Born in Pesaro in 1792, Gioacchino Rossini began attending a music college in Bologna at the age of fourteen. In 1810 he made his debut in Venice with "The Bill of Marriage" (La cambiale di matrimonio), a one act farce based on a libretto by G. Rossi, which met with success, which was followed by the triumph at La Scala in Milan in 1812 with "The Touchstone" (La pietra del paragone), a two act comic opera based on a libretto by L. Romanelli: a form this, in which he was to fully express his talent, despite the fact that his earliest work, while still a student in 1806, had been "Demetrius and Polibius" (Demetrio e Polibio), a dramatic opera that was only to be staged in Rome in 1812.
Yet it was with a dramatic opera, "Tancredi", first performed in 1813, that Rossini - who despite being in his early twenties was already famous in Italy - conquered audiences in Vienna. In the same year he composed one of his greatest comic operas, "L'Italiana in Algeri" (The Italian Girl in Algiers), based on a libretto by A. Anelli, and first staged in Venice.
With "Elisabeth, Queen of England" (Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra), staged in Naples in 1915, began the composer's Neapolitan period, at the head of the Royal theatres of the city and lasting until 1817.
In 1816, in less than three weeks, Rossini wrote "The Barber of Seville" (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) for the Teatro Argentina in Rome, based on a libretto by Cesare Stermini, inspired by the one already set to music by Paesiello and based on the comedy by the same name dated 1775 by Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais. The narrow deadline almost inevitably led to a fiasco on the first night, possibly incensed by the envy of the Paesiello's admirers (who had a hard time accepting the arrogance of the young Rossini who was so bold as to compose the same work), but the following performances proved the quality of the composition, that was to receive great praise even from Verdi: "I can only say that the "Barber of Seville", given the quantity of ideas it contains, its comic impetus and the truth of its declamation, is the most marvellous comic opera in existence".
In 1817 the composer reverted to comic opera once more with "Cinderella" (La Cenerentola) based on the libretto by Jacopo Ferretti, performed in Rome, and in the same year, he composed the semi-serious opera "The thieving magpie" (La gazza ladra), on a libretto by G. Gherardini, staged in Milan. Meanwhile in Naples Rossini had already presented his Othello, on a libretto by F. Berio di Salsa, based on the Shakesperian drama. More appreciated by the very conservative Neapolitan audiences, the serious opera was the genre that Rossini continued to work on in those years with "Moses in Egypt" (Mosé in Egitto), on a libretto by A. L. Tottola (1818), "The Lady of the Lake" (La donna del lago) once again with a libretto by Tottola, based on Walter Scott, "Maometto II" (1820), on a libretto by C. Della Valle based on Voltaire. In 1822, at the end of his activity in Italy, the composer once again turned to the eighteenth century tradition with "Semiramide", on a libretto by G. Rossi and based on Voltaire, first seen in Venice in 1823. Having moved to Paris in 1824, Rossini began by rewriting his two works "Maometto II" and "Moisé" in French and, after a few years silence, composed "Comte Ory" directly in French, based on a libretto by Eugène Scribe and C. G. Delestre-Poirson, staged at the Opéra in 1828.
At the height of his success, the musician announced his retirement from the stage with his last opera "William Tell" (Guglielmo Tell), on a libretto by d'Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on the tragedy "Wilhelm Tell" by Friedrich Schiller, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris in 1829, a masterpiece of sheer perfection that was fated to influence both French and Italian theatre, and of which Donizetti wrote "Rossini has written the first and third acts, God wrote the second...".
Rossini's subsequent composing silence was interrupted sporadically by works such as the "Stabat Mater" of 1941, the "Petite Messe Solennelle" of 1863 and a collection of chamber pieces, for piano, and voice and piano, collected under the title "Sins of old age" (Péchés de vieillesse). Gioacchino Rossini died in Paris in 1868.