La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez.
The opera is best known for its overture, which is notable for its use of snare drums.
Rossini was famous for his writing speed, and La gazza ladra was no exception. It was reported that the producer had to lock Rossini in a room ...
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La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez.
The opera is best known for its overture, which is notable for its use of snare drums.
Rossini was famous for his writing speed, and La gazza ladra was no exception. It was reported that the producer had to lock Rossini in a room the day before the first performance in order to write the overture. Rossini then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.
It was first performed on 31 May 1817 at La Scala, Milan. The opera was revised by Rossini for subsequent productions in Pesaro in 1818, and for the Teatro del Fondo (Naples) in 1819 and the Teatro di San Carlo (Naples) in 1820. He again worked on the music in Paris in 1866.
Riccardo Zandonai made his own version of the opera for a revival in Pesaro in 1941. Alberto Zedda...
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