Renowned musicologist Philip Gossett will present a lecture, “Mozart and the Italians: The influence of Austrian Composers on Italian Lyrical Opera,” at the Newberry Library of Chicago. Although it took some time for Mozart’s operas to become part of the repertory within Italian theaters, the great Italian composers understood the importance and impact that Mozart would have on future generations. Among these was Gioachino Rossini, who said that Mozart was “the ideal of my youth, the nemesis of my maturity, the consolation of my old age.” Rossini’s sentiment may be considered a starting point for Gossett’s pre- sentation, which will examine the significance and influence of Mozart’s theatrical operas on Italian nineteenth-century opera. Philip Gossett is an internationally known music historian specialized in nineteenth century opera, with particular emphasis on the operas of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. He is author of the recent “Performing Italian Opera,” which won the American Musico- logical Society’s Otto Kinkeldey prize as best book on music of the year, and which has recently appeared in Italian translation as “Dive e maestri” (Il Saggiatore, Milano). He is currently working as general editor of the complete edition of the works of Giuseppe Verdi and of the critical edition of the works of Gioachino Rossini. As part of his presentation, Professor Gossett will play passages of Mozart’s and Rossini’s works on the piano.

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