The Solo Songs of Gioachino Rossini
2010; Routledge; Volume: 66; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Musicological Studies
ResumoINTRODUCTION ALTHOUGH ROSSINI IS A WELL RESPECTED composer of opera, his song literature is to a large extent unknown, or, at best, underperformed. Some of Rossini's songs have still not been published; others are in early editions which are out of print; and many are only in critical/scholarly editions of Rossini's works. The lack of good performance editions limits the inclusion of Rossini's songs on voice recitals and recordings. Yet Rossini's smaller compositions represent his artistic output for a large part of his life, as he gave up writing opera in 1829 and was to live for another thirty-nine years. During his later years, he devoted himself to composing songs, vocal chamber music, and small compositions for the piano, an oeuvre that represents a barely excavated gold mine of beautiful music. The solo songs of Rossini represent only a very small portion of his nonoperatic vocal works. Rossini's vocal chamber music is an untapped and potentially rich body of music that also remains to be explored. As can be seen in his operas, he was a masterful composer of ensembles. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the numerous duets, quartets, and other chamber pieces; rather, discussion is limited to the solo songs with piano. Rossini's output as a song composer can be divided into three general categories: 1) early songs; 2) the Soirees musicales and miscellaneous songs from the 1830s and 40s; and 3) the Peches de vieillesse, written after Rossini's return to composition in 1855. EARLY SONGS The songs that comprise the early group are particularly difficult to locate. Philip Gossett who has been directing the new critical edition of the complete works of Rossini has done much to locate these and other songs. Rossini's two earliest songs are Se il vuol la molinara (before 1813) and Qual voce, quai note (1813). While he was artistic director of the Teatro San Carlo and its affiliated theaters (1815-1823), he wrote a number of other songs: Il trovatore, Addio ai viennesi, La pastorella, Amori scendete (Belta crudele), Canzonetta spagnuola, Infelice ch'io son, and Les adieux a Rome.1 La pastorella is a charming strophic song for soprano to a text by N. di Santo-Magno. A staccato melody in the piano depicts the light step of the young shepherdess, complete with a deliberate trip (B^sup [musical flat]^ against C^sup [musical flat]^, a little expression of Rossini's wit, in an otherwise diatonic phrase (Example 1). The song relates how the shepherdess, disillusioned with love, dislikes the rose for concealing a snake; then, she no longer waters the flowers at dawn because they hide a bee; and in the final stanza, she dislikes Aminta too for wounding her heart. Il trovatore, a piece for tenor composed in 1818, opens with a lively chromatic melody and off-beat accents that depict a carefree troubadour. We learn that the young man is only pretending to be jovial in order to conceal his unhappiness. He has adopted a proud facade, so that the girl responsible for his hurt feelings will not gloat over him. In pretending to be happy, he believes his feelings will become less painful. Amori scendete (Belta crudele; 1821) for soprano has not yet been published; Philip Gossett kindly sent me a copy of the song. It begins in D major with beautiful languid lines in the vocal part over a simple broken chord accompaniment. In poetry by N. di SantoMagno, the singer entreats Cupid to help win over the beloved Nice by offering a ribbon or rose that she can present to him. In a change of texture in the B section, the singer anticipates offering the rose and her heart to Nice, the blissful mood culminating in a fioratura passage. The lover in the song fleetingly entertains the thought that the rose may not be accepted as the tonality moves from F major through D minor and A major and back to tonic, with a return to an expanded and even more poignant version of the A section with a cadenza. …
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