Rossini's first opera _la Pietra del Paragone_, was written when he was seventeen years of age, for the Scala at Milan, where it was produced in the autumn of 1812. He introduced the best pieces out of this work into the _Cenerentola_, which was brought out five years afterwards at Rome. Besides _la Pietra del Paragone_, he laid _il Turco in Italia_, and _la Gazzetta_ under contribution to enrich the score of _Cinderella_. The air _Miei rampolli_, the duet _un Soave non so chè_, the drinking chorus and the burlesque proclamation of the baron belonged originally to _la Pietra del Paragone_; the _sestett_, the _stretta_ of the finale, the duet _zitto, zitto_, to the _Turco in Italia_, (produced at Milan in 1814), _Miei rampolli_ had also been inserted in _la Gazzetta_. The principal female part in the _Cenerentola_, though written for a contralto, has generally, (like those of Rosina and Isabella, and also written for contraltos), been sung by sopranos, such as Madame Fodor, Madame Cinti, Madame Sontag, &c. When sung by Mademoiselle Alboni, these parts are executed in every respect in conformity with the composer's intentions. * * * * * [Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.] Rossini's first serious opera, or at least the first of those by which his name became known throughout Europe, was _Tancredi_, written for Venice in 1813, the year after _la Pietra del Paragone_. In this opera, we find indicated, if not fully carried out, all those admirable changes in the composition of the lyric drama which were imputed to him by his adversaries as so many artistic crimes. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his objections to Rossini's music, strange and almost inexplicable as they appear, yet only says in somewhat different language what is advanced by Rossini's admirers, in proof of his great merit. The connoisseur of a past epoch describes the changes introduced by Rossini into dramatic music, for an enemy, fairly enough; only he regards as detestable innovations what others have accepted as admirable reforms. It appeared to Rossini that the number of airs written for the so-called lyric dramas of his youth, delayed the action to a most wearisome extent. In _Tancredi_, concerted pieces in which the dramatic action is kept up, are introduced in situations where formerly there would have been only monologues. In _Tancredi_ the bass has little to do, but more than in the operas of the old-school, where he was kept quite in the back ground, the _ultima parte_ being seldom heard except in _ensembles_. By degrees the bass was brought forward, until at last he became an indispensable and frequently the principal character in all tragic operas. In the old opera the number of characters was limited and choruses were seldom introduced. Think, then, how an amateur of the simple, quiet old school must have been shocked by a thoroughly Rossinian opera, such as _Semiramide_, with its brilliant, sonorous