"Music is the universal language of mankind."
AUTHOR: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
“Music is a form of communication that everyone can understand.”
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COMPOSER
ROSSINI
Signor Bruschino Overture
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| http://www.rossinioperafestival.it/?IDC=173 |
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| http://www.opera-online.com/en/items/works/il-signor-bruschino-foppa-rossini-1813 |
The opera Il Signor Bruschino (pronounced “Eel SEENyore Broo-SKEE-no”)[actually Il signor Bruschino, ossia Il figlio per azzardo ("Mr. Bruschino", or "Son by Accident")] has gained considerable importance in the modern concert repertoire, where its lighthearted, energetic overture is more often performed than the opera itself. This opera, which Rossini wrote in eleven days (according to a newspaper account) in 1812 when he was 20, was his ninth opera. Its overture shows off Rossini's great wit and gift for melody and innovation. Almost immediately, in this overture, after a slow introduction, he generates the simple rhythm that the second violins periodically and solemnly tap out with the wood of their bows on their music stands lending a percussive series of rhythms or exclamation points to the music. (In Rossini's time, as electric lights did not exist yet, the score indicated the violinists were to tap the tin metal-reflector shades covering the candle holders attached to their stands.) Rossini left no clue as to the possible meaning of this tapping but because it was repeated several times throughout the piece it became the musical centerpiece, the most distinctive characteristic, of this five-minute overture. His exciting crescendo technique, in which lively figures repeat again and again, growing ever louder and more boisterous is another one of his innovative musical creations.
The libretto of this one-act comic operatic farce in fifteen scenes was written by the Venetian poet Giuseppe Maria Foppa and was based on a French comedy play,“Le Fils par Hazard" by Alisson de Chazet and E.T.M. Ourry with the story concerning the mistaken identity of the title character with added elements of masquerade and family quarrels with true love winning out in the end.
The story takes place in 18th Century France with the main characters, Sofia and Florville, in love and wanting to marry. Sofia's guardian, Gaudenzio (who has never met Florville and does not know what he looks like), opposes the match because Florville's father and Gaudenzio are old enemies plus Sofia had already been promised in marriage to the son of his old friend Signor Bruschino, someone Sofia had never met as they were betrothed by correspondence. On his way to meet Sofia, young Bruschino stops at a tavern, runs up a huge debt and is detained when he is unable to pay. Seizing the opportunity so that he can marry Sofia, Florville impersonates Bruschino junior (the legitimate groom) convincing Gaudenzio that he is Bruschino’s son. The complications that arise when Bruschino senior appears are eventually solved when Signor Bruschino is induced to accept Florville as his son, for the present purposes, although well aware of the whole situation.
http://rrcs-24-103-233-97.nyc.biz.rr.com/Programnotes/notes19b.htm
TODAY WAS STATE TESTING DAY
GENERAL MUSIC PERIOD 1:
1. WORKED ON WRITING THE CRITIQUE FOR "MY FAIR LADY" and PASSED IN FOR GRADING
2. STARTED VIOLIN PARTS (TO BE CONTINUED ON FRIDAY)
GENERAL MUSIC PERIOD 2:
1. FINISHED A PAGE OF MUSIC THEORY (STEP-WISE MOTION and NOTE READING) and PASSED LAST THREE ASSIGNMENTS
IN FOR GRADING
2. FINISHED "MY FAIR LADY"
3. STARTED DISCUSSION FOR WRITING THE CRITIQUE OF THE MUSICAL