Gioachino Rossini

Birth Name:

Gioachino Antonio Rossini

Birth Date:

February 29, 1792

Birth Place:

Pesaro, Italy

Death Date:

November 13, 1868

Place of Death:

Passy, Paris, France

Age:

Cause of Death:

Colorectal cancer

Cemetery Name:

Santa Croce Basilica

Claim to Fame:

Music

Gioachino Antonio Rossini was the most significant Italian composer of the first half of the nineteenth century. Although he wrote many songs including chamber music and piano pieces, Rossini is most famous for his 39 operas, in particular his comic operas for which he set new standards of composition. Gioachino Rossini’s most famous works include The Barber of Seville (1816), Cinderella (La Cenerentola) (1817) and William Tell (1829). Influenced by the French, he broke traditional forms of opera using unusual rhythms and bring the orchestra to the fore, however his style was tempered by changing tastes and a move away from a more formal ‘classicist’ style to Romanticism. When the family moved to Lugo in 1802, Rossini began studying music with a local priest and was inspired by his collection of Mozart and Haydn. A quick learner, by the age of 12 Rossini had composed six sonatas and two years later he joined Bologna’s Philharmonic School and composed his first opera – Demetrio e Polibio (1806). In 1810 alone, Rossini staged his first opera in 1810 to great success and financial reward and this was quickly followed by three more operas in addition to directing Haydn’s The Seasons in Bologna. In 1812, his two-act comedy La pietra del paragone ran for 53 performances at La Scala in Milan bringing him more financial benefits. Gioachino Rossini announced his retirement from opera in 1829 at the age of 37. However, he continued to compose music after his retirement. Rossini's final opera was Guillaume Tell, which premiered in 1829. Afterwards he negotiated a contract with King Charles X of France for a lifetime annuity in exchange for his retirement. Unfortunately, the July Revolution of 1830 deposed King Charles X and deprived Rossini of his pension. Rossini returned to Paris in 1855 and wrote Petite messe solennelle in 1864. Four years later he died in France in 1868 after an unsuccessful operation for colorectal cancer.

Fun Facts

In 1815, after Rossini had already staged several successful popular operas, the beautiful and wealthy Spanish soprano, Isabella Colbran, was cast as the lead in his opera Elisabetta. She was eight years older than the composer and, according to Stendhal, beginning to lose her voice. The couple married in 1822, but separated in 1836 due to her extravagance, high-society lifestyle and gambling. A year after Colban’s death in 1845, Rossini married Olympe Pélissier, the 46-year-old French artists’ model and courtesan whom he had lived with since meeting her in Paris in 1830. He and his second wife lived for varying periods in Bologna, Milan, Florence and Paris, their last and longest home. Their musical evenings were legendary with guests includingFranz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Niccolò Paganini, Alexandre Dumas fils and Eugène Delacroix.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Santa Croce Basilica

Piazza di Santa Croce, 16, 50122

Firenze, Florence,

Italy

Europe

Map:

Map of Santa Croce Basilica in Florence, Italy courtesy of planetware.com

Grave Location:

Rossini Family Tomb

Grave Location Description

Santa Croce is one of the most famous churches in the world, appreciated for its superb Gothic architecture, its paintings by Giotto and for its tombs: Michelangelo, the scientist-philosopher Galileo, the author Niccolò Machiavelli, and composer Gioachino Rossini. The musicians tomb, sculptured by Giuseppe Cassioli, is on the right-hand side of the church. The original tomb that held Rossini can be found in Paris, France at Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Division 4 on the main path.