BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, February 16, 1822

Today in Naples, 29-year-old Gioachino Rossini tries out his new opera Zelmira at the Teatro San Carlo. Many of Rossini’s recent operas had been premiered at this royal opera house. During the previous December, the opera house’s impresario Domenico Barbaja (1777-1841) entered into a contract for Rossini to spend the 1822 opera season (April-June) in Vienna. The centerpiece of this Viennese opera season will be the official premiere of Zelmira, on April 13. Rossini’s lover and soon-to-be wife, Isabella Colbran, stars as the Princess Zelmira. The Viennese public, adoring Rossini, is hotly anticipating this event. Beethoven is less than enthused.

The short Overture to Zelmira is here performed by I Solisti Veneti, conducted by Claudio Scimone: