Runtime: Approx. 10 minutes
Like Shakespeare plays and Hollywood awards, opera was once strictly divided into distinct plot categories: opera buffa (comedies), opera seria (tragedies), and opera verismo (realism). And just as cinema today has grown more and more intent on defying categorization, opera composers also eventually pressed at the lines that separated their prescribed genres.
La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) therefore falls into a category termed “opera semiseria,” equivalent to today’s “tragicomedy.” On one hand, the story is quite silly; Ninetta, a maid in a wealthy household, is wrongly accused of stealing a silver spoon. The real culprit is a magpie, a bird attracted to shiny objects.
On the other hand, the tale, which is based on the play La pie voleuse by Théodore Baudouin d’Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez, highlights the hazards of existing on the lowest rung of the societal ladder. Ninetta quickly finds herself in real danger as she discovers that the draconian penalty for her supposed crime is death. To add insult to injury, the town’s mayor offers to help her out if only she’ll accept his advances. All this commentary on the nature of power is splashed across a backdrop of cartoonish antics and mistaken identity.
Though he composed 39 operas spanning all genres, Rossini is most known for his comedies today. It’s easy to see why; his readily identifiable style seems to perfectly encapsulate tomfoolery, a fact which is perhaps best demonstrated by the prodigious use of his music in Looney Tunes. However, while La gazza ladra certainly displays many of those elements, it does manage to take on a more serious tone.
The overture begins with opposing snare drum rolls that can be heard both as fanfare and as an ominous harbinger of execution. The stately opening gives way to bustling strings typical of Rossini’s more comedic stories, but it can never quite escape the snare drums, which underpin much of the piece. Birdlike solos in the flute and piccolo have an almost comic innocence, but ominous sonorities in the brass cloud the otherwise upbeat tone. For a story that mixes weighty themes into screwball comedy, the overture offers up a fitting encapsulation of what’s to come.