La gazza ladra Bellini's "I Puritani" starts with exactly the same words) are two examples of Rossini's brilliant vocal writing. Notes Sources La gazza ladra La gazza ladra (, The Thieving Magpie) is a "melodramma" or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini based on "La pie voleuse" by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez. The composer Giaochino Rossini wrote quickly, and "La gazza ladra" was no exception. According to legend, before the first performance of the opera, the producer assured the composition of the overture by locking Rossini in a room, from the window of
Fosca (opera) Fosca (opera) Fosca is an opera seria in four acts by Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Gomes to an Italian-language libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni based on 's 1869 novel "La festa delle Marie". The opera premiered at La Scala in Milan on February 16, 1873. It was a failure because of a dispute between lovers of bel canto and supporters of Wagnerian music-drama. Gomes revised it in 1877, and the premiere of the new version (this time described as a melodramma) on February 7, 1878, also at La Scala, was a success. Since then, performances of the opera, mostly in Brazil,