Mayor's Concert Programme.pdf - Milton Keynes City Orchestra

95003 May 2011 programme text.qxd:Layout 2 11/5/11 08:24 Page 5Overture: The Barber of SevilleGioachino Rossini (1792-1868)Rossini wrote prolifically and easily for many years, and was thus able to stop composing at the age of forty or so andlive for the remainder of his life on the royalties from his many popular works. It was fortuitous that at the time Rossiniwas writing, the whole of Europe was recovering from the collapse of Napoleon I and trying to laugh again. Rossini’swit came through clearly in his music and was just what the listening public wanted. The Barber of Seville was writtenin the space of three weeks. Rossini was not afraid of repeating himself believing that his music was well worthhearing. He was nicknamed Monsieur Crescendo after his habit of using long, exhilarating crescendos which startedfrom a whisper and rose to a flashing, glittering climax.Originally this overture had nothing to do with the opera. It was composed for Rossini’s serious opera ‘Aureliano inPalmire’. It was a great success and seeing this, Rossini adapted it two seasons later for his opera ‘Elizabetta’. A fewweeks later he composed two more operas and the second, ‘Almaviva’, was performed in February 1816 in Rome. Thiswas ‘The Barber’ but it did not receive this title until August in Bologna. Somewhere between Rome and Bologna fromFebruary to August, the overture was lost. So, for the Bologna premiere Rossini used his ‘Aureliano’ overture for thethird time, which has stuck. Because he wrote it from memory on this occasion it differed in many ways from theoriginal. These differences cause many headaches for conductors now in unifying an interpretation for performance.The Overture begins with a bit of operatic pomp and circumstance before landing into the main part with its mercurial,witty theme. There is a wonderful lilt to the second theme which Rossini uses to build up the characteristic avalancheof excitement, which won him his nickname. © IGS 2010For booking and information call : 01908 558311 55