The Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) is best known for his operas, of which he wrote 39 between 1806 and 1829. Adopting the opera buffa style of Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Paisiello, Rossini became the dominant composer of Italian opera during the first half of the 19th-century. Though working at the same time as Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti, he was recognized by his contemporaries as the greatest Italian composer of his time, an evaluation which has lasted into the 21st-century.
The operas are catalogued in a critical edition from the, Pesaro, and published by Casa Ricordi. This edition identifies individual operas by their EC numbers (Italian: Edizione critica).[1]
| + Operas by Gioachino Rossini[2] | ||||||||
| Title | Genre | Acts | Libretto | Premiere | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Venue | |||||||
| Demetrio e Polibio (composed 1806–1809) | dramma serio | 2 acts | Vincenzina Viganò-Mombelli, possibly after Pietro Metastasio | 18 May 1812 | Teatro Valle, Rome | I/1 | ||
| data-sort-value="cambiale" | La cambiale di matrimonio | farsa comica | 1 act | Gaetano Rossi, after Camillo Federici and libretto (1807) for Carlo Coccia | 3 November 1810 | Teatro San Moisè, Venice | I/2 | |
| data-sort-value="equivoco" | L'equivoco stravagante | dramma giocoso | 2 acts | 26 October 1811 | Teatro del Corso, Bologna | I/3 | ||
| data-sort-value="inganno" | L'inganno felice | farsa | 1 act | Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after libretto (1798) for Giovanni Paisiello | 8 January 1812 | Teatro San Moisè, Venice | I/4 | |
| Ciro in Babilonia, ossia La caduta di Baldassare | dramma con cori | 2 acts | 14 March 1812 | Teatro Comunale, Ferrara | I/5 | |||
| data-sort-value="scala" | La scala di seta | farsa comica | 1 act | Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after Eugène de Planard's libretto (1808) for Pierre Gaveaux | 9 May 1812 | Teatro San Moisè, Venice | I/6 | |
| data-sort-value="pietra" | La pietra del paragone | melodramma giocoso | 2 acts | Luigi Romanelli | Teatro alla Scala, Milan | I/7 | ||
| data-sort-value="occasione" | L'occasione fa il ladro, ossia Il cambio della valigia | burletta per musica | 1 act | , after Eugène Scribe's Le prétendu sans le savoir (1810) | 24 November 1812 | Teatro San Moisè, Venice | I/8 | |
| data-sort-value="signor" | Il signor Bruschino, ossia Il figlio per azzardo | farsa giocosa | 1 act | Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after Le fils par hasard (1809) by René de Chazet and Maurice Ourry | 27 January 1813 | Teatro San Moisè, Venice | I/9 | |
| Tancredi (revised March 1813) | melodramma eroico | 2 acts | Gaetano Rossi, after Voltaire; revised by | 6 February 1813; 21 March 1813 | Teatro La Fenice, Venice Ferrara, Teatro Comunale | I/10 | ||
| data-sort-value="italiana" | L'italiana in Algeri | dramma giocoso | 2 acts | Angelo Anelli | 22 May 1813 | Teatro San Benedetto, Venice | I/11 | |
| Aureliano in Palmira | dramma serio | 2 acts | Attributed to Felice Romani, possibly in collaboration with Luigi Romanelli, or Gian Francesco Romanelli | 26 December 1813 | Teatro alla Scala, Milan | I/12 | ||
| data-sort-value="turco" | Il turco in Italia | dramma buffo | 2 acts | Felice Romani, after Caterino Mazzolà's libretto (1788) for | 14 August 1814 | Teatro alla Scala, Milan | I/13 | |
| Sigismondo | dramma | 2 acts | Giuseppe Maria Foppa | 26 December 1814 | Teatro La Fenice, Venice | I/14 | ||
| Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra | dramma | 2 acts | Giovanni Schmidt, after Carlo Federici and Sophia Lee | 4 October 1815 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/15 | ||
| Torvaldo e Dorliska | dramma semiserio | 2 acts | Cesare Sterbini, after Jean-Baptiste de Coudry's Vie et amours du chevalier de Faubles (1790) | 26 December 1815 | Teatro Valle, Rome | I/16 | ||
| data-sort-value="Barber" | Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione (initially titled Almaviva) | commedia | 2 acts | Cesare Sterbini, after Pierre Beaumarchais and Giuseppe Petrosellini's libretto (1782) for Giovanni Paisiello | 20 February 1816 | Teatro Argentina, Rome | I/17 | |
| data-sort-value="gazzetta" | La gazzetta, ossia Il matrimonio per concorso | dramma (opera buffa) | 2 acts | (by Andrea Leone Tottola), after Il matrimonio per concorso (1763) by Carlo Goldoni | 26 September 1816 | Teatro de' Fiorentini, Naples | I/18 | |
| Otello, ossia Il Moro di Venezia | dramma | 3 acts | , after Othello, ou le More de Venise (1792) by Ducis | 4 December 1816 | Teatro del Fondo, Naples | I/19 | ||
| data-sort-value="Cenerentola" | La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo | dramma giocoso | 2 acts | Jacopo Ferretti, after Cendrillon (1698) by Charles Perrault | 25 January 1817 | Teatro Valle, Rome | I/20 | |
| data-sort-value="gazza" | La gazza ladra | melodramma | 2 acts | , after La Pie voleuse (1815) by Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez | 31 May 1817 | Teatro alla Scala, Milan | I/21 | |
| Armida | dramma | 3 acts | Giovanni Schmidt, after Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso | 11 November 1817 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/22 | ||
| Adelaide di Borgogna, ossia Ottone, re d'Italia | dramma | 2 acts | Giovanni Schmidt | 27 December 1817 | Teatro Argentina, Rome | I/23 | ||
| Mosè in Egitto | azione tragico-sacra | 3 acts | Andrea Leone Tottola, after L'Osiride (1760) by Francesco Ringhieri | 5 March 1818 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/24 | ||
| Adina, ossia Il califfo di Bagdad (composed 1818) | farsa | 1 act | Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini | 22 June 1826 | Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon | I/25 | ||
| Ricciardo e Zoraide | dramma | 2 acts | Francesco Maria Berio di Salsa, after the poem Ricciardetto by Niccolò Forteguerri | 3 December 1818 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/26 | ||
| Ermione | azione tragica | 2 acts | Andrea Leone Tottola, after Andromaque (1667) by Jean Racine | 27 March 1819 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/27 | ||
| Eduardo e Cristina (sometimes titled Edoardo e Cristina) | dramma | 2 acts | Giovanni Schmidt | 24 April 1819 | Teatro San Benedetto, Venice | I/28 | ||
| data-sort-value="donna" | La donna del lago | melodramma | 2 acts | Andrea Leone Tottola, after The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott | 24 October 1819 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/29 | |
| Bianca e Falliero, ossia Il consiglio dei tre | melodramma | 2 acts | Felice Romani, after Blanche et Montcassin by Antoine-Vincent Arnault | 26 December 1819 | Teatro alla Scala, Mialn | I/30 | ||
| Maometto II (revised December 1822) | dramma | 2 acts | Cesare della Valle, possibly after Felice Romani; revised by Gaetano Rossi | 3 December 1820; 26 December 1822 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples Venice, Teatro La Fenice | I/31 | ||
| Matilde di Shabran, ossia Bellezza e Cuor di Ferro | opera semiseria | 2 acts | Jacopo Ferretti, after François-Benoît Hoffman's libretto Euphrosine, ou Le tyran corrigé (1790) for Étienne Méhul and Jacques-Marie Boutet de Monvel (1798), derived from Voltaire | 24 February 1821 | Teatro Apollo, Rome | I/32 | ||
| Zelmira | dramma | 2 acts | Andrea Leone Tottola, after Zelmire (1762) by Dormont de Belloy | 16 February 1822 | Teatro di San Carlo, Naples | I/33 | ||
| Semiramide | melodramma tragico | 2 acts | Gaetano Rossi, after Voltaire | 3 February 1823 | Teatro La Fenice, Venice | I/34 | ||
| Ugo, re d'Italia (composed 1823–1824, unfinished) | dramma? | 3? acts | Gaetano Rossi? | not performed | intended for London | – | ||
| data-sort-value="viaggio" | Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L'albergo del Giglio d'Oro | dramma giocoso | 3 acts | Luigi Balocchi, after Corinne ou l'Italie by Madame de Staël | 19 June 1825 | Théâtre Italien, Paris | I/35 | |
| data-sort-value="siège" | Le siège de Corinthe (revision of Maometto secondo) | tragédie lyrique | 3 acts | Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet, after the libretto for Maometto II | 9 October 1826 | Salle Le Peletier, Paris Opéra | I/36 | |
| Moïse et Pharaon, ou Le passage de la mer rouge (revision of Mosè in Egitto) | opéra | 4 acts | Luigi Balocchi and Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, after the libretto for Mosè in Egitto | 26 March 1827 | Salle Le Peletier, Paris Opéra | I/37 | ||
| data-sort-value="comte" | Le comte Ory | opéra bouffe | 2 acts | Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson | 20 August 1828 | Salle Le Peletier, Paris Opéra | I/38 | |
| data-sort-value="Tell" | Guillaume Tell | opéra | 4 acts | Victor-Joseph-Ėtienne de Jouy, Hippolyte-Louis-Florent Bis and Armand Marrast, after Friedrich Schiller | 3 August 1829 | Salle Le Peletier, Paris Opéra | I/39 | |
| Title | Genre | Acts | width=28% | Libretto ! | width=35% class=unsortable | Notes! | width=9% | Premiere date! | width=10% | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivanhoé | pastiche | 3 acts | Emile Deschamps and Gustave de Wailly, after Walter Scott's Ivanhoe | (consists entirely of music taken from earlier Rossini operas by Antonio Pacini) | 15 September 1826 | Odéon, Paris | ||||
| pastiche | 3 acts | Jean-Nicolas van Nieuwenhuysen and Alphonse Royer, after Walter Scott's History of Scotland | (adapted by Louis Niedermeyer from La donna del lago, Zelmira, Bianca e Falliero, Torvaldo e Dorliska and Armida) | 30 December 1846 | Salle Le Peletier, Paris (Paris Opéra) |
| Title | Genre | Acts | width=28% | Libretto ! | width=35% class=unsortable | Notes! | width=9% | Premiere date! | width=10% | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-value="fausse" | La fausse Agnès, ou Le poète campagnard | pastiche | 3 acts | Castil-Blaze after Destouches | (consists of music by Rossini and other composers, including Domenico Cimarosa and Giacomo Meyerbeer) | Before June 1826 | Théâtre de Madame, Paris | |||
| data-sort-value="neveu" | Le Neveu de Monseigneur | pastiche | 2 acts | Jean-François Bayard, Thomas Sauvage and Romieu | (consists of music adapted by Luc Guėnėe from operas by Rossini and other composers, including Giovanni Pacini, Valentino Fioravanti and Francesco Morlacchi) | 7 August 1826 | Odéon, Paris | |||
| data-sort-value="testament" | Le testament | pastiche | 2 acts | Joseph-Henri de Saur and Léonce de Saint-Géniès | (adapted by Jean Frédéric-Auguste Lemierre de Corvey after operas by Rossini) | 22 January 1827 | Odéon, Paris | |||
| M. de Pourceaugnac | pastiche | 3 acts | (adapted from operas by Rossini and Carl Maria von Weber) | 24 February 1827 | Odéon, Paris | |||||
| Cinderella or The Fairy and the Little Glass Slipper | pastiche | 2 acts | Michael Rophino Lacy, after Jacopo Ferretti's libretto for La Cenerentola | (adapted from La Cenerentola, Guillaume Tell, Maometto secondo and Armida) | 13 April 1830 | Covent Garden, London | ||||
| data-sort-value="ape" | L'ape musicale | pasticcio | 1 act | (adapted from operas by Rossini, Cimarosa, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli and Antonio Salieri) | 20 April 1830 | Park Theatre, New York | ||||
| Andremo a Parigi? | pastiche | 2 acts | Luigi Balocchi and Jean-Henri Dupin | (adapted by Jean-Henri Dupin from Il viaggio a Reims) | 26 October 1848 | Théâtre-Italien, Paris | ||||
| data-sort-value="curioso" | Un curioso accidente | pastiche | 2 acts | Arcangelo Berettoni, after Carlo Goldoni | (adapted by Torribio Calzado from Aureliano in Palmira, La cambiale di matrimonio, La pietra del paragone and L'occasione fa il ladro) | 27 November 1859 | Théâtre-Italien, Paris |