Music from the overture to Gioachino Rossini's opera
La gazza ladra
The Thieving Magpie
La gazza ladra is based on a true story: a French servant girl was tried and executed for theft; later the townspeople discovered a magpie was the real thief and, remorseful, they instituted an annual mass in her memory. Gherardini's libretto, with its last-minute rescue of the heroine, puts the opera firmly in the genre of semiseria, but its fusion of elements puts emphasis on the dramatic rather than the comic. The music moves from a light-hearted, pastoral tone to one of deep tragedy. The complex character of the Podestà moves from the buffo to evil threats to remorse and shame; the duets between Ninetta and Pippo on the one hand and Giannetto on the other are tender and moving. The funeral march of the Act II finale is laden with grief, yet the happy ending itself expresses the joy of each character (save the Podestà).
The Thieving Magpie was first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1817.
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