Gioachino Rossini

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (that second "c" biographers inserted in his name for many years was an incorrect spelling) entered the world on February 29, 1792 in Pesaro, Italy; a bustling Adriatic port. His mother was a singer and his father, a horn player, who provided their bright youngster with every sort of musical training they could find: instructions in the French horn, harpsichord, cello, piano, musical theory, voice, and counterpoint. Gioachino performed in local churches and opera houses and began winning prizes for his compositions by the time he was sixteen.

Rossini was blessed with a sparkling wit, a (mostly) happy-go-lucky temperament, and a never-failing gift for melody. "Give me a laundry list," he bragged, "and I will set it to music." Incorporated with his other prodigious talents, Rossini began making waves in the operatic world while still in his teens and was world-famous by his early twenties. Usually, he would hit town, compose an opera in three weeks or so, conduct or attend the first few performances and move on. Along the way, Rossini would appropriate sections from previous works to use in his latest formula operas. The Barber of Seville was completed in a mere thirteen days. Donizetti (who composed The Elixir of Love in just eight days) commented, "I always knew Rossini was a lazy man."

In 1822, a Rossini festival in Vienna sparked a citywide mania. Beethoven himself was affected, advising the awestruck young composer to stick to comedy and "compose more 'Barber's'." He made an unhappy marriage with his mistress, soprano Isabella Colbran, that same year. They divorced in 1837 and a few years later (following her death) Rossini married another devoted mistress, Olympe Péllisier.

Neither women nor music seemed to hold a candle to Rossini's passion for food. Known as one of the greatest gastronomes of the 19th century, the composer once wrote, "I travel not so much for the sake of my music as for that of my stomach." Rossini claimed, according to another anecdote, to have wept only three times in his life: over the fiasco of his first opera, when he heard Paganini play the violin, and the day a turkey stuffed with truffles fell overboard on a floating picnic. Chefs from across Europe dedicated recipes to the maestro, many of which are enjoyed today throughout the world; and culinary references abound in Rossini's operas.

From the time he retired, at the peak of his career, following the Paris premiere of William Tell, Rossini was to be found nearly every evening in one of the great French restaurants, enjoying extraordinary food, fine wines, and legendary conversation with his intimate circle of friends-or enjoying the same at his homes in Bologna, Passy, or the Chaussée d'Antin. His wittiest remarks are still quoted today: "Wagner has some fine moments but some bad quarters of an hour," or, "I have just received a Stilton and a cantata from Cipriani Potter. The cheese was very good."

Ill health prompted Rossini's return to Italy in 1837. It was back to his beloved Paris in 1855, Rossini's health and humor restored along with his urge to compose music. For the next dozen years, he composed refined and witty works for voice and piano. He died a wealthy man in 1868 (his estate was valued at around one and a half million dollars), universally loved and admired by his peers, both in and out of the kitchen.