Вильгельм Телль: Опера Джоаккино Россини

Opera by Gioachino Rossini
the Rossini opera

William Tell (; ) is a French language opera in four acts by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Victor Joseph Étienne de Jouy and L. F. Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell, which, in turn, drew on the William Tell legend. The opera was Rossini's last, although he lived for nearly 40 more years. Fabio Luisi said that Rossini planned for Guillaume Tell to be his last opera even as he composed it. The often performed overture in four sections features a depiction of a storm and a vivacious finale, the "March of the Swiss Soldiers". Paris Opéra archivist Charles Malherbe discovered the original orchestral score of the opera at a secondhand book seller's shop, resulting in its being acquired by the Paris Conservatoire in 1900.

Guillaume Tell was first performed by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Le Peletier on 3 August 1829, but within three performances cuts were being made and after a year only three acts were performed. The opera's length, roughly four hours of music, and casting requirements, such as the high range required for the tenor part, have contributed to the difficulty of producing the work. When performed, the opera is often cut. Performances have been given in both French and Italian. Political concerns have also contributed to the varying fortunes of the work. In Italy, because the work glorified a revolutionary figure against authority, the opera encountered difficulties with the Italian censors, and the number of productions in Italy was limited. The Teatro San Carlo produced the opera in 1833, but then did not give another production for around 50 years. The first Venice production, at the Teatro La Fenice, was not until 1856. By contrast, in Vienna, in spite of censorship problems there, the Vienna Court Opera gave 422 performances over the years 1830 to 1907. As Hofer, or the Tell of the Tyrol, the opera was first performed at Drury Lane in London on 1 May 1830 (in English), with a production in Italian following in 1839 at Her Majesty's, and in French at Covent Garden in 1845. In the later 20th century there were major productions in Florence (1972), Geneva (1979, 1991), La Scala (1988), Théâtre des Champs Élysées (1989), Covent Garden (1990), and then Opéra Bastille (2003) This performance was of the French version, with some cuts to particularly the fourth act (which Pappano noted had been approved by Rossini himself). A live recording of this concert performance was released in 2011, and the production was transferred to The Proms in July of that year, with Michele Pertusi taking on the title role, Patricia Bardon as Hedwige, Nicolas Courjal as Gessler, and Mark Stone as Leuthold. The performance was very well reviewed, and marked the first full performance of the work in the history of the Proms. A co production by the Dutch National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera New York of the opera in the original French opened at the Met in October 2016 with Gerald Finley in the title role. According to an anecdote, when an admirer told the composer that he had heard his opera the previous night, Rossini replied "What? The whole of it?". Another version of the story refers only to act 2. Its high energy finale, "March of the Swiss Soldiers", is particularly familiar through its use in the American radio and television shows of The Lone Ranger. Several portions of the overture were used prominently in the films A Clockwork Orange and The Eagle Shooting Heroes; in addition, Dmitri Shostakovich quotes the main theme of the finale in the first movement of his 15th symphony. The overture has four parts, each linked to the next:

"The Prelude (Dawn)" is written only for the cello section (including parts for five soloists), the double basses, and the timpani, in a slow tempo and in E major. "The Storm" is a dynamic section played by the full orchestra, with backup from the trombones, in E minor. The "Ranz des Vaches", or "call to the dairy cows", features the cor anglais (English horn) and the flute. It is in G major. The finale ("March of the Swiss Soldiers") is an ultra dynamic "cavalry charge" galop heralded by horns and trumpets, and is played by the full orchestra in E major.

Characters and scenes from the opera William Tell are recognisable on the court cards and aces of William Tell cards, playing cards that were designed in Hungary around 1835. These cards spread across the Austro Hungarian Empire and are still the most common German suited playing cards in that part of the world today. Characters portrayed on the Obers and Unters include: Hermann Gessler, Walter Fürst, Rudolf Harras and William Tell.