Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/189

ROSSINI. nor can I find any fault with the music (of Otello) if I except the usual Italian gallopades and a few reminiscences of Tancredi.' Mendelssohn too, as is well known, would allow no one to depreciate Rossini. Even Schumann, so intolerant of the Italian School, is enthusiastic over one of his operas, and calls it 'real, exhilarating, clever music.' Such exaggerations as those of Ingres and Berlioz are as bad as intentional injustice; it is better to recollect the very difficult circumstances which surrounded an Italian composer eighty years ago, and to endeavour to discover why music which was once so widely worshipped has now gone out of fashion. Is it the fault of his librettos? No doubt he would have been wiser to stick to comic subjects, like that of 'The Barber of Seville,' and to have confined himself for his librettos to the poets of his own family. Is it the elaborate ornamentation of much of his music? No doubt ornamented music decays sooner than that of a plainer style, and it is always dangerous, though tempting, to adopt the fashionable forms. But one main reason is to be found in the deterioration of the art of singing; the Paris opera can now boast neither 'ténor de force' nor 'ténor de grace'; and the recent revival of the 'Comte Ory' (Oct. 29, 1880) showed conclusively the mediocrity of the present singers at the Académie. In fact Rossini is now expiating his fault in having demanded too much from his singers. Some feeling of remorse on this head seems to have prompted his efforts to improve the art of singing both in Paris and Bologna. Indeed so keenly alive was he to the tendencies which have degraded the stage since 1830, and so anxious to further the love of fresh melody and the prosecution of sound musical study, that he bequeathed to the Institute an annual sum of 6000 francs (£240) for a competition both in dramatic poetry and composition, specifying particularly that the object of the prize should be to encourage composers with a turn for melody. The prize was given on the first occasion to M. Paul Collin, author of the libretto of the 'Daughter of Jairus,' and to the Countess [App. p.776 "Baroness" de Grandval, a distinguished musician, but hardly a remarkable melodist. The greater part of his property Rossini devoted to the foundation and endowment of a Conservatoire of Music at his native town, Pesaro, of which A. Bazzini has just (June 1881) been appointed Director.

In order to complete this sketch it is necessary to give as complete a list as possible of his works. N.B. In the column after the names, (1) signifies that the score has been engraved; (2) that it is published for voices and piano; (3) that it is still in manuscript.