Word: rossini
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1950
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...success Berlioz wanted most came almost too late. As an operatic composer he won the respect of his contemporaries -Wagner, that "gay fat man" Rossini, Meyerbeer, Auber-but not the plaudits of the public. His Benvenuto Cellini flopped after four performances; the "concert opera" Damnation of Faust fell with a thud. When he was 59 and Beatrice and Benedict and The Trojans at Carthage had achieved a success, a friend remarked that people were finally coming to his operas. Replied the ailing Berlioz: "Yes, but I am going." Six years later, Berlioz was gone. At the end came an incident...
Milan's La Scala has been going for 171 years. And for most of that time it has been one of the world's greatest opera houses. Its audiences had heard premieres of the operas of Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Puccini. The greatest singers-Patti, Melba, Caruso, Chaliapin, Gigli-all graced its stage. From 1921 to 1929, under Arturo Toscanini, La Scala seemed to have reached a golden plateau. But last week even the proudest Milanese were admitting that something was very wrong with their great opera house...