WIND QUINTET No.14 in G minor Op.231 No.2 (score & parts)

The second of my tributes to Italian opera. Strangely, not all the memories are from Rossini’s operas; I have been a choral singer since school and I have come to love Rossini’s church works, so you will find his Stabat Mater and Petite Messe Solennelle amongst the references. The first movement uses the Stabat Mater as the introduction and the Coda. In between, there are bits of The Barber of Seville – the overture and Rosina’s Un voce poco fa. The second movement too has a non-operatic source, the Petite Messe Solennelle; the introduction is based on the Preludio religioso and the main section the Agnus Dei, then there is real opera: Mosé in Egitto, featuring the Prayer Dal tuo stellata (the first famous one of its kind) and the orchestral coda showing the Israelites crossing the Red Sea with the last few bars of the opera. The scherzo is after William Tell, with music from the Act III ballet (including the Tyrolean you may know as A Scottish Soldier) and, yes, the famous tune from the Overture makes an appearance! The Finale features music from one of his last operas, Le Comte Ory, and includes an example of the famous Rossini crescendo. IH