Rossini Operatic Overtures Orchestral Favourites Volume 10

'Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music.' This quip by Gioacchino Rossini is indicative both of his lively wit and his incredible facility, qualities which certainly characterise his operatic overtures. Born in Pesaro in 1792 - appropriately for the great joker among composers on 29 February - he was ideally gifted for the operatic conditions of the day. There was a continual demand for new operas, which the young Rossini was able to meet with little trouble. In 1812, for example, he composed five, of which three were admittedly one-act operas, but this was still a remarkable output for a twenty-year-old beginner. The following year he produced four operas, including the enthusiastically received Tancredi and The Italian Girl in Algiers ...