Cinq Contre Danses

The seven short pieces in this work for solo guitar are arrangements of abstracts from operas by Rossini. However, with the exception of the last piece, these pieces cannot be identified as originating in any of the operas by Rossini. They may have been composed by de Fossa himself, or that he took them from one or more unidentified composers. Compositions by Rossini have been arranged by many guitarist composers. The Barber of Seville has been named ‘the greatest of all operas’ and it is understandable that others have made versions for use at home and the concert stage. Instrumental music exists by Ferdinando Carulli — with piano and for trio of guitar, viola and flute. The only piece in this collection that can be safely identified as coming from a Rossini opera is a duet aria from the first act, third scene of the Barber of Seville, where Figaro explains to Count Almaviva where he has his barber shop and what he can see in the shop window. The original key is G but this instrumental guitar version is in A. The location of the opera is in Spain, and characteristically, Rossini used the guitar as accompaniment to arias in this opera. The dedicatee of this work is most probably Julien Hippolyte Joseph Foulques de Villaret born November 25, 1788 in Valen-ciennes in the north of France. His name occurs in the list of persons who received the Légion d’Honneur, the highest decoration in France. Like de Fossa, he was a military officer.