On Monday, May 23rd, 2016, at 1:45 p.m., in room 108 B, Opera @ the Library will present Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (The Count Ory).
 

Le comte Ory is an opera written by Gioachino Rossini in 1828. Some of the music originates from his opera Il viaggio a Reims written three years earlier for the coronation of Charles X. The French libretto was by Eugene Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson, adapted from a comedy they had first written in 1817.
 

The work is ostensibly a comic opera in that the story is humorous, even farcical. However, it was devised for the Opera rather than for the Theatre de l'Opera Comique, and there are structural inconsistencies with the contemporary opera comique genre: whereas the latter consists of relatively short lyrical numbers and spoken dialogue, Le Comte Ory consists of highly developed, even massive musical forms linked by accompanied recitative. Although the opera contains some of Rossini's most colorful orchestral writing, the quaint, brief overture is oddly restrained and unassuming, ending with a whisper of pizzicato strings. This is a free program and English subtitles are provided. We hope to enhance your knowledge and appreciation of this beautiful art form. Light refreshments will be provided at intermission for our guests by our Friends of the Opera. For more information about Opera @ the Library programs and other special events, please visit our web presence athttps://sites.google.com/site/operaatthelibrary/ or contact Dennis Smolarek at 352-536-2275 and email at operaatcooperlibrary@gmail.com.