The earliest of his operas to win him fame was _Tancredi_, a grand opera produced in 1813. This was followed after an interval of two years by the production of one of his best known works, _The Barber of Seville_, an excellent example of Opera Buffa. Its overture is well known, and introduces samples of that effective device, cheap and yet wondrously convincing, known as the “Rossinian _Crescendo_.” This is attained, as will be seen, by the use of a simple figure of melody begun very softly and continued with greater and greater degrees of power and more and more instruments. In spite of its simplicity and obviousness, its effect is an intoxicating one, and is an example of the simple and yet unfailing means by which Rossini attracted his public. Example of a Rossini “Crescendo,” from the Overture to “Il Barbiere.” <Music> [Sidenote: =Recitative=] The whole opera, with its brilliant bravura voice passages, its grandiose effects of double thirds, and its periods of climax, is particularly characteristic of its composer. Rossini produced a vast number of operas, both serious and comic; in the former he made a great innovation when he wrote _Otello_ in 1816. We have already frequently mentioned that in Grand Opera the music must be always continuous; this, however, does not imply a continuous series of airs, duets, and choruses. These were divided by passages of blank verse or dialogue, which correspond to the passages of dialogue with which we in England are so familiar in the productions of Gilbert and Sullivan. When these passages were _spoken_, as in Beethoven’s _Fidelio_ or Weber’s _Der Freischütz_, the work, however tragic in subject, was not termed “Grand Opera” at all, but rather “Comic Opera” or “Singspiel.” When, however, _all_ was sung, then the term “Grand Opera” was applied. But a difference was given to the musical setting of such passages to that allotted to the more lyrical portions. At first, when there were no lyrics, as in the early Monteverde operas, the musical setting was of the same character throughout; after the introduction of the Aria into opera by Scarlatti, the intermediary dialogue was often set to music of a _parlante_ (or speaking) nature, generally without time divisions or musical accent: this portion of the music was termed the Recitative. So unimportant was this Recitative considered from a musical point of view that no trouble was taken in the writing of it—it was a necessary evil. Mozart, we find, on one or two occasions, entrusted its composition to his pupil Sussmäyr. Moreover, the orchestra rarely played the accompaniment to it, this task being entrusted to the harpsichord; even the part for this was not written out, only a bass with figures being provided. It will thus be seen how small a degree of importance was attached to the music of these connecting links: such recitative was termed “Recitativo secco,” and of this our first quotation from Peri is a good example. (See page 35.)