8.La regata Veneziana, 3 songs in Venetian dialect for mezzo-soprano and piano

In this short song cycle, set to a text in the Venetian dialect by Carlo Pepoli (who provided the texts for several other Rossini songs), a girl watches a Venice regatta (gondola race) and cheers on her lover. After retiring from opera composition, Rossini still composed, mostly sacred music and trifling pieces for his own amusement and for that of his guests at musical evenings. These songs and piano pieces were collected and published as Les soirees musicales.

In the first song, Anzoleta avanti la regata (Anzoleta before the regatta), Anzoleta excitedly encourages her lover, Momolo, to win and reminds him that she will be watching. The song begins with three repetitions of a recurrent rowing theme in the piano line, followed by a playfully lengthy pause before the piano takes up the main lilting theme that suggests the light glinting off the water and the voice enters with a lyrical, cajoling melody. The song ends with a brief series of trills as if Anzoleta is urging him by example to row even more quickly. The second, Anzoleta co passa la regata (Anzoleta during the regatta), begins with a fast, agitated piano theme that suggests both the rapid movements of the gondolas and Anzoleta's anxiety. The vocal lines are breathless and heavily repetitive, further enhancing the sense of excitement tinged with anxiety. The song ends with her final, excited exclamation as Momolo wins the race. The ending in the piano line is an unexpectedly subdued series of quiet chords, as if she is sitting down to catch her breath and reassure herself that he really did win. The third, Anzoleta dopo la regata (Anzoleta after the regatta), begins with a festive, dance-like theme in the piano introduction. The vocal line, over a light waltz theme in the piano, is one of Rossini's most seductive melodies as she urges him to take as many kisses as he wants in reward for his victory. This theme is briefly interrupted by more dramatic and insistent lines as she boasts that he's been named the winner and all Venice is talking about him, but it soon returns to the flirtatious waltz and, like the last song, the vocal line ends on a triumphant high note. The piano conclusion here, though, is full of flourishes and ends on a crashing forte major chord.

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