1792
Gioacchino Antonio Rossini born February 29
in Pesaro, Italy.

1806
At the age of fourteen, Rossini composes his first opera, Demetrio e Polibio;
however, it was not
produced until 1812.

1807
Rossini enters
Liceo Musicale in Bologna,
but soon leaves due to
financial difficulties.

1812
La pietra del paragone, Rossini's first
substantial success,
is introduced at La Scala, receives fifty performances
in its first season.

1816
The Barber of Seville
premieres at the
Teatro Argentina
on February 26.

1817
LA CENERENTOLA (Cinderella)
premieres January 25 at
Teatro Valle in Rome.

1822
Rossini marries
Isabella Colbran.

1824
Rossini's popularity grows
so great that Charles X
of France offers him
a ten-year contract to write
and produce a new opera
every other year.

1829
William Tell, the only opera composed under the contract with Charles X, premieres at the Paris Opera on August 3. Rossini ceases composing operas.

1830-1850
Rossini's life is complicated by illness and prolonged legal battles with Charles X.

1855
Shortly after his first wife dies, Rossini marries life-long love Olympe Pelissier.

1868
Rossini dies in Passy, France on November 13.

1789
Washington is inaugurated as
the first President of
the United Sates.
The Bastille is stormed in Paris, initiating the French Revolution.

1791
The first Ten Amendments
to the U.S. Constitution,
The Bill of Rights, are ratified.

1793-95
Spain wars against
revolutionary France,
but is defeated and forced into alliance with France.

1800
Napoleon conquers Spain
and regains
the Louisiana Territory.

1803
Napoleon agrees to the U.S. purchase of the Louisiana Territory.

1808
Napoleon invades Spain and names his brother,
Joseph Bonaparte,
King of Spain.

1815
Battle of Waterloo,
Napoleon is defeated.

1818
Savannah becomes the first steamship to cross the
Atlantic Ocean (26 days).

1825
First public steam railway
opens in England.

1833
Slavery is abolished
in Britian.

1848
Discovery of gold
in California.

1861-1865
American Civil War.

1786
The Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna.

1791
The Magic Flute opens
in Vienna.
Mozart dies three months later
at age of thirty-five.

1801
German Ludwig van Beethoven composes
Moonlight Sonata
for piano.

1809
Prolific composer
Franz Joseph Haydn dies.

1816
The metronome,
an instrument used to measure exact tempo,
is invented by Mälzel in Germany.

1822
Accordion invented
in Germany.

1827
Beethoven dies.

1833
Composer Johannes Brahms
is born in
Hamburg, Germany.

1840
Russian composer
Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky
is born.

1853
William Steinway begins
making pianos in New York.

1858
Birth of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini.

1861
G. Schirmer,
the oldest major
American music
publishing firm,
is established in New York.

1867
Johann Strauss the Younger composes the famous waltz,
The Blue Danube.