Clash of Civilizations

Rossini's 'Maometto II',
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Nearly two centuries after its debut in Naples in 1820, Rossini's Maometto II reached Rome on 28 March 2014; my review is based on that premiere. The San Carlo debut was a flop: only one evening before being cancelled from the program. Rossini changed the finale from tragic to happy (by borrowing the final scene of La Donna del Lago) and tried again in Venice; a second major flop. The outcome was better in Paris in 1826 with a new title, ballet and division into four rather than two acts: renamed Le Siège de Corinthe, the opera was also successful in the nineteenth century for political reasons (ie the Western European struggle to free Greece from the Ottoman Empire)...

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI

ROME

NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC

ITALY

PIER LUIGI PIZZI