Rossini and Post-Napoleonic Europe (Eastman Studies in Music, 126)

This book examines Rossini within the context of his own time, one of Napoleonic domination of Italy, restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in Naples in 1815, and the 1830 Revolution in Paris. Using the techniques of the historian, and reading librettos as texts, the author analyzes the five operas treated in detail in the book ('Il barbiere di Siviglia', 'Cenerentola', 'La gazza ladra', 'Matilde di Shabran', and 'Il viaggio a Reims') as responses, each in its own way, to the history that the composer experienced. Roberts shows that Rossini made probing commentaries on politics and religion in a time of reaction and revolution, and that the composer was well-informed on post-Napoleonic politics. Rossini's comic writing served very serious purposes, exposing the problems and complications of an age that he observed with striking clarity. Warren Roberts is professor emeritus of history at the University at Albany, SUNY, and has published extensively on eighteenth-century French culture Warren Roberts has discovered a Rossini that others have not seen, a composer who commented ironically and satirically on religion and politics in Post-Napoleonic Europe. This book examines Rossini within the context of his own time, one of Napoleonic domination of Italy, restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in Naples in 1815, and the 1830 Revolution in Paris. Using the techniques of the historian,and reading librettos as texts, the author analyzes the five operas treated in detail in the book (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Cenerentola, La gazza ladra, Matilde di Shabran, and Il viaggio a Reims) as responses, each in its own way, to the history that the composer experienced. Roberts shows that Rossini made probing commentaries on politics and religion in a time of reaction and revolution, and that the composer was well-informed on post-Napoleonic politics. Rossini's comic writing served very serious purposes, exposing the problems and complications of an age that he observed with striking clarity. Warren Roberts is Professor Emeritusof History at the University at Albany, SUNY, and has published extensively on eighteenth-century French culture. Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1 Setting the Stage: Opera Buffa and Comedy of Manners in an Age of Democratic Revolution 15 2 Rossini, Mozart, Paisiello, and the Barber of Seville 42 3 Jane Austen, Goya, Rossini, and the Post-Napoleonic Age: La Cenerentola 72 4 Rossini, Beethoven, and Rescue Opera: Fidelio and La gazza ladra 104 5 Rossini, Ferretti, Matilde di Shabran, and the Revolution of 1820–21 133 6 Stendhal and Rossini in Paris: Il viaggio a Reims, Le Comte Ory, and the July Revolution 173 Conclusion: Thinking about Rossini 215 Notes 226 Bibliography 240 Index 250