29 febbraio 2016
PESARO – Give me the laundress’ bill and I will even set that to music (Gioachino Rossini)
Can you imagine being born on February 29th and celebrating your birthday every four years? Well, I would like to be born on Feb. 29th if I could count one year every four. Let me think: today I wouldn’t even be in my teens 😉
Anyway, you must be very special to be born on Feb. 29th and Gioachino Rossini, the Italian music composer born in my hometown (Pesaro) on Feb. 29th 1792, certainly was very special if, until his retirement in 1829, he had been the most popular opera composer in history.
Besides being a musical genius, he was also popular for his wit, his sense of humor and for his cooking abilities. Unfortunately he apparently sank into a big depression; this may be the reason why he retired from the music scene at age 37 (even though he died in 1868).
Rossini left his entire estate to the Municipality of Pesaro. The Music Conservatory, entitled to him, was established in 1869 according to his will; today a few of Rossini’s mementoes (mostly original music sheets) are safeguarded there inside the so-called ‘Tempietto Rossiniano’
If you visit Pesaro you should not miss his birth-place in the historic centre (in via Rossini, of course) and, if you happen to be here in August, you may not want to miss the ‘Rossini Opera Festival’ either. In August 2014 I happened to attend ‘Il viaggio a Reims’ performed by young interpreters from the ‘Accademia Rossiniana’ conducted by Ivan Lopez Reyonso in a restaging of the 2001 production.
I don’t know about you but I am fond of Rossini’s comic operas. This year our town, besides celebrating Rossini’s compleanno, also celebrates 200 years from the first staging of ‘The Barber of Seville’ (performed for the first time on Feb. 20th 1816 at Argentina Theatre in Rome). Starting on Feb. 20th we’ve had many initiatives going on (concerts, meetings, music and art conversations, food-tastings, children laboratories, guided tours).
Tomorrow the grand finale: a guided tour of Rossini’s birthplace in the afternooon (guided by ‘Maestro Rossini’) and ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’ at the Rossini Theatre (in a ‘concert’ staging) performed by the pupils of the ‘Accademia Rossiniana’ directed by Alberto Zedda.
What about you? Are you an opera lover? Our 7-year-old daughter Costanza, after attending the latest concert of our amateur orchestra (16th century music), said to me: ‘Mum, it’s not like I want to criticize you but I like the drumsmuch better than the violin, you know‘.
God bless her 
“I love PU” is a section written entirely in English and dedicated to foreign tourists, where you will find short report on appointments, events, history, people, culture, sport and curiosity of our beautiful territory: the province of Pesaro and Urbino.
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Questa è una sezione interamente scritta in inglese e dedicata ai turisti stranieri dove, all’interno, troverete delle “pillole” informative su appuntamenti, eventi, storia, personaggi, cultura, sport e curiosità del nostro splendido territorio: la provincia di Pesaro e Urbino.
Alcuni degli articoli che troverete saranno a cura della blogger pesarese Simona Ortolani che, da quattro anni, cura un blog di promozione territoriale in inglese con l’intento di far conoscere la provincia di Pesaro e Urbino attraverso gli occhi di un’italiana doc e le sue esperienzie di vita ‘quotidiana’.
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