Beethoven and his contemporaries the third movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony has an opening theme that is very similar to the one in Mozart's 40th Symphony. Beethoven wrote cadenzas (WoO 58) to the first and third movements of Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor. Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was an Italian composer known for his numerous operas including "The Barber of Seville" and "William Tell". When Rossini visited Vienna, he made several attempts to meet Beethoven, who was then 51 and in failing health. Finally, Rossini was able to arrange a meeting with Beethoven through the help of Giuseppe Carpani, an Italian poet living in
Rossini Opera Festival established in 1980 with the aim of making the world more aware of Rossini's neglected operas and presenting all of them in collaboration with the G. Ricordi & Co. music publishing house, which published their critical editions. Of the approximately three dozen operas written, only a handful are regularly presented. On 13 August 1993, the Italian parliament unanimously approved the Special Law N. 319 "Regulations in support of the Rossini Opera Festival", which recognizes the Pesaro Festival's achievements in the reviving of Rossini's operas as entitled to be included among the state-supervised works of restoration of the national artistic heritage.