Ybc: Rossini – Petite Messe Solennelle

Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle is neither small nor solemn but instead a fascinating late work from a composer who had stopped composing operas three decades previously. The ‘petite’ of its title does reflect the circumstances of its first performance in a Paris salon with two pianos and a small group of singers. Rossini, then in his late seventies, galvanised himself for one final and powerfully direct musical statement that is both optimisti...