The Life of Rossini

Only edition in print

Rossini's success in Italy in the early 1820s was certainly not echoed in France, where he was regarded as “an ill-bred parvenu, whose cheap popularity was an insult to a great musical tradition”. Stendhal was the first of his contemporaries to recognize the genius of this important Italian composer.

Besides being a fascinating and penetrating account of the Italian composer's most creative years, and of contemporary musical events and opinions, this work is one of the f...