“Musical gastronomy” in Rossini’s piano miniatures (on the example of the cycle “Quatre horsd’oeuvres et quatre mendiants”).
Authors: Parkhomenko Dar’ia 
Published: January 2021

Formulation of the problem. If the operatic creativity of G. Rossini constantly attracts researchers, then the chamber instrumental music of the composer is lighted only in some works of Western European musicologists, in particular, in the dissertation of Sh. Miller (1990), in which the author analyzes Rossini’s late piano pieces, noting the master’s penchant for frequent repetitions of musical elements. Ch. Park (1997), in turn, examines the chamber-instrumental works of G. Rossini in stylistic and compositional aspects, as a result concluding about his bright innovativeness in this area. B.-R. Kern and R. Moller (2002) are interested in the facts of the composer’s life and create a detailed periodization of his biography and work, sometimes involving the analysis of chamber plays written in the Paris period (1823–1868). At the same time, in domestic sources, chamber-instrumental music by G. Rossini, which becomes a key area of activity in the mature period of his life, is covered only sporadically that determines the relevance of the proposed research. The purpose of this article is to reveal the peculiarities of G. Rossini’s interpretation of piano miniatures using the example of the cycle “Quatre horsd’oeuvres et quatre mendiants” (“Four appetizers and four desserts”). The main task is to consider the features of the composer’s interpretation of the program conception of the musical pieces. Research methodology. Wide cultural-historical and biographical research approaches clearing Rossini’s aesthetic position combine with traditional methods of musicological analysis for examination of the expressive means used by the composer. The specific aspect of considering Rossini’s piano miniatures determined by the fact that we can find numerous mentions about composer’s great passion for cooking in the current musical-critical works and studies about Rossini’s life and career. Research results. Cooking was a source of musical inspiration for G. Rossini. He could compose music during a meal and was able to write musical variations on napkins, often comparing music and food. In addition, he also became the author of two books of recipes, one of which was published under the editorship of T. Beauvert (1997) in Paris. The book came out under the title “Rossini les p&#233;ch&#233;s de gourmandize” (“Rossini – the sins of gourmandize”) and is interesting because some dishes have musical names, for example, “Figaro” salad, “Pasticcini” pastries and “William Tell” cake, and as illustrations the musical works by the composer were used. In the period from 1857 to 1868, G. Rossini created ironic and humorous chamber music, among others eight albums of piano pieces included in his large collection “Peches de vieillesse” (a total of 164 compositions of chamber vocal and instrumental music, combined into 14 albums). The collection “Peches de vieillesse” includes three cycles and several individual food-themed pieces scattered across the various albums. All these miniatures bear the name of a certain culinary ingredient. The “edible” theme in “Peches de vieillesse” arose from the composer’s passionate love for gourmet dishes: he himself argued that good music and the exquisite taste of his dishes are inseparable. The article examines the piano miniatures that make up the “gastronomic” cycle “Four appetizers and four desserts”. According to the composer’s idea, the miniatures were to be performed on “Saturday evenings” in his house. The cycle consists of eight parts, which were included in the fourth album of the megacollection “Peches de vieillesse”. This “edible” cycle is divided into two groups of four miniatures: “Hors-d’oeuvres” / “Appetizers” (No. 1 “Les radis”, No. 2 “Les anchois”, No. 3 “Les Cornichons”: “Introduction: Theme et Variations”, No. 4 “La beurre”: “Theme and variations”) and “Mendicants” / “Desserts” (No. 1 “Les figuees seche”: “Me voila – Bonjour Madame”, No. 2 “Les amandes”: “Minuit sonne – Bonsoir Madame”, No. 3 “Lesraisins”: “A ma petite perruche”), No. 4 “Les noisette”: “A ma chere Nini”). The composition of the album combines the features of an eight-movement cycle and a cycle within a cycle, since the “appetizers” are separated from the “desserts” by a subtitle. In addition, each of the “desserts” is accompanied by short text lines emphasizing the composer’s sense of humor, where Rossini addresses to his wife (“Me voila – Bonjour Madame” – No. 1, “Minuit sonne – Bonsoir, Madame” – No. 2), to his parrot (“A ma petite perruche” – No. 3) and his dog (“A ma chere Nini” – No. 4). “Quatre hors-d’oeuvres et quatre mendiants”, at first glance, is a sequence of pieces of various tempers with a “culinary” program. Each of them poses complex performing tasks for the pianist (imitation of violin strokes, arpeggios and octave beatings at a fast tempo, fiorituras, abrupt changes in dynamic and tempo shades, etc.). The composer’s program idea is realized through a complex of diverse means of musical expression. For example, sharp changes in character and contrasting dynamic shades falling on each beat in the “Les radis” can be associated with the burning taste of a bitter root vegetable, etc. In “Les raisins”, to enhance the humorous effect, Rossini adds text to accompany the melodic line of the upper voice, so that a vocal part appears that completely duplicates the part of the right hand, which takes the cycle beyond the boundaries of piano music. However, in modern interpretations, performers omit these lines. Thus, the analysis of the plays of the cycle revealed a number of unusual compositional solutions (use of verbal text, quotes and allusions), which to a greater extent demonstrate “desserts”, where G. Rossini, in addition to the “culinary” program, using subheads associated with various communicative situations (relationship with his wife, pets, friendly caricaturing). The composer shows his commitment to theatricalization, due not only to various subheadsdedications, but also quotation and allusions (“Les raisins”, a “triple portrait” of the composer proper, his friend and his parrot). Conclusions. As a result, the piano cycle by G. Rossini, in a number of ways, approaches to the piano cycles of romantics, such as, for example, R. Schumann’s “Carnival”. The “culinary” program of the cycle is complemented by an arsenal of sound-visual means of the romantic era, to which G. Rossini refused to count himself among the composers. Along with program genre miniatures, there are portrait pieces; besides that, the composer conducts an indirect dialogue with contemporaries and close people (M. Carafa, J. Rothschild, O. P&#233;lissier, F. Liszt). The pieces demonstrate a vivid theatricality, which is embodied in a variety of characters within one miniature-scene and even in the addition of a verbal text, which indicates the closeness of the cycle to instrumental theater – an attribute of musical creativity of the twentieth century.