ROSSINI, GIOACCHINO. – Composer, b. Pesaro, 29 Feb 1792, d. Passy (Paris), 13 Nov 1868. He studied in Bologna and Lugo; upon returning to Bologna, he attended courses at the Liceo musicale under Fr. Mattei.
Having graduated in 1810, he presented himself to the Venetian public with *La cambiale di matrimonio*, followed by no fewer than 39 operas, each a glorious milestone in the history of opera buffa. The Venetian-Milanese period of Rossinian production spans from 1813 to 1815; then begins the Neapolitan-Roman period, lasting until 1823, when R. traveled abroad: Vienna welcomed him with great enthusiasm, and likewise, after a brief stay in London, Paris, which entrusted him with the direction of the *Théâtre Italien* (1824). Returning to Bologna in 1836, he went to Florence and from May 1855 retired to Paris. The sacred works he composed are not few, but, as was natural to his style, they lean more toward theatrical music than church music. Among them are a *Stabat Mater* for four voices, choirs, and orchestra (1831–41), an *Ave Maria* for four voices, and three masses: one for male voices (Bologna 1808), one “solemn” (Naples 1819), and finally the *Petite Messe solennelle*, for four soloists and choirs with orchestral accompaniment and two pianos (Paris 1863–64), to which he added, on the last page, the famous farewell in the form of a humble and playful prayer: “Bon Dieu, la voilà terminée cette pauvre petite Messe. Est-ce bien de la musique sacrée que je viens de faire, ou bien de la sacrée musique? J'étais né pour l'opéra buffa, tu le sais bien! Peu de science, un peu de coeur, tout est là. Sois donc béni et accorde moi le Paradis. Passy, 1863. G. Rossini.”
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**ROSSO FIORENTINO, Giovanni Battista di Jacopo di Gaspare, called il.** – Painter, b. Florence 1495, d. Fontainebleau 1540.
The formation of R., difficult to define, unfolded within the school of Andrea del Sarto, drawing from Piero di Cosimo and Dürer, and later incorporating marginal echoes of Michelangelo, often arriving at solutions parallel to those of Beccafumi. His earliest documented surviving work is the fresco of the *Assumption* in the cloister of the Annunziata in Florence, commissioned in 1517, which shows clear borrowings, besides from Fra’ Bartolomeo, from Dürer—an index of the artist’s eccentric position vis-à-vis contemporary figurative culture and his combative stance. From 1518 is the *Madonna and Four Saints* for the hospital of S. Maria Nuova, now in the Uffizi, which so startled the patron by its bizarre interpretation of the sacred theme, though precisely here the expressive foundation of the style and the surprising mental freedom are especially appreciated by modern taste. Also preserved in the Uffizi is the *angel musician* reproduced here in color.
In 1521 R. signed the *Deposition*, now in the Pinacoteca of Volterra, another masterpiece marked by intense pathos. From the same year comes the *Dead Christ* in the Palazzo dei Priori, Volterra.
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**MAR ROSSO (Mare Rosso).** – The Red Sea, so called because of the reddish color of its waters, extends from Suez (Sinus Arabicus) to the west and the Gulf of el-’Aqabah (Sinus Aelanticus) to the east. The Hebrew name *yām sûph* (“sea of reeds” or “sea of seaweed”; Ex. 10:19; 13:18; 15:4) is of uncertain origin; yet the identification is unquestionable, since its extremity is indicated (Ex. 23:31; 1 Kings 9:26; Jer. 49:21) in the Elanitic or el-’Aqabah Gulf.
The general opinion, supported by biblical texts, is that the miraculous passage of the Hebrews across the Red Sea (Ex. 15:4–22) occurred in the Gulf of Suez, which at that time was connected to the basin of the Bitter Lakes by natural channels. Here reeds still grow today, and it is not unlikely that they were abundant at the time of the Exodus, thus justifying the Hebrew appellation.
The precise point of the crossing has been variously determined: for some, the Serapeum between Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes; for others, Saluf between the Bitter Lakes and Suez; or the ford that once joined Clysma (Suez) to el-Satt. The most probable opinion, advanced by Bourdon and based on geography, archaeology, and papyrological study, places the crossing between Ġebel Ġeneffef and Ġebel Ħasan along the track leading to the ford situated in the southern part of the Little Bitter Lake.
The Hebrews, forced to change direction in their march toward Palestine, proceeded from the Serapeum along the route west of the Great Bitter Lake that led to Suez. Leaving to their right the marshy terrain between the road and the lake—called in a papyrus by the Egyptian equivalent *Phihahiroth* (“the marshes”)—they encamped at the foot of Ġebel Ḥasan, where, since the time of Seti I, there had been a fort (*Magdal*) facing the stele of Baal-Zephon (Ex. 1:1–2), garrisoned to oversee both the road to Suez and the track to the ford of the Bitter Lakes.
