English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. Rossini is one of the great operatic composers, an innovator within the whole concept of what was appropriate for serious as well as comic opera. Moses is a score which he revised for Paris, ten years after it had been composed for Naples; the result shows the evolution of his dramatic taste over a crucial decade--from the neo-classical sublime to spectacular Romantic grand opera. The Barber has been a consistent favorite with the public and performers since it opened, and Marco Spada analyses how its stylish comedy has been misunderstood. Other essays throw light on the working conditions of the opera industry in Rossini's Italy, on Balzac's delightful novel concerning Moses and on the exceptional challenge of performing this type of music to a high standard.

Excerpt from IL Barbiere Di Siviglia: The Barber of Seville; Opera Buffa in Two Acts Rosina is strictly watched by her guardian, Doctor Bartolo, who cherishes a desire of wed ding his ward himself; in this design he is assisted by Basilio, a music-master. Rosina returns the affection of the Count, to whom, in spite of the watchfulnms of her guardian, she contrives to convey a letter, declaring her passion, and her intention to break through her trammels, and at the same time requesting his name. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.