Cesare Sterbini to the music of Francesco Basili in 1820. He died in Rome on 19 January 1831. Cesare Sterbini Cesare Sterbini (born 1784 in Rome – January 19, 1831) was an Italian writer and librettist. Possessing a deep knowledge of classical and contemporary culture, philosophy, linguistics, he was fluent in Greek, Latin, Italian, French and German. He is best known as the librettist for two operas by Gioachino Rossini: "Torvaldo e Dorliska" (1815) and "The Barber of Seville" (1816). An official in the Pontifical Administration, he also set poetry to music as an amateur. He wrote the libretto to the opera
Gioachino Rossini matrimonio" ("The Marriage Contract"), was produced at Venice when he was a youth of 18 years. Two years before this he had already received the prize at the Conservatorio of Bologna for his cantata "Il pianto d'Armonia sulla morte d'Orfeo". Between 1810 and 1813 at Bologna, Rome, Venice and Milan, Rossini produced operas of varying success, most notably "La pietra del paragone" and "Il signor Bruschino", with its brilliant and unique overture. In 1813, "Tancredi" and "L'italiana in Algeri" were even bigger successes, and catapulted the 20-year-old composer to international fame. The libretto for "Tancredi" was an arrangement by Gaetano