Guillaume Tell (Wilhelm Tell)

In 1829, a musical revolution took place in Paris when Gioachino Rossini premièred his opera Guillaume Tell. This work unfolded an unprecedented range of expression - in the truest sense of the word: Idyllic depictions of nature are juxtaposed here with rousing choral scenes, internalised solo songs of touching emotionality meet passages bursting with energy.

And so Rossini always finds exactly the right tone here to win Friedrich Schiller's popular drama about the Swiss struggle for freedom for the music theatre stage. In view of this gripping music, every time we encounter Rossini's Guillaume Tell, we regret anew that the composer did not write another opera after this work in the 39 years that followed until his death in 1868.