Gioachino Rossini

Born in Pesaro in 1792 to a trumpeter father and singer mother, Rossini was composing by twelve and had his first opera staged in Venice at eighteen. Between 1810 and 1823 he churned out 34 works for Italian houses — a pace that meant recycling overtures and borrowing from himself — producing L'italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and La Cenerentola, comedies that pushed the buffa tradition past Mozart, alongside serious pieces like Otello and Semiramide. In 1824 Paris contracted him; he delivered Il viaggio a Reims for a coronation, reworked two Italian operas, and in 1829 premiered G…