Rossini - William Tell

The Berlin Philharmonic performing the overture to Gioachino Rossini's opera

Guillaume Tell
William Tell

at the Waldbühne (forest stage) just below the 1936 Olympic Stadium in Berlin (and where I attended a performance of Verdi's opera, Aida).

The opera is based on a Schiller play about the 13th century Swiss national hero , Wilhelm Tell, who according to tradition defied Austrian authority and was forced to shoot an apple from his son's head with a crossbow at a distance of 80 paces by the hated Austrian governor. He subsequently ambushed and killed the governor, an event that supposedly led to rebellion against Austrian rule. He is first mentioned in a chronicle from 1470. The marksman's test is widely found in folklore, and the story has resemblances to the founding myths of other nations.