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
Gioachino Rossini produced 20 operas. Of these, "Otello" formed the climax to his reform of serious opera ("opera seria"), and offers a suggestive contrast with the treatment of the same subject at a similar point of artistic development by the composer Giuseppe Verdi. In Rossini's time, the tragic ending was so distasteful to the public of Rome that it was necessary to invent a happy conclusion to "Otello". Conditions of stage production in 1817 are illustrated by Rossini's acceptance of the subject of Cinderella for a libretto only on the condition that the supernatural element should be omitted. The opera "La Cenerentola"