Georg Solti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a performance of five famous overtures by Rossini on ”Great Performances” on WTTW-Ch. 11 at 9 p.m. Friday. First presented in June, 1983, the program was taped in Orchestra Hall and includes maestro Solti`s comments on the composer whose dizzying increases in tempo and volume earned him the nickname of ”Monsieur Crescendo.”
The concert opens with perhaps the best-known overture of all time, to
”The Barber of Seville,” an opera that Rossini dashed off in an incredible three weeks in 1816. Other overtures heard are to ”The Italian Woman in Algiers,” ”Semiramide,” ”The Siege of Corinth” and ”The Thieving Magpie”.
Rossini completed 26 operas by the age of 32, then moved to Paris where he wrote only one further operatic work. That one`s stirring overture is not included in this program, but is well-known to American television viewers as the theme music behind the ”Lone Ranger” series.