ROSSINI, Gioachino (1792-1868). Composer.
Autograph notes on food, on the blank side of part of a printed document, mounted together with a small card bearing the signature 'G. Rossini'. A remarkable reminder that Rossini was, besides being a great composer, a considerable gastronome. The hastily written notes are presumably recipe notes rather than a shopping list.
Commencing 'Risotto' and Cotechino [sausage], the list continues with fried food, fish, two kinds of macaroni, one with butter and tomatoes, chicken with rice etc. The signature on a visitng-card is creased across the centre.
 Apart from the famous Tournedos there are numerous dishes either devised by the composer or named in his honour. There are various tales, some perhaps apocryphal, of his obsession with food when composing - the aria of Tancredi 'Di Tanti Palpiti', for instance, was known as the 'rice aria' because Rossini is said to have composed it while waiting for his risotto to cook one day in Venice. And there are many references to food and drink in Rossini's operas.
[No: 8151]