VI/1
Sinfonie giovanili
[Youthful Overtures]
Critical Edition by
PAOLO FABBRI
FONDAZIONE ROSSINI PESARO 1998
The four overtures in this volume were composed in the years preceding Rossini's debut as an opera composer (Venice, Teatro San Moisč, 1810, with La cambiale di matrimonio). Two of them were composed for his friend and patron Agostino Triossi of Ravenna, at whose villa "Il Conventello" the young Rossini spent some time as composing for the dilettante Triossi and his friends—the six Sonate a quattro for two violins, cello and double bass were written there in 1804. The other two overtures are products of Rossini's student years in Bologna, where he enrolled in the Liceo Filarmonico in April, 1806. Rossini's overtures are designed in the "modern" Italian style of a single fast movement with a slow introduction, but with a variety of internal structures. The youthful composer had already established the basis of his operatic style, and the Sinfonia in E-flat major became (with some modifications) the overture to La cambiale di matrimonio, while two others furnished themes for the overtures to L'inganno felice (1812) and Il signor Bruschino (1813).
The critical edition of the sinfonie giovanili is the first to have been prepared in the total absence of autograph material. Whatever the ambiguities of a Rossini autograph, at least the editor works as close as possible to the composer and his "intentions" as expressed in the written music. But lacking an autograph manuscript, the editor is constantly dubious of the accuracy of his source in transmitting Rossini’s original. The critical edition continues to follow its principle of selecting what is judged the most important source and comparing this surrogate with all other available sources. In the case of the four youthful overtures, these sources are scores, orchestral parts, or both.
Contents
Sinfonia del Conventello [Overture of
"Il Conventello"]
Instrumentation: 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 1
Bassoon, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Strings
Sinfonia obbligata a contrabbasso [Overture
with obbligato double bass]
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 1 Bassoon,
2 Horns, 1 Trombone, Strings
Sinfonia in Re maggiore [Overture
in D major] (Bologna, 1808)
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 1 Bassoon,
2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Strings
Sinfonia in Mi-bemolle maggiore [Overture
in E-flat major] (Bologna, 1809)
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 1 Bassoon,
2 Horns, Strings
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