Part of a series providing comprehensive coverage of the life and works of great composers, this revised edition focuses on Gioacchino Rossini and is suitable for musicians, students and the general reader alike. Drawing on new biographical and musicological material, the author examines Rossini's entire operatic output of 39 operas, his choral works and the vocal and solo piano music written during the last decade of his life. Rossini's complex personality, his relations with many leading musicians of the 19th century and his influence and reputation are fully discussed. The book also contains an updated bibliography.