Notes for: July 17, 2018
No, the date isn’t a misprint. Rossini composed this cheerful sonata – one of a set of six – when he was twelve years old and had studied music formally for only a few years. Already, though, he was working to help support his family. His parents were struggling to earn a living as musicians – his father was an itinerant horn player, his mother a soprano who couldn’t read music – and their musically precocious son was expected from an early age to contribute to the family income. By the time he was twelve, Gioachino was making money singing as a soloist in church choirs, playing continuo in orchestras, and transcribing operas. He had begun some formal musical education, but much of what he would learn about harmony would come from studying the scores of Haydn and Mozart. (Years later he would write, “Mozart was the admiration of my youth, the desperation of my mature years, and the consolation of my old age.”)
In 1804 he was invited to spend the summer at the Ravenna home of the wealthy merchant and amateur double bass player Agostino Triossi. He, Triossi, and several friends spent happy evenings making music together, and it was for them that Rossini wrote six unusually scored sonatas (there was no violist in the group). Looking back, he would one day write a tongue-in-cheek apology for his efforts. “First violin, second violin, violoncello and contrabass parts for six terrible sonatas composed by me at the country house (near Ravenna) of my friend and patron Agostino Triossi, and this at a most youthful age, not having even received a lesson in thorough bass. They were all composed and copied in three days….”
Despite the disclaimer, the sonatas are charming works, unfailingly melodious, brimming with good humor, and with virtuosic turns for everyone. The Sonata No. 3 in C Major is a sprightly confection. Throughout the Allegro, Rossini balances rhythmic agility with melodic winsomeness, as the violins chase up and down while the cello and the bass keep a steady beat and occasionally interject their own amusing commentary. In the soulful Andante, Rossini shows his instinct for lyrical melody. And in the sparkling Moderato – a set of variations in which each of the instrumentalists gets to shine – he displays the wit that would propel his comic operas.
Within a few years Rossini would write the first of his 39 operas. This early sonata offers a tantalizing glimpse of the gifts that would make him the richest and most famous composer in Europe. He retired at the age of 37 to lead the life of a Parisian bon vivant renowned for his intellect, mischievous wit, and Epicurean tastes.