Guillaume Tell

Everybody knows the overture to Guillaume Tell with its Alpine cow-herding song, the "Ranz des vaches", and upbeat military gallOp. But not so many know the opera itself, which is challenging to stage and not often performed except with cuts. Familiar to English-speaking audiences as William Tell, it was Rossini’s final opera (although he lived another four decades), and by far the grandest—different from the sparkling Italian comedies of earlier years. It dates from 1829, when he had settled in Paris; with a French libretto it addresses the requirements of mid-19th-century Parisian audiences for spectacle, ballet and massive choruses. In fact the chorus largely carries the plot, which tells of 14th-century Swiss patriots fighting against Austrian invaders. William Tell, their baritone front man, leads the rebellion. He is arrested and forced to shoot an apple from his own son’s head. But set against this sweeping trajectory of conflict is also a story of cross-border love, between Swiss soldier Arnold (tenor) and Austrian princess Mathilde (soprano). Everything plays out through four long acts, with highlights that include, of course, the overture; Arnold’s Act I "Ah! Mathilde"; Mathilde’s Act II "Sombre forêt"; Tell’s Act III "Sois immobile", sung as he prepares to shoot the apple; and Arnold’s Act IV hymn to his birthplace, "Asile héréditaire".