Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Age of Napoleon

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Ottoman Adventures of Rossini and Napoleon: Kaimacacchi and Missipipi at La Scala


​Rossini, La Pietra del Paragone (Milan, 1812)
Count Asdrubale, in Turkish disguise, sings nonsensically,
“Baccalà, Tambelloni, Kaimacacchi”
and then emphatically invokes the official seal:  “Sigillara!”


Listen from 1:16:20 to 1:17:20



















Rossini, La Pietra del Paragone (Milan, 1812)
Aria on the disdainful little spirit of the “Missipipi”
(“Ombretta sedgnosa del Missipipì”)
Rendered even sillier by the repetition of the sounds pipipi! 
It was originally performed by a veteran of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign of 1798, singing Rossini’s aria on the stage of La Scala in 1812. 















 



Beethoven, incidental music for The Ruins of Athens, Budapest 1812
Turkish dervish chorus chants “Kaaba! Kaaba!”


Turkish march begins at 2:30.