And then he retired, at 38 years old. He sort of puttered around until his death in 1868, dabbling in food (he was an amateur chef, best known in culinary circles today for Tournedos Rossini, created for the maestro by Escoffier himself).
The Barber of Seville is his most famous work, and each of you has heard it before - more on this later. It's believed that Rossini wrote the entire opera in just three weeks. While the story was old by then - Mozart himself had written the Marriage of Figaro decades prior to this - Rossini's arc of the slow, quiet start with an almost manic finish made this one of his most popular works.
I said earlier that you've heard this before. Likely you heard it at the same place I heard it:
Greatest cartoon of all time. The music parallels Rossini's score almost perfectly, while the visuals dial the manic up to 11. Simply outstanding as entertainment, but extra props for the subtle musical education that Warner Brothers gave us all.
4 comments:
This piece of music is the overture, which opens the opera and comes before the singers show up.
The first time I saw a performance of this (at the Sydney Opera House back in the 90s) there were several giggles from the guys in the audience as they remembered the cartoon. You can't help but sing along.
I've actually played this song when I was in the high school band. Difficult piece to play.
I played clarinet, which when music is performed for concert band, the clarinets typically replace the violin.
Some of the runs in this piece are crazy fast.
Cue Rod Serling - a TZ moment! I was JUST emailing a friend who attended the opera last night, and asked how it was.
I said I had seen a couple, was not a big opera fan, but The Barber of Seville always made me think of Bugs Bunny!
doodoodoodoo doodoodoodoo
And let us not forget Warner Bros. version of Wagner:
Kill the Wabbit!
Kill the Wabbit!!
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