La gazza ladra

Ninetta, a young servant, is falsely accused of stealing silver from her employer, while secretly longing to marry her sweetheart, Giannetto. As the evidence against her mounts, personal rivalries, misunderstandings, and the appearance of a mischievous magpie bring the young lovers and their families into conflict. Can the truth about the theft be uncovered before Ninetta’s fate is sealed?

Rossini is known for writing his operas quickly, and La gazza ladra was no exception. He composed the music for this semiseria opera completely from scratch at speed. A 19th-century biography claims that the conductor of the premiere performance locked the composer in a room at the top of La Scala the day before the premiere with orders for him to complete the opera's still unfinished overture. The use of drum rolls in the latter is famous; here, the snare drums and related motifs are less an evocation of the magpie than of judicial proceedings. Rossini in Wildbad summer 2026 production stages the largely unknown Neapolitan version with three alternative arias. It is directed by Jochen Schönleber and conducted by José Miguel Pérez-Sierra.