Semiramide

From Wind Repertory Project
Gioacchino Rossini

Gioacchino Rossini (arr. V.F. Safranek; ed. Roberts)


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Subtitle: Overture


General Info

Year: 1823 / 1939
Duration: c. 12:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Masters Music Publications Inc
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $40.00

For additional availability information, see Discussion tab, above.


Instrumentation

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Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 3 February 1823.

Semiramide was Rossini's final Italian opera and according to Richard Osborne, "could well be dubbed Tancredi Revisited". As in Tancredi, Rossi's libretto was based on a Voltaire tragedy. The music took the form of a return to vocal traditions of Rossini's youth, and was a melodrama in which he "recreated the baroque tradition of decorative singing with unparalleled skill." The ensemble scenes (particularly the duos between Arsace and Semiramide) and choruses are of a high order, as is the orchestral writing, which makes full use of a large pit.

Semiramide has its own overture, which was almost certainly composed last. Unlike many operatic overtures of the day, it borrowed musical ideas from the opera itself, thus making it unsuitable for use with another score. The range and balance of musical ideas, from the hushed, rhythmic opening through the Andantino for four horns (drawn from the opera itself) and the repetition with pizzicato countermelodies in the strings to the lively allegro, make the overture to Semiramide one of Rossini's finest contributions to the genre and deservedly one of the most popular.

- Program Note from Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music


Media

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State Ratings

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Performances

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  • Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Community Band (Shaun Salem, conductor) – 3 November 2019


Works for Winds by This Composer

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