Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.
The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 3 February 1823.
Joséphine Fodor as Semiramide for the Paris performance in 1825
Ìnterior of the temple; set design for act 2, scene 4 of Semiramide staged at La Scala in Milan, 1824
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.
Rossini as a young man, c. 1810–1815
Giuseppe Rossini (1758–1839)
Anna Rossini (1771–1827)
The storm scene from Il barbiere in an 1830 lithograph by Alexandre Fragonard