This recording of "La gazza ladra" was made live at the XXI ROSSINI IN WILDBAD Festival in Germany in July 2009.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Rossini composed "special" operas, like "La gazza ladra," at key artistic turning points, characterized by unusual length and a lack of self-borrowing.
Composer Biography
Rossini was so thrilled with "La gazza ladra" that he wrote to his mother, saying it was so full of music that one could make three or four operas from it, and it was the most beautiful he had written.
Performer Biography
Alberto Zedda, the conductor of this recording, is widely acknowledged as one of the world's foremost authorities on Rossini's operas and is the editor of the Rossini Collected Edition.
Compositional Technique
"La gazza ladra" belongs to the 'semiseria' genre, combining tragic and comic elements, and is considered a precursor to the notional fusion of genres Rossini later achieved.
Notable Performances
At its premiere in Milan on May 31, 1817, "La gazza ladra" was a huge success, with 27 additional performances given that season, and Rossini himself played the harpsichord for the first three.
Composition History
"La gazza ladra" is based on a French play, "La pie voleuse" (The Thieving Magpie), a 'mélo-historique' by T. Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez, first performed in Paris in 1815.
