Rossini

More than two centuries after his birth, Gioachino Antonia Rossini might be best known for the overture he wrote to his opera "William Tell." Every episode of "The Lone Ranger" radio and TV series began with the familiar melody. But Rossini's prodigious career included 37 operas, including the legendary "The Barber of Seville," along with scores of chamber and sacred music compositions.

During his life the portly composer also was known for loving food as well as opera.

"Give me a shopping list, and I'll set it to music," he once said.

On Feb. 29, radio station KRCU 90.9 FM will present a gourmet fundraising dinner to celebrate Rossini's leap year birthday with recordings of Rossini's music, six courses and a variety of wines at the Rose Bed Inn. Tickets are $75 and can be purchased from KRCU, the beneficiary, at 651-5070.

The format for the dinner was concocted by "Sunday Night at the Opera" host Barbara Herbert, now in her 13th year at the microphone, and by Tom Harte, whose show "Caffe Concerto" is a KRCU weekday mainstay and whose column "A Harte Appetite" appears in the Southeast Missourian. Harte collaborated with Rose Bed Inn chef James Coley on the menu, with Herbert helping name each dish for a Rossini composition. Herbert and Harte will discuss Rossini's work between courses at the dinner.

La Cenerentola Soup, a curried pumpkin soup, is named for Rossini's Cinderella opera. Coley hopes to make a blood orange sorbet named for "The Barber of Seville" and will serve game hens named for "La Gazza Ladra," another Rossini opera.

Coley said the spiced apple torte named for "Guillaume Tell" will be "the crowning culinary piece of the evening." It will honor the legend of the archer who shot an apple off his son's head. Mulled apple cider and caramel will complement Granny Smith apples poached in apple brandy.

"I'm still in the stage of creating and fretting about it and agonizing over each detail," Coley said. "My goal is to wow people."

Rossini was one of the dominant Italian opera composers until Verdi came along. One criticism is that many of his operas sound similar. Indeed, he often plagiarized himself, putting pieces from one opera into another. He also wrote quickly, purportedly turning out "The Barber of Seville" in two weeks. Harte compared his work to Andrew Lloyd Webber's today.

Harte, who's known to love both food and music, said some biographers think Rossini quit writing operas 38 years before he died because he became more consumed with food. "Rossini dedicated half is life to opera and half to food."

Herbert has attended the Rossini Opera Festival held each year in the composer's birthplace of Pesaro, Italy. She thinks Rossini may have quit writing operas because the opera world was changing. French grand opera with its large casts and spectacular sets and historical underpinnings was taking over.

Despite its galloping overture, "William Tell" is rarely performed anymore because of it's nearly five-hour length, Herbert said.