William Tell: Overture

"William Tell" is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis. Rossini had high hopes of this opera about a legendary Swiss bowman. He considered it his masterpiece from which he could retire but because of its four-hour length and concerns it was glorifying a revolutionary figure, the opera flopped. Later the overture from it struck bulls eye and became Rossini's best known work.

William Tell was a folk hero of disputed historical authenticity who is said to have lived in the canton of Uri in Switzerland in the early 14th century. After refusing to salute the Habsburg badge at Altdorf on Lake Lucerne, he was sentenced to shoot an apple from his son's head. This he did, before shooting the tyrannical Austrian ruler Gessler, thus symbolizing his people's refusal to submit to external authority. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned of the Tell saga during his travels through Switzerland between 1775 and 1795 and gave the idea to his friend Friedrich von Schiller, who in 1803-04 wrote the play William Tell. Rossini used Schiller's play as the basis for his opera.

Rossini virtually retired from music after writing this opera though he did compose "Petite messe solennelle" a piece that belies its title as it lasts nearly two hours. Instead he concentrated on his hobby of cooking and produced a score of recipes such as Thrush and Chestnut soup.