![]() Keller explains “He had written plenty of songs and piano pieces, a substantial catalogue of sacred music, and even a handful of thoroughly serious operas on topics tragical, historical, and Biblical. It’s possible that the confusion over designation comes from the fact that Opera semiseria is derived from Opera buffa. It’s also true that Rossini is most celebrated for his contributions to the Opera buffa genre. La gazza ladra is clearly not straight comedic opera, but contains politically relevant and near-tragic material. But these ones are distinctive because of how he created them: instead of having the instruments add volume, Rossini gradually adds instruments, creating a steadily building intensity.Īlthough La gazza ladra is most often called Opera buffa, it might be more accurate to call it Opera semiseria, a hybrid between entirely serious operas and entirely amusing ones. Throughout the overture, there are long crescendos – something of a Rossini trademark. The theme that follows is more lyrical and is heard first in the oboe and then in the clarinet. The strings accompany them, using a technique called battute, meaning to lightly “beat” the bow on the string. The second theme is faster, presented in the winds. Commentator James Keller, however, categorizes the use of the antiphonal snare drums as a reference to the opera’s “tragic overtones.” He goes on to list the other references to these overtones as the “walking-on-eggshells bit in the minor mode, and a passage of ‘Rossini storm music,’” but then reminds us that this is still comic opera, and “ can be written off as prefiguring tempests in teapots rather than high-stakes judicial proceedings.” Commentator Roberto Kalb suggests that this is an allusion to the fact that both Nanetta’s father and husband are soldiers. The overture opens with what is perhaps the most well-known element: the snare drum rolls, which can be heard coming from opposite sides of the stage. La gazza ladra is no different, following a basic traditional form ( Sonata-Allegro) in which three different themes are presented. Many of Rossini’s overtures are not strictly programmatic – that is, they do not follow or foreshadow the story too much. The story La gazza ladra is based on did not have as amiable an ending, unfortunately. The king also pardons her father because he simply feels moved to do so. ![]() It was discovered that a magpie had been stealing shiny things, including the missing spoon, which is proven to be different from the one Nanetta sold. ![]() As she is being taken to the gallows, the king issues a last-minute reprieve for both Nanetta and her father. Her father comes out of hiding to argue for her and is himself arrested, and Nanetta is found guilty of stealing the second spoon and sentenced to death. Then a different spoon is found missing from the house, and Nanetta is arrested. Meanwhile, Nanetta is holding the mayor – and his affections – at bay. A housemaid called Nanetta hides her father, a deserter from the army, who then gives her a spoon to help with his expenses. The story is lifted from a French melodrama, and though mostly comedic, it also contains elements of tragedy. Giaochino Rossini completed his overture to La gazza ladra (“The Thieving Magpie”) in 1817, when he was just twenty-five years old. Beethoven's Eroica / Shostakovich's Tenth / Dvořák's New World / Beethoven's Emperor / The Planets / Seven Deadly Sins / Symphonie Fantastique / Classical Ellington / Bernstein and Mahler Beethoven's Eroica
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |