''Rossini's Ghost'' is a 1996
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
Original Film produced and directed by
David Devine, with co-production by Richard Mozer.
Plot
The story centers around
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
, a composer whose friends never lose faith in him—even when things go wrong. A 9-year-old girl travels back in time through a magic mirror to be his invisible assistant, overcoming the disastrous opening night of ''
The Barber of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...
'' to give the world one of its most beloved operas.
Cast
*
Joseph Di Mambro
Joseph Léonce Di Mambro (19 August 1924 – 5 October 1994) was a French esotericist who founded and led the Order of the Solar Temple alongside Luc Jouret. Di Mambro had been associated with a variety of esoteric groups before founding OTS. ...
as
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
* Melissa Pirerra as Relania
*
Frances Bay as Elder Rosalie
**
Margaret Illmann as Young Rosalie
*
Janne Mortil as Young Martina
**
Lally Cadeau as Elder Martina
*
Tony Nardi as Duke Cesarini
Production
The film was shot in the small mountain town of
Labin
Labin (Italian language, Italian/Istriot language, Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac, Rabac-Porto Albona a ...
, in
Istria, Croatia.
The film was released on DVD and has been watched in over 100 countries on television. The film and its corresponding Teacher's Guide is used in numerous U.S. elementary and middle schools by music teachers for music classes. ''Rossini's Ghost'' was the seventh of seven films made for HBO for the 7- to 14-year-old set, introducing them to the joys and the wonders of classical music and their composers.
Soundtrack
The CD and soundtrack, produced by
David Devine for Sony MUSIC of New York, was composed by
Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
, and was recorded at the
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, with an 88-person symphony orchestra conducted by
Ondrej Lenárd.
# Overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia (
The Barber of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...
) – 7:29
# Overture to
La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) - 6:37
# Overture to
L'italiana in Algeri
''L'italiana in Algeri'' (; ''The Italian Girl in Algiers'') is an operatic ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San ...
(The Italian Girl in Algiers) - 8:35
# Overture to
Semiramide
''Semiramide'' () is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.
The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy ''Sémiramis (tragedy), Semiramis'', which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Assyria. The opera was first ...
- 13:11
# Overture to
Il signor Bruschino
''Il signor Bruschino, ossia Il figlio per azzardo'' ''(Signor Bruschino, or The Accidental Son)'' is a one act operatic farce ( farsa giocosa per musica) by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, based upon the 1809 play ''Le ...
- 04:55
# Overture to
La cenerentola
("Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant") is an operatic in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera '' Cendrillon'' with music by Nico ...
(Cinderella) - 8:30
# Overture to
La gazza ladra
''La gazza ladra'' (, ''The Thieving Magpie'') is a ''melodramma'' or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini based on ''La pie voleuse'' by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez ...
(The Thieving Magpie) - 10:17
# Overture to Guillaume Tell (
William Tell Overture
The ''William Tell'' Overture is the overture to the opera '' William Tell'' (original French title ''Guillaume Tell''), composed by Gioachino Rossini. ''William Tell'' premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he w ...
) - 11:42
References
External links
*
Devine Entertainment's Web site
1996 films
1996 drama films
Films set in Italy
Films set in the 1810s
Films set in the 1860s
Films about classical music and musicians
Films about composers
Films shot in Croatia
American drama films
Gioachino Rossini
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
{{1990s-US-drama-film-stub