This year's 29th of February was the 232th anniversary of Gioachino Rossini's birth (1792-1868). Born in a leap year Rossini celebrated his birthday only once every four years.
His legacy was celebrated with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro featuring several operas and a rare performance of Messa per Rossini, a tribute composed by Verdi and others to honour Rossini's passing.
Malta, too, celebrated this anniversary. Manoel Theatre started way back in March 2024 with his lesser known opera Armida which, although completely new to me, I remember enjoying very much.
This year, Malta honoured him with Rossini Week at the Manoel Theatre, running until March 15. The festival featured four performances of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Paul Carr and starring a mix of local and international talent, accompanied by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.
Additionally, his Petite Messe Solennelle was performed on March 14, featuring soprano Gillian Zammit, mezzo-soprano Claire Massa, tenor Eduardo Hurtado Rampoldi, bass Louis Cassar, and the New Choral Singers. The concert was conducted by Michael Laus, with Joanne Camilleri on the harmonium and Laus himself on the piano.
I was unable to attend the above events but thoroughly enjoyed the last concert of Rossini Week, Sins of Old Age, held in March at Isouard Hall, Manoel Theatre. The stars were pianist Caroline Calleja and soprano Andriana Yordanova, both well known and appreciated in musical circles.
Caroline played a variety of pieces from different albums of Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age). This is such a fascinating collection - full of wit, charm, and unexpected depth. The selection offered a rich variety of moods and styles, as Rossini's late piano works range from playful to deeply introspective.
Caroline who also plays and teaches the harp, is fleet-fingered. Her playing is crisp and effortless. She is in command of the instrument and goes from one piece to the next dazzling her audience as she makes it all look so easy when we know it isn't. Bravissima.
Soprano Andriana Yordanova's choices were from Soirées Musicales and Album Italiano. They were a delight, as those pieces capture Rossini's melodic elegance and his love for Italian and French musical traditions. His music demands not just technical excellence but a certain theatrical flair - a touch of exuberance and an almost acrobatic mastery.
Like all good singers Andriana is also an actress and, accompanied by Caroline, gave the audience a wonderful 'show'. Fiery when it was needed and playful when the piece called for it. She was also deliciously flirtatious. The audience would not let her get away until she gave us an encore. In the spirit of Rossini, she gave us the popular La Danza, lively and energetic and part of his collection Les soirées musicales written in the style of a Tarantella napoletana, known for its fast tempo and rhythmic intensity. I felt like whirling and twirling to it only my walking stick got in the way. Andriana was truly entertaining. Bravissima for you too.
There are more than 150 Sins of Old Age which Rossini wrote during the last decade of his life. He was legendary for the speed at which he could write an opera saying: 'Give me a laundry list and I will set it to music.'
Rossini's world is full of sparkle and verve and so too, must be the artists who channel his genius It's wonderful that both the pianist and soprano brought these pieces to life, showcasing Rossini's brilliance beyond his famous operatic works.
I read somewhere that the young Gioachino, who had narrowly escaped castration suggested by an uncle who admired his voice, devoted himself body and soul to music studies. In 1806 he attended in Bologna the school of Fr Stanislao Mattei, who succeeded Fr Giovann Battista Martini where he studied composition admiring Haydn, Mozart and Cimarosa. He was a choir boy for Accademia Filarmonica and took up the spinet. In 1806, aged 14 he wrote his first opera, Demetrio e Polibio, that was only to be staged in 1812 in Rome.
His tastebuds were also developing helped by the culinary ability of his grandmother from Romagna, and by his stays in Pesaro - a town he always had a strong bond with.
Rossini was very interested in music but just as interested in food... (His girth is evidence of this.) He wrote to his wife Isabella Angelica Colbran, after the spectacular failure of one of his operas, "...but what interests me well beyond music, my dear Angela, is discovering a new salad, whose recipe I promptly send you..."
In 1827 his opera Guillaume Tell was a roaring success and was to become the Maestro's last opera. Such was the enthusiasm that, to mark the event, a Tarte aux Pommes Guillaume Tell was created, an apple tarte decorated with a sugar apple-cum-arrow.
Tournedos Rossini, the famous luxurious French dish featuring filet mignon, foie gras, and a rich truffle-infused Madeira sauce, often served on toasted brioche, immediately comes to mind when Rossini is mentioned. There is also Rossini Cocktail, a refreshing drink made with macerated strawberries and Prosecco, similar to a Bellini. Easy to make at home. I will make one this weekend while there are still strawberries around.
Rossini could also be witty. The following quotes are well known: "Wagner has lovely moments but awful quarters of an hour." He was no lover of Wagner it seems: "One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend hearing it a second time." (You have to love him!)
Enjoy today, maybe with a Rossini cocktail in hand. May your day be as luminous as a Rossini crescendo!