on 13 November 1868 at the age of seventy-six.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=214}} He left Olympe a life interest in his estate, which after her death, ten years later, passed to the Commune of Pesaro for the establishment of a Liceo Musicale, and funded a home for retired opera singers in Paris.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=282–283 }} After a funeral service attended by more than four thousand people at the church of [[Sainte-Trinité, Paris|Sainte-Trinité]], Paris, Rossini's body was interred at the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]].{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=217}} In 1887 his remains were moved to the basilica of [[Santa Croce, Florence|Santa Croce]], Florence.{{sfn|Servadio|2003|p=222}}

==Music==
{{See also|List of compositions by Gioachino Rossini|List of operas by Gioachino Rossini}}

==="The Code Rossini"===
{{Quote box|width=250px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|quote="Tous les genres sont bons, hors le genre ennuyeux".{{refn|"All genres are good except the boring ones".|group= n}} |salign = left |source= Rossini, in a letter of 1868 (citing [[Voltaire]]){{sfn|Osborne|2007|p=vii}}}}The writer [[Julian Budden]], noting the formulas adopted early on by Rossini in his career and consistently followed by him thereafter as regards overtures, [[aria]]s, structures and ensembles, has called them "the Code Rossini" in a reference to the [[Code Napoléon]], the legal system established by the French Emperor.{{sfn|Budden|1973|p=12}} Rossini's overall style may indeed have been influenced more directly by the French: the historian [[John Rosselli (historian)|John Rosselli]] suggests that French rule in Italy at the start of the 19th century meant that "music had taken on new military qualities of attack, noise and speed – to be heard in Rossini."{{sfn|Rosselli|1991|p=22}} Rossini's approach to opera was inevitably tempered by changing tastes and audience demands. The formal "classicist" libretti of [[Metastasio]] which had underpinned late 18th century ''[[opera seria]]'' were replaced by subjects more to the taste of the age of [[Romanticism]], with stories demanding stronger characterisation and quicker action; a jobbing composer needed to meet these demands or fail.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;2. First period 1810–1813}} Rossini's strategies met this reality. A formulaic approach was logistically indispensable for Rossini's career, at least at the start: in the seven years 1812–1819, he wrote 27 operas,{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=Works}} often at extremely short notice. For ''[[La Cenerentola]]'' (1817), for example, he had just over three weeks to write the music before the première.{{sfn|Osborne|2002b}}

Such pressures led to a further significant element of Rossini's compositional procedures, not included in Budden's "Code", namely, recycling. The composer often transferred a successful overture to subsequent operas: thus the overture to ''[[La pietra del paragone]]'' was later used for the ''opera seria'' ''[[Tancredi]]'' (1813), and (in the other direction) the overture to ''[[Aureliano in Palmira]]'' (1813) ended as (and is today known as) the overture to the comedy ''[[The Barber of Seville|Il barbiere di Siviglia]] (The Barber of Seville)''.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;2. First period 1810–1813}}{{sfn|Osborne|2002c}} He also liberally re-employed arias and other sequences in later works. [[Spike Hughes]] notes that of the twenty-six numbers of ''[[Eduardo e Cristina]]'', produced in Venice in 1817, nineteen were lifted from previous works. "The audience&nbsp;... were remarkably good-humoured &nbsp;... and asked slyly why the libretto had been changed since the last performance".{{sfn|Hughes|1956|p=74}} Rossini expressed his disgust when the publisher [[Giovanni Ricordi]] issued a complete edition of his works in the 1850s: "The same pieces will be found several times, for I thought I had the right to remove from my fiascos those pieces which seemed best, to rescue them from shipwreck&nbsp;... A fiasco seemed to be good and dead, and now look they've resuscitated them all!"{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;3. From 'Tancredi' to 'La gazza ladra'}}

====Overtures====
[[Philip Gossett]] notes that Rossini "was from the outset a consummate composer of [[overture]]s". His basic formula for these remained constant throughout his career: Gossett characterises them as "[[sonata form|sonata]] movements without [[Development section|development]] sections, usually preceded by a slow introduction" with "clear melodies, exuberant rhythms [and] simple harmonic structure" and a ''[[crescendo]]'' climax.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;2. First period 1810–1813}} [[Richard Taruskin]] also notes that the second theme is always announced in a woodwind solo, whose "catchiness" "etch[es] a distinct profile in the aural memory", and that the richness and inventiveness of his handling of the orchestra, even in these early works, marks the start of "[t]he great nineteenth-century flowering of [[orchestration]]."{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|pp=20–21}}

====Arias====
[[File:Palpiti.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|alt=page of musical score|Extract from "Di tanti palpiti" (''Tancredi'')]]Rossini's handling of arias (and duets) in ''[[cavatina]]'' style marked a development from the eighteenth-century commonplace of [[recitative]] and aria. In the words of Rosselli, in Rossini's hands, "the aria became an engine for releasing emotion".{{sfn|Rosselli|1991|p=68}} Rossini's typical aria structure involved a lyrical introduction (''"cantabile"'') and a more intensive, brilliant, conclusion (''"cabaletta"''). This model could be adapted in various ways so as to forward the plot (as opposed to the typical eighteenth-century handling which resulted in the action coming to a halt as the requisite repeats of the ''[[da capo aria]]'' were undertaken). For example, they could be punctuated by comments from other characters (a convention known as ''"pertichini"''), or the chorus could intervene between the ''cantabile'' and the ''cabaletta'' so as to fire up the soloist. If such developments were not necessarily Rossini's own invention, he nevertheless made them his own by his expert handling of them.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|pp=27–28}} A landmark in this context is the ''cavatina'' ''"Di tanti palpiti"'' from ''Tancredi'', which both Taruskin and Gossett (amongst others) single out as transformative, "the most famous aria Rossini ever wrote",{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|p=28}} with a "melody that seems to capture the melodic beauty and innocence characteristic of Italian opera."{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;3. From 'Tancredi' to 'La gazza ladra'}}{{refn|On its notoriety, Rossini wrote of himself self-mockingly in a letter of 1865 to his publisher Ricordi as "the author of the too-famous ''cavatina'' 'Di tanti palpiti.' " Another clue to its familiarity with 19th-century audiences is that [[Richard Wagner]] made fun of the aria with a deliberate quote from it in the Tailor's Chorus in ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg|Die Meistersinger]]'' (1868).{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|p=28}}|group=n}} Both writers point out the typical Rossinian touch of avoiding an "expected" cadence in the aria by a sudden shift from the home key of F to that of A flat (see example); Taruskin notes the implicit pun, as the words talk of returning, but the music moves in a new direction.{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|p=33}} The influence was lasting; Gossett notes how the Rossinian ''cabaletta'' style continued to inform Italian opera as late as [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s ''[[Aida]]'' (1871).{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;3. From 'Tancredi' to 'La gazza ladra'}}

====Structure====
[[File:Tancredi Ferrara.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=text-only poster for operatic performance, listing cast|Poster for a performance of ''Tancredi'' in [[Ferrara]], 1813]]Such structural integration of the forms of vocal music with the dramatic development of the opera meant a sea-change from the Metastasian primacy of the aria; in Rossini's works, solo arias progressively take up a smaller proportion of the operas, in favour of duets (also typically in ''cantabile-cabaletta'' format) and ensembles.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;3. From 'Tancredi' to 'La gazza ladra'}}

During the late 18th century, creators of ''opera buffa'' had increasingly developed dramatic integration of the finales of each act. Finales began to "spread backwards", taking an ever larger proportion of the act, taking the structure of a musically continuous chain, accompanied throughout by orchestra, of a series of sections, each with its own characteristics of speed and style, mounting to a clamorous and vigorous final scene.{{sfn|Robinson|1980|p=560}} In his comic operas Rossini brought this technique to its peak and extended its range far beyond his predecessors. Of the finale to the first act of ''[[L'italiana in Algeri]]'', Taruskin writes that "[r]unning through almost a hundred pages of vocal score in record time, it is the most concentrated single dose of Rossini that there is."{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|p=25}}

Of greater consequence for the history of opera was Rossini's ability to progress this technique in the genre of ''opera seria''. Gossett in a very detailed analysis of the first-act finale of ''Tancredi'' identifies several elements in Rossini's practice. These include the contrast of "kinetic" action sequences, often characterised by orchestral motifs, with "static" expressions of emotion, the final "static" section in the form of a cabaletta, with all the characters joining in the final cadences. Gossett claims that it is "from the time of ''Tancredi'' that the cabaletta&nbsp;... becomes the obligatory closing section of each musical unit in the operas of Rossini and his contemporaries."{{sfn|Gossett|1971|p=328}}

===Early works===
With extremely few exceptions, all Rossini's compositions before the ''[[Péchés de vieillesse]]'' of his retirement involve the human voice. His very first surviving work (apart from a single song) is however a [[Six string sonatas (Rossini)|set of string sonatas]] for two violins, cello and double-bass, written at the age of 12 when he had barely begun instruction in composition. Tuneful and engaging, they indicate how remote the talented child was from the influence of the advances in musical form evolved by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven; the accent is on [[cantabile]] melody, colour, variation and virtuosity rather than [[musical development|transformational development]].{{sfn|Smith|1992}} These qualities are also evident in Rossini's early operas, especially his ''farse'' (one-act farces), rather than his more formal ''[[opera seria|opere serie]]''. Gossett notes that these early works were written at a time when "[t]he deposited mantles of [[Domenico Cimarosa|Cimarosa]] and [[Giovanni Paisiello|Paisiello]] were unfilled" – these were Rossini's first, and increasingly appreciated, steps in trying them on. The [[Teatro San Moisè]] in Venice, where his ''farse'' was first performed, and the [[La Scala]] Theatre of Milan which premiered his two-act opera ''La pietra del paragone'' (1812), were seeking works in that tradition; Gossett notes that in these operas "Rossini's musical personality began to take shape&nbsp;... many elements emerge that remain throughout his career" including "[a] love of sheer sound, of sharp and effective rhythms". The unusual effect employed in the overture of ''[[Il signor Bruschino]]'', (1813) deploying violin [[bow (music)|bows]] tapping rhythms on [[music stand]]s, is an example of such witty originality.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;2. First period 1810–1813}}{{refn|Although it did not always seem so attractive to its contemporary audiences or musicians: one review of the première of ''Bruschino'' commented "it is utterly incomprehensible how a maestro could write such a meaningless overture, one in which members of the orchestra beat their music stands; this was sinking so low that on the first night the musicians refused to cooperate."{{sfn|Rother|1989|p=6}}|group=n}}

===Italy, 1813–1823===
[[File:Domenico Barbaja-1820s.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=painting of prosperous-looking man in fur-collared black coat|left|[[Domenico Barbaja]] in Naples in the 1820s]]

The great success in Venice of the premieres of both ''Tancredi'' and the comic opera ''L'italiana in Algeri'' within a few weeks of each other (6 February 1813 and 22 May 1813 respectively) set the seal on Rossini's reputation as the rising opera composer of his generation. From the end of 1813 to mid-1814 he was in Milan creating two new operas for La Scala, ''[[Aureliano in Palmira]]'' and ''[[Il Turco in Italia]]''. Arsace in ''Aureliano'' was sung by the ''[[castrato]]'' [[Giovanni Velluti (castrato)|Giambattista Velluti]]; this was the last opera role Rossini wrote for a ''castrato'' singer as the norm became to use [[contralto]] voices – another sign of change in operatic taste. Rumour had it that Rossini was displeased by Velluti's [[ornamentation (music)|ornamentation]] of his music; but in fact throughout his Italian period, up to ''[[Semiramide]]'' (1823), Rossini's written vocal lines become increasingly florid, and this is more appropriately credited to the composer's own changing style.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;3. From 'Tancredi' to 'La gazza ladra'}}{{refn|But there were limits. When [[Adelina Patti]] performed at one of Rossini's Saturday soirées, during his retirement, an over-the-top version of ''"[[Una voce poco fa]]"'' from ''The Barber'', the composer gently enquired "Very nice, my dear, and who wrote the piece you have just performed?"{{sfn|Osborne|2002c}}|group=n}}

Rossini's work in Naples contributed to this stylistic development. The city, which was the cradle of the operas of Cimarosa and Paisiello, had been slow to acknowledge the composer from Pesaro, but [[Domenico Barbaia]] invited him in 1815 on a seven-year contract to manage his theatres and compose operas. For the first time, Rossini was able to work over a long period with a company of musicians and singers, including amongst the latter [[Isabella Colbran]], [[Andrea Nozzari]], [[Giovanni David]] and others, who as Gossett notes "all specialized in florid singing" and "whose vocal talents left an indelible and not wholly positive mark on Rossini's style". Rossini's first operas for Naples, ''[[Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra]]'' and ''[[La gazzetta]]'' were both largely recycled from earlier works, but ''[[Otello (Rossini)|Otello]]'' (1816) is marked not only by its virtuoso vocal lines but by its masterfully integrated last act, with its drama underlined by melody, orchestration and tonal colour; here, in Gossett's opinion "Rossini came of age as a dramatic artist."{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;4. Naples and the opera seria, 1815–23}} He further comments:

{{blockquote|The growth of Rossini's style from ''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' to ''[[Zelmira]]'' and, ultimately, ''[[Semiramide]]'', is a direct consequence of th[e] continuity [he experienced in Naples]. Not only did Rossini compose some of his finest operas for Naples, but these operas profoundly affected operatic composition in Italy and made possible the developments that were to lead to Verdi.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;4. Naples and the opera seria, 1815–23}}|}}

[[File:Il signor Tambourossini - Delaroche.jpg|thumb|alt=caricature of man in Turkish dress, carrying and banging a large drum|upright=1.3|"Il signor Tambourossini, ou la nouvelle mélodie" (1821). Combining the composer's name with ''tambour'' (French for "drum"), this lithograph by the French artist [[Paul Delaroche]] makes clear the early Rossini's European reputation as a creator of noise, including a trumpet and drum accompanied by a magpie, several references to his early operas,{{refn|The magpie is also a reference to ''La gazza ladra'', the oriental dress references ''Otello'' or maybe ''Il turco in Italia''{{sfn|Walton|2007|p=15}}|group=n}} and showing him and [[Midas|King Midas]] literally trampling on sheet-music and violins, while [[Apollo]] (the god of music) makes his escape in the background.{{sfn|Walton|2007|p=15}}]]

By now, Rossini's career was arousing interest across Europe. Others came to Italy to study the revival of Italian opera and used its lessons to advance themselves; amongst these was the Berlin-born [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]] who arrived in Italy in 1816, a year after Rossini's establishment at Naples, and lived and worked there until following him to Paris in 1825; he used one of Rossini's librettists, [[Gaetano Rossi]], for five of his seven Italian operas, which were produced at Turin, Venice and Milan.{{sfn|Conway|2012|pp=245–249}} In a letter to his brother of September 1818, he includes a detailed critique of ''Otello'' from the point of view of a non-Italian informed observer. He is scathing about the self-borrowings in the first two acts, but concedes that the third act "so firmly established Rossini's reputation in Venice that even a thousand follies could not rob him of it. But this act is divinely beautiful, and what is so strange is that [its] beauties&nbsp;... are blatantly un-Rossinian: outstanding, even passionate recitatives, mysterious accompaniments, lots of local colour."{{sfn|Letellier|1999|p=349}}

Rossini's contract did not prevent him from undertaking other commissions, and before ''Otello, Il barbiere di Siviglia'', a grand culmination of the ''opera buffa'' tradition, had been premiered in Rome (February 1816). Richard Osborne catalogues its excellencies:

<blockquote>Beyond the physical impact of&nbsp;... Figaro's "[[Largo al factotum]]", there is Rossini's ear for vocal and instrumental timbres of a peculiar astringency and brilliance, his quick-witted word-setting, and his mastery of large musical forms with their often brilliant and explosive internal variations. Add to that what Verdi called the opera's "abundance of true musical ideas", and the reasons for the work's longer-term emergence as Rossini's most popular ''opera buffa'' are not hard to find.{{sfn|Osborne|2002c}}</blockquote>

Apart from ''La Cenerentola'' (Rome, 1817), and the "pen-and-ink sketch" ''[[farsa]]'' ''[[Adina (opera)|Adina]]'' (1818, not performed until 1826),{{sfn|Osborne|2002e}} Rossini's other works during his contract with Naples were all in the ''opera seria'' tradition. Amongst the most notable of these, all containing virtuoso singing roles, were ''[[Mosè in Egitto]]'' (1818), ''[[La donna del lago]]'' (1819), ''[[Maometto II]]'' (1820) all staged in Naples, and ''Semiramide'', his last opera written for Italy, staged at [[La Fenice]] in Venice in 1823. The three versions of the [[opera semiseria]] ''[[Matilde di Shabran]]'' were written in 1821/1822. Both ''Mosè'' and ''Maometto II'' were later to undergo significant reconstruction in Paris (see below).{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;4. Naples and the opera seria, 1815–23}}

===France, 1824–1829===
[[File:Moise Act III.jpg|thumb|left|alt=page of musical score|Extract from Rossini's ''Moïse'' published in ''[[Le Globe]]'', 31 March 1827, in an article by [[Ludovic Vitet]]{{refn|Apparently the first music quotation ever printed in a Paris daily newspaper, the extract outlines the choral music that excited audiences at the end of the opera's third act.{{sfn|Walton|2007|pp=156–157}}|group=n}}]]

Already in 1818, Meyerbeer had heard rumours that Rossini was seeking a lucrative appointment at the [[Paris Opera]] – "Should [his proposals] be accepted, he will go to the French capital, and we will perhaps experience curious things."{{sfn|Letellier|1999|pp=349–350}} Some six years were to pass before this prophecy came true.

In 1824 Rossini, under a contract with the French government, became director of the [[Comédie-Italienne#The Théâtre-Italien in the 19th century|Théâtre-Italien]] in Paris, where he introduced Meyerbeer's opera ''[[Il crociato in Egitto]]'', and for which he wrote ''[[Il viaggio a Reims]]'' to celebrate the coronation of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]] (1825). This was his last opera to an Italian libretto, and was later cannibalised to create his first French opera, ''[[Le comte Ory]]'' (1828). A new contract in 1826 meant he could concentrate on productions at the Opéra and to this end he substantially revised ''Maometto II'' as ''[[Le siège de Corinthe]]'' (1826) and ''Mosé'' as ''[[Mosè in Egitto|Moïse et Pharaon]]'' (1827). Meeting French taste, the works are extended (each by one act), the vocal lines in the revisions are less florid and the dramatic structure is enhanced, with the proportion of arias reduced.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;5. Europe and Paris 1822–9}} One of the most striking additions was the chorus at the end of Act III of ''Moïse'', with a ''[[Dynamics (music)#Changes|crescendo]]'' repetition of a [[Diatonic and chromatic|diatonic]] ascending bass line, rising first by a [[minor third]], then by a [[major third]], at each appearance, and a descending [[Diatonic and chromatic|chromatic]] top line, which roused the excitement of audiences.{{sfn|Walton|2007|pp=156–60}}

[[File:Eugène Du Faget - Costume designs for Guillaume Tell - 1-3. Laure Cinti-Damoreau as Mathilde, Adolphe Nourrit as Arnold Melchtal, and Nicolas Levasseur as Walter Furst.jpg|thumb|Costume designs for ''[[William Tell (opera)|Guillaume Tell]]'', with [[Laure Cinti-Damoreau]] as Mathilde, [[Adolphe Nourrit]] as Arnold Melchtal, and [[Nicolas Levasseur]] as Walter Furst]]

Rossini's government contract required him to create at least one new ''"grand opėra"'', and Rossini settled on the story of [[William Tell]], working closely with the librettist [[Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy|Étienne de Jouy]]. The story in particular enabled him to indulge "an underlying interest in the related genres of folk music, pastoral and the picturesque". This becomes clear from the overture, which is explicitly programmatic in describing weather, scenery and action, and presents a version of the ''[[Ranz des Vaches]]'', the Swiss cowherd's call, which "undergoes a number of transformations during the opera" and gives it in Richard Osborne's opinion "something of the character of a [[leitmotif]]".{{sfn|Osborne|2002a}}{{refn|The ''ranz des vaches'' had already been used to characterise Switzerland in [[André Grétry]]'s 1791 [[Guillaume Tell (Grétry)|opera on Tell]].{{sfn|Walton|2007|p=276}}|group=n}} In the opinion of the music historian Benjamin Walton, Rossini "saturate[s] the work with local colour to such a degree that there is room for little else." Thus, the role of the soloists is significantly reduced compared to other Rossini operas, the hero not even having an aria of his own, whilst the chorus of the Swiss people is consistently in the musical and dramatic foregrounds.{{sfn|Walton|2007|p=277}}{{sfn|Bartlet|2003|p=275}}

''[[William Tell (opera)|Guillaume Tell]]'' premiered in August 1829. Rossini also provided for the Opéra a shorter, three-act version, which incorporated the ''[[pas redoublé]]'' (quick march) final section of the overture in its finale; it was first performed in 1831 and became the basis of the Opéra's future productions.{{sfn|Osborne|2002a}} ''Tell'' was very successful from the start and was frequently revived – in 1868 the composer was present at its 500th performance at the Opéra. The ''Globe'' had reported enthusiastically at its opening that "a new epoch has opened not only for French opera, but for dramatic music elsewhere".{{sfn|Bartlet|2003|p=278}} This was an era, it transpired, in which Rossini was not to participate.

===Withdrawal, 1830–1868===
[[File:Charles-Antoine Cambon - Set design for the première of Rossini's Robert Bruce, Act III, Scene 3.jpg|thumb|Set design for the original production of ''[[Robert Bruce (opera)|Robert Bruce]]'' (1846)|alt=A painting of a stage setting based on the ramparts of Sterling Castle in the Late Middle Ages.]]

Rossini's contract required him to provide five new works for the Opéra over 10 years. After the première of ''Tell'' he was already considering some opera subjects, including [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s ''[[Goethe's Faust|Faust]]'', but the only significant works he completed before abandoning Paris in 1836 were the [[Stabat Mater (Rossini)|Stabat Mater]], written for a private commission in 1831 (later completed and published in 1841), and the collection of salon vocal music ''Soirées musicales'' published in 1835. Living in Bologna, he occupied himself teaching singing at the Liceo Musicale, and also created a ''[[pasticcio]]'' of ''Tell'', ''Rodolfo di Sterlinga'', for the benefit of the singer {{ill|Nicola Ivanoff|it|Nicola Ivanoff (tenore)}}, for which [[Giuseppe Verdi]] provided some new arias.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;6. Retirement}} Continuing demand in Paris resulted in the production of a "new" French version of ''Otello'' in 1844 (with which Rossini was not involved) and a "new" opera ''[[Robert Bruce (opera)|Robert Bruce]]'' for which Rossini cooperated with [[Louis Niedermeyer]] and others to recast music for ''La donna del lago'' and others of his works which were little-known in Paris to fit a new libretto. The success of both of these was qualified, to say the least.{{sfn|Everist|2009|pp=644–653}}

Not until Rossini returned to Paris in 1855 were there signs of a revival of his musical spirits. A stream of pieces, for voices, choir, piano, and chamber ensembles, written for his soirées, the ''[[Péchés de vieillesse]] (Sins of old age)'' were issued in thirteen volumes from 1857 to 1868; of these, volumes 4 to 8 comprise "56 semi-comical piano pieces&nbsp;.... dedicated to pianists of the fourth class, to which I have the honour of belonging."{{sfn|Osborne|1993|pp=293–297}} These include a mock [[funeral march]], ''Marche et reminiscences pour mon dernier voyage (March and reminiscences for my last journey).''{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=270}} Gossett writes of the ''Péchés'' "Their historical position remains to be assessed but it seems likely that their effect, direct or indirect, on composers like [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] and [[Erik Satie]] was significant."{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc=§&nbsp;7. A new life}}{{refn|The popular [[Duetto buffo di due gatti|Cat's duet]], frequently attributed to Rossini, is not by him but is a confection of the "Katte-Cavatine" by the Danish composer [[Christopher Ernst Friedrich Weyse|C.E.F. Weyse]] with music from Rossini's ''Otello''.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=179}}|group=n}}

The most substantial work of Rossini's last decade, the ''[[Petite messe solennelle]]'' (1863), was written for small forces (originally voices, two pianos and [[harmonium]]), and therefore unsuited to concert hall performance; and as it included women's voices it was unacceptable for church performances at the time. For these reasons, Richard Osborne suggests, the piece has been somewhat overlooked among Rossini's compositions.{{sfn|Osborne|2004|p=159}} It is neither especially ''petite'' (little) nor entirely ''solennelle'' (solemn), but is notable for its grace, counterpoint and melody.{{sfn|Hurd & Scholes|1991|p=286}} At the end of the manuscript, the composer wrote:

<blockquote>Dear God, here it is finished, this poor little Mass. Is it sacred music I have written, or damned music? I was born for opera buffa, as you know well. A little technique, a little heart, that's all. Be blessed then, and grant me Paradise.{{sfn|King|2006|pp=4–7}}</blockquote>

==Influence and legacy==
[[File:Tomb Rossini Florence.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=highly ornate white marble funerary monument|Rossini's final resting place, in the [[Basilica of Santa Croce]], Florence; sculpture by [[Giuseppe Cassioli]] (1900)]]

The popularity of Rossini's melodies led many contemporary virtuosi to create piano transcriptions or [[fantasia (musical form)|fantasies]] based on them. Examples include [[Sigismond Thalberg]]'s fantasy on themes from ''Moïse'',{{sfn|Wangermée|1980|p=723}} the sets of variations on "Non più mesta" from ''La Cenerentola'' by [[Henri Herz]], [[Frédéric Chopin]], [[Franz Hünten]], [[Anton Diabelli]] and [[Friedrich Burgmüller]],{{sfn|Nicholas|2008}} and Liszt's transcriptions of the ''William Tell'' overture (1838) and the ''Soirées musicales''.{{sfn|Walker|1988|pp=358, 250–252}}{{refn|Liszt wrote fantasies and variations (some now lost) based on many Rossini operas, including ''[[Ermione]]'' (1824), ''[[La donna del lago]]'' (1825), ''[[Le siège de Corinthe]]'' (1830, also for piano and orchestra), ''Otello'' (1834 and 1859), ''[[Maometto II]]'' (1839) and ''Moïse'' (1841){{sfn|Hamilton|1989|pp=x–xxi}} |group=n}}

The continuing popularity of his comic operas (and the decline in staging his ''opere serie''), the overthrow of the singing and staging styles of his period, and the emerging concept of the composer as a "creative artist" rather than a craftsman, diminished and distorted Rossini's place in music history even though the forms of Italian opera continued up to the period of [[verismo]] to be indebted to his innovations.{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc= §&nbsp;8. Reputation}} Rossini's status amongst his contemporary Italian composers is indicated by the ''[[Messa per Rossini]]'', a project initiated by Verdi within a few days of Rossini's death, which he and a dozen other composers created in collaboration.{{refn|The Mass was intended for a premiere in Bologna in 1869, but the performance was abandoned amid acrimonious intrigue. Verdi later reworked his own contribution, "Libera me", in his own [[Requiem (Verdi)|Messa da Requiem]] of 1874. The manuscripts lay neglected until 1970, and the first performance of the ''Messa'' took place in 1988.{{sfn|Ashbrook|1989|pp=562–563}}|group=n}}

If Rossini's principal legacy to Italian opera was in vocal forms and dramatic structure for serious opera, his legacy to French opera was to provide a bridge from opera buffa to the development of ''[[opéra comique]]'' (and thence, via [[Jacques Offenbach]]'s ''[[opéra bouffe|opéras bouffes]]'' to the genre of [[operetta]]). ''Opéras comiques'' showing a debt to Rossini's style include [[François-Adrien Boieldieu]]'s ''[[La dame blanche]]'' (1825) and [[Daniel Auber]]'s ''[[Fra Diavolo (opera)|Fra Diavolo]]'' (1830), as well as works by [[Ferdinand Hérold]], [[Adolphe Adam]] and [[Fromental Halévy]].{{sfn|Dean|1980|pp=577–579}}{{sfn|Charlton & Trevitt|1980|p=213}} Critical of Rossini's style was [[Hector Berlioz]], who wrote of his "melodic cynicism, his contempt for dramatic and good sense, his endless repetition of a single form of cadence, his eternal puerile crescendo and his brutal bass drum".{{sfn|Berlioz|1970|p=90}}

It was perhaps inevitable that the formidable reputation which Rossini had built in his lifetime would fade thereafter. In 1886, less than twenty years after the composer's death, [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]] wrote: "The once universal Rossini, whose ''Semiramide'' appeared to our greener grandfathers a [[Nineveh|Ninevesque]] wonder, came at last to be no longer looked upon as a serious musician."{{sfn|Shaw|1981|p=451}} In an 1877 review of ''Il barbiere'', he noted that [[Adelina Patti]] sang as an encore in the lesson scene "[[Home! Sweet Home!|Home, Sweet Home]]"{{refn|Ballad composed by [[Henry Bishop (composer)|Henry Bishop]], 1823.|group=n}} but that "the opera proved so intolerably wearisome that some of her audience had already displayed their appreciation of the sentiment of the ballad in the most practical way."{{sfn|Shaw|1981|pp=137–138}}

In the early 20th century Rossini received tributes from both [[Ottorino Respighi]], who had orchestrated excerpts from the ''Péchés de vieillesse'' both in his ballet ''[[la boutique fantasque]]'' (1918) and in his 1925 suite ''[[Rossiniana]]'',{{sfn|Waterhouse|2001|loc=§ Works}} and from [[Benjamin Britten]], who adapted music by Rossini for two suites, ''[[Soirées musicales]]'' (Op. 9) in 1937 and ''[[Matinées musicales]]'' (Op. 24) in 1941.{{sfn|Doctor|2001|loc=§ Works}} Richard Osborne singles out the three-volume biography of Rossini by Giuseppe Radiciotti (1927–1929) as an important turning point towards positive appreciation, which may also have been assisted by the trend of [[neoclassicism (music)|neoclassicism]] in music.{{sfn|Osborne|1993|p=127}} A firm re-evaluation of Rossini's significance began only later in the 20th century in the light of study, and the creation of critical editions, of his works. A prime mover in these developments was the "Fondazione G. Rossini" which was created by the city of Pesaro in 1940 using the funds which had been left to the city by the composer.{{sfn|Fondazione G. Rossini}}{{sfn|Gossett|2001|loc= §&nbsp;8. Reputation}} Since 1980 the "Fondazione" has supported the annual [[Rossini Opera Festival]] in Pesaro.{{sfn|Fondazione G. Rossini}}{{sfn|Rossini Opera Festival}}

In the 21st century, the Rossini repertoire of opera houses around the world remains dominated by ''Il barbiere'', ''La Cenerentola'' being the second most popular.{{sfn|Operabase|2018}} Several other operas are regularly produced, including ''Le comte Ory'', ''La donna del lago'', ''La gazza ladra'', ''Guillaume Tell'', ''L'italiana in Algeri'', ''La scala di seta'', ''Il turco in Italia'' and ''Il viaggio a Reims''.{{sfn|Operabase|2018}} Other Rossini pieces in the current international repertory, given from time to time, include ''[[Adina (opera)|Adina]]'', ''[[Armida (Rossini)|Armida]]'', ''Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra'', ''[[Ermione]]'', ''Mosé in Egitto'' and ''Tancredi''.{{sfn|Operabase|2018}} The [[Rossini in Wildbad]] festival specialises in producing the rarer works.{{refn|In 2018 the company's recent and planned productions included ''[[Eduardo e Cristina]]'', ''[[Giovanna d'Arco]]'', ''L'equivoco stravagante'', ''Maometto II'', ''[[Zelmira]]'' and ''Moïse et Pharaon''.{{sfn|Operabase|2018}}|group=n}} The [[Operabase]] performance-listing website records 2,319 performances of 532 productions of Rossini operas in 255 venues across the world in the three years 2017–2019.{{sfn|Operabase|2018}} All of Rossini's operas have been recorded.{{refn|For recordings as at 2005, see the survey by Richard Farr.{{sfn|Farr|2005|loc=}}|group=n}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=n|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=20em}}

===Books===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book | last=Bartlet| first=M. Elizabeth C. |editor-last=Charlton|editor-first=David|chapter=From Rossini to Verdi| title= The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera| year=2003 | location=Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-521-64683-3}}
* {{cite book | last=Berlioz| first=Hector |editor-last=Cairns|editor-first=David|translator-last=Cairns|translator-first=David| title= The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz| year=1970 | location=London | publisher= Panther}}
* {{cite book | last= Blanning | first= Tim | author-link = Tim Blanning | title= The Triumph of Music | year= 2008| location= London | publisher= Allen Lane | isbn= 978-1-84614-178-2}}
* {{cite book | last= Budden|first= Julian| title= The Operas of Verdi, volume 1 | year= 1973| location= London| publisher= Cassell | isbn= 978-0-304-93756-1}}
* {{cite book | last= Caeyers | first= Jan | title= Beethoven: Der einsame Revolutionär| year= 2012|language=de| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pUkCc7MrovEC|location= Munich| publisher= C. H. Beck | isbn=978-3-406-63128-3 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Charlton |first=David|last2=Trevitt|first2=John|editor-last=Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |encyclopedia=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |title=Paris §VI: 1789–1870|year=1980 |publisher=Macmillan |volume=14 |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-23111-1 |pages=208–219|ref={{sfnRef|Charlton & Trevitt|1980}}}}
* {{cite book| last= Conway | first= David | title= Jewry in Music | year= 2012| location= Cambridge| publisher= Cambridge University Press| isbn= 978-1-316-63960-3}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Dean|first=Winton |author-link=Winton Dean |editor-last=Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |encyclopedia=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |title=Opera, §III, 2, vi-ix: France – opéra comique |year=1980 |publisher=Macmillan |volume=13 |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-23111-1 |pages=575–580}}
* {{cite book | last= Gallo | first= Denise | title= Gioachino Rossini: A Research and Information Guide | year= 2012|edition=second| location= New York and London | publisher= Routledge | isbn= 978-0-415-99457-6 }}
* {{cite book | last=Gerhard | first=Anselm|translator-last=Whittall|translator-first=Mary|title= The Urbanization of Opera| year=1998 | location=Chicago | publisher= University of Chicago Press| isbn=978-0-226-28857-4}}
* {{cite book | last=Gossett | first=Philip | author-link=Philip Gossett | first2=Patricia | last2=Brauner | title=The Penguin Opera Guide | chapter=Rossini | year=1997 | editor=Holden, Amanda | location=London | publisher=Penguin | isbn=978-0-14-051385-1 | ref={{sfnRef|Gossett & Brauner|1997}} | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/operaguidepengui00nich }}
* {{cite book | last= Heine | first= Heinrich| author-link=Heinrich Heine | title= Florentine Nights| translator-last=Leland |translator-first=Charles Godfrey|year=2008| orig-year=1837| location=New York | publisher= Mondial| isbn=978-1-59569-101-9}}
* {{cite book | last= Hughes| first= Spike| author-link=Spike Hughes| title= Great Opera Houses| year=1956| location=London | publisher= Weidenfeld and Nicolson|oclc=250538809}}
* {{cite book | last1= Hurd| first1= Michael|last2 = Scholes|first2 = Percy| author-link2=Percy Scholes| title= The Oxford Junior Companion to Music| year=1991| orig-year=1979| location=London | publisher= Chancellor Press| isbn=978-1-85152-109-8| ref={{sfnRef|Hurd & Scholes|1991}} }}
* {{cite book | last= Kendall| first= Alan| title=Gioacchino Rossini: The Reluctant Hero | year=1992 | location= London| publisher=Victor Gollancz | isbn=978-0-575-05178-2 }}
* {{cite book | last= Letellier| first= Robert| title=The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer Vol. 1: 1791–1839 | year=1999 | location= London| publisher=Associated University Presses | isbn=978-0-8386-3789-0 }}
* {{cite book | last= Michotte| first= Edmond | editor-last =Weinstock| editor-first =Herbert| translator-last =Weinstock| translator-first =Herbert|title= Richard Wagner's visit to Rossini in Paris (1860) and An Evening at Rossini's in Beau-Sejour (Passy) 1858 | year= 1968| location= Chicago | publisher= University of Chicago Press | oclc= 976649175 }}
* {{cite book | last=Osborne | first=Charles | author-link=Charles Osborne (music writer) | title=The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini | year=1994 | location=Portland (OR) | publisher=Amadeus Press | isbn=978-0-931340-71-0 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/belcantooperasof0000osbo }}
* {{cite book | last= Osborne | first= Richard | title=Rossini | year=1993|orig-year=1986 | location=London | publisher= Dent| isbn= 978-0-460-86103-8 }}
* {{cite book | last=Osborne | first=Richard |editor-last=Senici|editor-first=Emanuele|chapter=Rossini's life| title= The Cambridge Companion to Rossini| year=2004 | location=Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-521-00195-3 }}
* {{cite book | last= Osborne | first= Richard | title= Rossini | year= 2007 | edition= second | location= Oxford | publisher= Oxford University Press | isbn= 978-0-19-518129-6 | url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/rossinihislifewo0000osbo }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Robinson |first=Michael F. |editor-last=Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |encyclopedia=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |title=Opera, §II, 3: Italy – 18th-century comedy |year=1980 |publisher=Macmillan |volume=13 |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-23111-1 |pages=558–561}}
* {{cite book | last= Rosselli | first= John | title=Music and Musicians in Nineteenth-Century Italy | year=1991 | location= Portland (OR)| publisher= Amadeus Press| isbn=978-0-931340-40-6}}
* {{cite book | last= Servadio | first= Gaia |author-link=Gaia Servadio| title=Rossini | year=2003 | location= London| publisher= Constable| isbn=978-1-84119-478-3 }}
* {{cite book | last= Schwartz| first= Daniel W.| title=Psychoanalytic Explorations in Music |chapter=Rossini: a psychoanalytic approach to 'The great renunciation'|editor1=Stuart Feder |editor2 = Richard L. Karmel|editor3= George H. Pollock | year= 1990| location=Madison (CT)| publisher= International Universities Pres | isbn=978-0-8236-4407-0 }}
* {{cite book | last=Senici | first=Emanuele |editor-last=Senici|editor-first=Emanuele|chapter=Note on the text| title= The Cambridge Companion to Rossini| year=2004 | location=Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-521-00195-3 }}
* {{cite book | last=Shaw | first=Bernard | author-link = Bernard Shaw |editor-last=Laurence|editor-first=Dan H.| title= The Bodley Head Bernard Shaw: Shaw's Music: Volume 1, 1876–1890| year=1981 | location=London | publisher= The Bodley Head| isbn=978-0-370-30247-8 }}
* {{cite book | last= Stendhal| author-link=Stendhal | title= Memoirs of Rossini| year= 1824| location= London |url=https://archive.org/stream/memoirsofrossini0000sten#page/4/mode/2up/search/portion| publisher= T. Hookham|oclc=681583367}}
* {{cite book | last=Taruskin | first=Richard|author-link=Richard Taruskin|title= Music in the Nineteenth Century| year=2010 | location=Oxford | publisher= Oxford University Press| isbn=978-0-19-538483-3}}
* {{cite book | last= Till | first= Nicholas | title= Rossini: His Life and Times | year= 1983| location= Tunbridge Wells and New York | publisher= Midas Books and Hippocrene Books | isbn=978-0-88254-668-1 }}
* {{cite book | last=Toye | first=Francis |author-link=Francis Toye| title=Rossini: A Study in Tragi-Comedy | year= 1947| orig-year=1934|location=New York | publisher=Knopf | oclc=474108196 }}
* {{cite book | last=Wagner | first=Richard|translator-last=Ellis|translator-first=W. Ashton|title= Opera and Drama| year=1995 | location=Lincoln (NE) and London | publisher= University of Nebraska Press| isbn=978-0-8032-9765-4}}
* {{cite book | last=Walker | first=Alan |author-link=Alan Walker (musicologist)|title= Franz Liszt Volume I: The Virtuoso Years 1811–1847| year=1988 | location=London | publisher= Faber and Faber| isbn=978-0-571-15278-0}}
* {{cite book | last=Walton | first=Benjamin |title= Rossini in Restoration Paris| year=2007 | location=Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-0-521-17237-0}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Wangermée |first=Robert |editor-last=Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |encyclopedia=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |title= Thalberg, Sigismond (Fortuné François)|year=1980 |publisher=Macmillan |volume=18 |location=London |isbn=978-0-333-23111-1 |pages=723–724}}
{{refend}}

===Journals and articles===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite journal| last = Ashbrook| first = William| date = November 1989| title = Reviewed Work: Messa per Rossini: la storia, il testo, la musica by Michele Girardi, Pierluigi Petrobelli | journal = [[Music & Letters]]| volume = 70| issue = 4| pages = 561–563| jstor = 736005| doi = 10.1093/ml/70.4.561}}
* {{cite journal| last = Everist| first = Mark| author-link=Mark Everist| date = May 2005| title = Il viaggio a Reims | journal = [[Music & Letters]]| volume = 82| issue = 2| pages = 342–344| jstor = 3526565}}
* {{cite journal| last = Everist| first = Mark| date = November 2009| title = 'Il n'y a qu'un Paris au monde, et j'y reviendrai planter mon drapeau!': Rossini's Second Grand opéra | journal = Music & Letters| volume = 90| issue = 4| pages = 636–672| jstor = 40539064| doi = 10.1093/ml/gcp079}}
* {{cite journal| last = Gossett| first = Philip| date = April 1971| title = The 'Candeur Virginale' of 'Tancredi' | journal = [[The Musical Times]]| volume = 112| issue = 1538| pages = 326–329| jstor = 955893| doi = 10.2307/955893}}
* {{cite journal |last=Janka|first=Z.|title= Artistic creativity and bipolar mood disorder (English abstract) |journal=Orvosi Hetilap|volume=145|issue=33|date=15 August 2004|pages=1709–1718|pmid=15462476}}
* {{cite journal| last = Johnson| first = Janet | date = 1993| title = Rossini in Bologna and Paris during the Early 1830s: New Letters| journal = Revue de Musicologie| volume = 79| issue = 1| pages = 63–81| jstor = 947446 | doi = 10.2307/947446 }}
* {{cite journal | last = Marvin| first = Roberta Montemorra| date = June 1999| title = Musique anodine; Album italiano by Gioachino Rossini, Marvin Tartak| journal = Notes |series=Second Series| volume =55| issue = 4| pages = 1005–1007 | jstor = 899629}}
* {{cite journal| last = Prod'homme| first = J. G.|author-link = Jacques-Gabriel Prod'homme| date = January 1931| title = Rossini and His Works in France| journal = [[The Musical Quarterly]]| volume = 17| issue = 1| pages = 110–137| jstor = 738643| doi=10.1093/mq/xvii.1.110}}
* {{cite journal| last = Prunières| first = Henry|author-link = Henry Prunières| date = 1921| title = Stendhal and Rossini| journal = The Musical Quarterly| volume = 7| issue = 1| pages = 133–155| jstor = 738024| doi=10.1093/mq/vii.1.133| url = https://zenodo.org/record/2026359/files/article.pdf}}
* {{cite journal | last = Ricciardi | first = Simonetta | date = 2003 | title = Gli oratorii di Haydn in Italia nell'Ottocento | trans-title = The oratorios of Haydn in 19th-century Italy | language = it | journal = Il Saggiatore Musicale | volume =10 | issue = 1 | pages = 23–61 | jstor = 43029 }}
{{refend}}

===Newspapers===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Drury-Lane |work=The Times |date=3 May 1830 |ref={{sfnRef|The Times|1830}} }}
* {{cite news |author=Penrose, James |title=Rossini's Sins|work=The New Criterion |date= November 2017|url= https://www.newcriterion.com/issues/2017/11/rossinis-sins/|ref={{sfnRef|Penrose|2017}} }}
{{refend}}

===Liner notes===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite AV media notes |title=Rossini: Petite messe solennelle|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67570 |year=2006 |first=Robert |last=King |type=liner note |publisher=[[Hyperion Records]] |access-date=14 January 2019|id=CDA67570}}
* {{Cite AV media notes |title=Herz: Variations on 'Non più mesta' from Rossini's La Cenerentola Op 60|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W10654_GBAJY0860602|year=2008 |first=Jeremy |last=Nicholas |type=liner note |publisher=[[Hyperion Records]] |access-date=14 January 2019|id= CDA67606}}
* {{Cite AV media notes |title=Il signor Bruschino|year=1989 |chapter=The Son by Accident|first=Sebastian |last=Rother |page=6–7 |type=booklet |publisher=EuroArts DVD |id=2054968}}
* {{Cite AV media notes |title=Rossini: The String Sonatas|url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/55200-B.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417060133/http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/55200-B.pdf |archive-date=17 April 2017 |url-status=live |year=1992 |first=Howard |last=Smith |type=booklet |publisher=[[Hyperion Records]] |access-date=25 December 2018|id=CDH55200}}
* {{cite web |last=Stokes|first=Richard|title= Notes to Hyperion CD CDA 67647|url= https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/tw.asp?w=W11199&t=GBAJY0864713&al=W11199_GBAJY0864713|publisher= Hyperion Records|date=2008|access-date=24 February 2019}}
{{refend}}

===Web===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite web|title= Centro Italo-Americano per l'Opera|url= http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/ciao/|publisher= University of Chicago|access-date= 11 July 2018|ref= {{sfnRef|Centro Italo-Americano per l'Opera}}|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130924065526/http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/ciao/|archive-date= 24 September 2013|url-status= dead}}
* {{cite web |title= La fondazione|url= http://www.fondazionerossini.com/la-fondazione-gioachino-rossini|publisher= Fondazione G. Rossini| language=it|access-date=11 July 2018|ref={{sfnRef|Fondazione G. Rossini}} }}
* {{cite web |title= Rossini Opera Festival|url= https://www.rossinioperafestival.it/|publisher= Rossini Opera Frestival (ROF)| language=it|access-date=4 January 2019|ref={{sfnRef|Rossini Opera Festival}} }}
* {{cite web |title= Performances by City: Gioachino Rossini| url= http://www.operabase.com/oplist.cgi?id=none&lang=en&is=&by=Rossini&loc=&stype=abs&sd=1&sm=1&sy=2017&etype=abs&ed=30&em=12&ey=2019|publisher= Operabase|access-date=19 July 2018|ref={{sfnRef|Operabase|2018}} }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.conservatoire.be/en/library/collections-en/fonds-edmond-michotte-collection/|title=Edmond Michotte Collection (1831–1914) |website=[[Brussels Conservatoire]] website|access-date=8 March 2019|ref={{sfnRef|RCB}}}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Doctor
 | first1 =Jennifer
 | last2=LeGrove
 | first2=Judith
 | last3=Banks
 | first3=Paul
 | last4=Wiebe
 | first4=Heather
 | last5=Brett
 | first5=Philip
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title =Britten, (Edward) Benjamin
 | volume =1
 | year =2001
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | ref ={{sfnRef|Doctor|2001}}
| doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.46435
 }}
* {{cite web|last=Farr|first=Robert J.|title= The thirty-nine operas of Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868): A conspectus of their composition and recordings|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Nov05/Rossini_conspectus.htm|publisher= Musicweb International website|date=2005|access-date=12 January 2019}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Gossett
 | first1 =Philip
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title =Rossini, Gioachino (Antonio)
 | year =2001
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.23901
 }}
* {{cite web |last=Hamilton|first=Kenneth|author-link=Kenneth Hamilton|title= The opera fantasias and transcriptions of Franz Liszt (D. Phil thesis, Oxford University) |url= https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:021d129f-3b6d-4a55-893c-ba92ea853653/download_file?file_format=pdf&safe_filename=602328476.pdf&type_of_work=Thesis | publisher= Oxford University Research Archive|access-date=12 January 2019|date=1989}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Osborne
 | first1 =Richard
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title =Adina [Adina, o Il califfo di Bagdad ('Adina, or the Caliph of Baghdad')]
 | volume =1
 | year =2002
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | ref ={{sfnRef|Osborne|2002e}}
| doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O009039
 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Osborne
 | first1 =Richard
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title =Barbiere di Siviglia, Il [Almaviva, ossia L'inutile precauzione ('Almaviva, or The Useless Precaution')] ('The Barber of Seville')(ii)
 | volume =1
 | year =2002
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | ref ={{sfnRef|Osborne|2002c}}
| doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O900429
 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Osborne
 | first1 =Richard
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title = Cenerentola, La [La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo ('Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant')]
 | volume =1
 | year =2002
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | ref ={{sfnRef|Osborne|2002b}}
| doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O008249
 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Osborne
 | first1 =Richard
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title = Guillaume Tell(ii) [Guglielmo Tell ('William Tell')
 | volume =1
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 | ref ={{sfnRef|Osborne|2002a}}
 | doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O002744
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* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Osborne
 | first1 =Richard
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title = Semiramide ('Semiramis')
 | volume =1
 | year =2002
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 | doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O904698
 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Robinson
 | first1 =Michael
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title = Paisiello, Giovanni (opera)
 | volume =1
 | year =2002
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 | doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O006978
 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia
 | last1 =Waterhouse
 | first1 =John C.
 | encyclopedia = [[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]]
 | title = Respighi, Ottorini
 | volume =1
 | year =2001
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | doi =10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.47335
 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes }}
* [http://www.fondazionerossini.com/la-fondazione-gioachino-rossini/ Fondazione Gioachino Rossini], Pesaro {{in lang|it}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130924065526/http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/ciao/ The Center for Italian Opera Studies]: Rossini critical edition
* {{IMSLP|id=Rossini, Gioacchino|cname=Rossini}}
* {{ChoralWiki|Gioachino Rossini}}
* {{NPG name}}

{{Gioachino Rossini}}
{{Romantic music}}
{{Romanticism}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1  = Biography
| portal2  = Classical music
| portal3  = Italy
| portal4  = Music
| portal5  = Opera
| commons  = y
| q        = y
| s        = y
| s-search = Author:Gioachino Rossini
| d        = y
| d-search = Q9726
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossini, Gioachino}}
[[Category:Gioachino Rossini| ]]
[[Category:1792 births]]
[[Category:1868 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian classical composers]]
[[Category:Burials at Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:Catholic liturgical composers]]
[[Category:Italian classical composers of church music]]
[[Category:Composers from Paris]]
[[Category:Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Italian Classical-period composers]]
[[Category:Italian Romantic composers]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to France]]
[[Category:Italian opera composers]]
[[Category:Italian male opera composers]]
[[Category:Composers from Bologna]]
[[Category:People from Pesaro]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:Ballets Russes composers]]
[[Category:19th-century Italian male composers]]