After the staging of Guillaume Tell at the Paris Opéra in early August 1829, Gioachino Rossini, who was not yet forty, lost interest in operatic work. Biographers have sought various reasons for this surprising decision, even mentioning possible burnout or depression. However, it should not be forgotten that Rossini did not completely abandon composition between 1830 and 1868, turning to religious music (Stabat Mater, Petite messe solennelle) and compiling collections of short works. These included Soirées musicales, from the first half of the 1830s, which comprised twelve songs for solo voice or vocal duet with piano, and the much more extensive fourteen-volume collection Péchés de vieillesse [Sins of old age], containing 150 works, including vocal, chamber and piano pieces. Residing in Passy, near Paris, Rossini became a living legend, gathering around him a large circle of leading representatives of the French and European musical community and Italian artistic émigrés. During the ‘musical Saturdays’ held in his salon, after a sumptuous dinner, Rossini’s guests would discuss art for hours and listen to concerts, during which not only Petite messe solennelle but also many of Rossini’s Péchés de vieillesse were first performed. The evening at the Philharmonic will therefore be an attempt to recreate the unique atmosphere of the musical salon in Passy.

Grzegorz Zieziula