Introduction: Rossini's operatic operas / Emanuele Senici -- Part I. Biography and reception: Rossini's life / Richard Osborne -- Rossini and France / Benjamin Walton --The Rossini renaissance / Charles S. Brauner -- Part II. Words and music: Librettos and librettists / Paulo Fabbri --Compositional methods / Philip Gossett -- The dramaturgy of the operas / Marco Beghelli -- Melody and ornamentation / Damien Colas --Off the stage / Richard Osborne -- Part III. Representative operas: Tancredi and Semiramide / Heather Hadlock --Il barbiere di Siviglia / Janet Johnson -- Guillaume Tell / Cormac Newark -- Part IV. Performance: Singing Rossini / Leonella Grasso Caprioli -- Staging Rossini / Mercedes Viale Ferrero -- Editing Rossini / Patricia B. Brauner