Comic opera had a real story that people liked; it had dramatic variety; and, musically, it had strong melodies and even strong supporting orchestral parts, including a strong "stand-alone" overture (i.e., you could even enjoy the overture as an independent orchestral piece). Verdi was also enthusiastic because the music was by a southern Italian and the text by a northerner, which appealed to Verdi's pan-Italian vision. The genre was developed further in the 19th century by Gioachino Rossini in his masterpieces such as "The Barber of Seville" (1816) and "La Cenerentola" (1817). French composers eagerly seized upon the Italian model and made
Adina (opera) Adina (opera) Adina is an operatic farsa in one act by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Marchese Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini. The opera develops the popular theme of the "abduction from the seraglio". "Adina" was commissioned in 1818 by Diego Ignazio de Pina Manique, police superintendent of Lisbon and inspector of Portuguese theatres. The plot is very similar to that of Francesco Basili's 1819 opera, "Il califfo e la schiava", for which the libretto was written by Felice Romani, and some passages occur in both librettos - a mystery which has not yet been unravelled. The opera was intended as a