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
Gioachino Rossini to the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, at the request of the Italian government. According to Herbert Weinstock's 1968 biography, the composer's estate was valued at 2.5 million francs upon his death in 1868, the equivalent of about 1.4 million US dollars. According to one contemporary account, at the time of Rossini's death, his estate yielded revenues of 150,000 francs per year. Apart from some individual legacies in favour of his wife and relatives, Rossini willed his entire estate to the Comune of Pesaro. The inheritance was invested to establish a (Conservatory) in the town. In 1940, the was put