There is rarely a single best version for Rossini's operas, since in the first half of the nineteenth century, Italian opera was treated as a collection of individual units which could be rearranged, substituted, or omitted depending on varying local conditions. This dissertation examines all the authentic versions of fourteen operas by Rossini in printed or manuscript sources in order to establish the correct texts for the works. An authentic version is defined as one with which Rossini can be shown to have been directly connected in the capacity of composer, director, or arranger, or one that he personally approved for inclusion in his operas but was composed by somebody else. Although not dealing primarily with borrowing, this dissertation examines Rossini's reuses of his own music in great detail, since he frequently made use of this practice in his operas or in later versions or revivals of the same work. Rossini's self-borrowings are viewed as an important characteristic of his compositional style and as a result of his time and milieu.

Works: Rossini: L'inganno felice (166-172, 190), Tancredi (198-200), L'italiana in Algeri (247), Il barbiere di Siviglia (276-79, 293), Otello (313-14), La Cenerentola (338-39), La gazza ladra (358), Armida (381), Mosè in Egitto, Moïse (307, 434), Maometto (456), Semiramide (490), Le Comte Ory (508), Guillaume Tell (524).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Luiz Fernando Lopes