Italian opera in bringing the art form back to life again. Romantic opera, which placed emphasis on the imagination and the emotions began to appear in the early 19th century, and because of its arias and music, gave more dimension to the extreme emotions which typified the theater of that era. In addition, it is said that fine music often excused glaring faults in character drawing and plot lines. Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) initiated the Romantic period. His first success was an "opera buffa" (comic opera), "La Cambiale di Matrimonio" (1810). His reputation still survives today through his "Barber of Seville" (1816), and
Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" Oliveri in Pesaro. Amongst its past Directors are the composers Carlo Pedrotti, Pietro Mascagni, Riccardo Zandonai and Franco Alfano. Mascagni's opera "Zanetto" had its world premiere at the conservatory in 1896. In his will, Rossini left virtually his entire estate to Pesaro, his native city, for the establishment of a free music school there with the provision that the legacy would only come to the city upon the death of his widow, Olympe Pélissier. In 1869, the year following Rossini's death, the city set up the association which would eventually become the "Liceo musicale Rossini". Olympe Pélissier died in 1878.