Rossini: Overture to La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

Description

The well-known Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) opera La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) tells the story of a young servant girl named Ninetta, who is sentenced to death for the theft of her employer's silver spoon. Unable to prove her innocence without betraying her father, she is saved from execution at the last minute upon the discovery that her pet magpie is the silver thief. It was based on a well-known true incident of a French servant girl who was not so lucky, only being exonerated by the discovery of the magpie after the sentence was carried out.

This arrangement of the overture by Gustav Friedrich Kogel is sometimes referred to as the "German edition" and includes extra brass and music as compared to the original by Rossini.

Instrumentation: 1+Picc.2.2.2: 4.2.3.1: Timp.Perc(3): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set).