Gioachino Rossini, “The Italian Mozart,” started writing operas in his teens and found immediate acclaim from composers and opera-goers alike. Rossini, who lived from 1792 to 1868, wrote 39 operas in a flurry in his early years–he stopped writing operas when he was just 37–and then went on to compose sacred music, chamber music and instrumental pieces. He was known for his tremendous sense of melody and his arias that challenged sings to engage in ever more dramatic vocal flourishes. One of Rossini’s masterpieces is “The Barber of Seville,” the comedic story of a Spanish count who tests the love of the beautiful Rosine by disguising himself as a poor student who vies for her affections. In this video, enjoy the opera’s most famous aria, “Largo al factotum,” announcing the arrival of Figaro.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
