Milan Culture: The early period of the theatre's artistic history is linked to the tradition of "Neapolitan" opera buffa, whose leading exponents were Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) and Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801). Among the numerous operas performed may be mentioned La frascatana (1780), Il barbiere di Siviglia (1786) and Nina pazza per amore (1804) by Paisiello, L'italiana in Londra (1780) and Il matrimonio segreto (1793) by Cimarosa.
The theatre's repertoire was renewed between 1793 and 1798 with L'oro fa tutto by Ferdinando Paër (1771-1839) and Un pazzo ne fa cento by Giovanni Simone Mayr (1762-1845). Thus La Scala opened towards the neoclassical French taste and to the subsequent, more radical evolution of musical theatre. Paër and Mayr historically represented the junction and passage between opera buffa and the romantic opera of Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868). With the advent of Rossini in 1812 (La pietra del paragone), the Teatro alla Scala was to become the appointed place of Italian opera seria: of its history dating back more than a century and of its subsequent tradition up till the present. The catalogue of Rossini's works performed until 1825 included: Il turco in Italia, La Cenerentola, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La donna del lago, Otello, Tancredi, Semiramide and Mosé. |
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