Download the full version and explore a variety of ebooks

or textbooks at https://ebookultra.com

Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML

CSS 3rd Edition Ian Lloyd

_____ Tap the link below to start your download _____

https://ebookultra.com/download/build-your-own-website-the-
right-way-using-html-css-3rd-edition-ian-lloyd/

Find ebooks or textbooks at ebookultra.com today!

We have selected some products that you may be interested in
Click the link to download now or visit ebookultra.com
for more options!.

Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML CSS 3rd
Edition Ian Lloyd

https://ebookultra.com/download/build-your-own-website-the-right-way-
using-html-css-3rd-edition-ian-lloyd-2/

Build and Upgrade Your Own PC Third Edition Build Your Own
Ian Sinclair

https://ebookultra.com/download/build-and-upgrade-your-own-pc-third-
edition-build-your-own-ian-sinclair/

Build Your Own ASP NET Website Using C VB NET 1st Edition
Zak Ruvalcaba

https://ebookultra.com/download/build-your-own-asp-net-website-using-
c-vb-net-1st-edition-zak-ruvalcaba/

Create Your Own Website Using WordPress in a Weekend 1st

Edition Moore

https://ebookultra.com/download/create-your-own-website-using-
wordpress-in-a-weekend-1st-edition-moore/
HTML and CSS Design and Build Websites First Edition Jon
Duckett

https://ebookultra.com/download/html-and-css-design-and-build-
websites-first-edition-jon-duckett/

Create Your Own Website 4th Edition Scott Mitchell

https://ebookultra.com/download/create-your-own-website-4th-edition-
scott-mitchell/

HTML XHTML and CSS Bible 3rd Edition Bryan Pfaffenberger

https://ebookultra.com/download/html-xhtml-and-css-bible-3rd-edition-
bryan-pfaffenberger/

Build Your Own CBG First Edition Kasten

https://ebookultra.com/download/build-your-own-cbg-first-edition-
kasten/

Build your own wireless LAN 1st Edition James Trulove

https://ebookultra.com/download/build-your-own-wireless-lan-1st-
edition-james-trulove/
Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML
CSS 3rd Edition Ian Lloyd Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Ian Lloyd
ISBN(s): 9780987090881, 0987090887
Edition: 3
File Details: PDF, 26.73 MB
Year: 2011
Language: english
Summary of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
1. Setting Up Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Your First Web Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3. Adding Some Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4. Shaping Up Using CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5. Picture This! Using Images on Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
6. Tables: Tools for Organizing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
7. Forms: Interacting with Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
8. Interacting with Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
9. Launching Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
10. Enhancing the Site with HTML5 and CSS3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
11. Adding Interactivity with jQuery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
12. What to Do When Things Go Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
13. Pimp My Site: Cool Stuff You Can Add for Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
14. Where to Now? What You Could Learn Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
BUILD YOUR OWN
WEBSITE THE
RIGHT WAY USING
HTML & CSS
BY IAN LLOYD
3RD EDITION
iv

Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS
by Ian Lloyd

Copyright © 2011 SitePoint Pty. Ltd.

Program Director: Lisa Lang Editor: Kelly Steele

Technical Editor: Tom Museth Indexer: Angela Howard
Technical Director: Kevin Yank Cover Design: Alex Walker
Printing History:
First Edition: April 2006
Second Edition: November 2008
Third Edition: July 2011

Notice of Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Notice of Liability
The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein.
However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied.
Neither the authors and SitePoint Pty. Ltd., nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any
damages to be caused either directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book, or by the
software or hardware products described herein.

Trademark Notice
Rather than indicating every occurrence of a trademarked name as such, this book uses the names only
in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringement of
the trademark.

Published by SitePoint Pty. Ltd.

48 Cambridge Street
Collingwood VIC Australia 3066
Web: www.sitepoint.com
Email: business@sitepoint.com

ISBN 978-0-9870908-5-0 (print)

ISBN 978-0-9870908-8-1 (ebook)

Printed and bound in the United States of America
 v

About Ian Lloyd

Ian Lloyd is a senior web designer/developer who works full time for a major financial services
organization in the UK on their various websites. He is the author or co-author of a number
of web development books, including SitePoint’s Ultimate HTML Reference. He has also
contributed articles to industry-leading sites such as A List Apart, Think Vitamin, and .net
magazine. Ian has spoken at several high profile web conferences on the topic of web access-
ibility—including South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas and @media in London—and
founded one of the earliest online accessibility resources, Accessify (http://accessify.com/),
in 2002.

Ian’s on Twitter as @lloydi, or you can follow the book’s Twitter account that he posts on
(albeit less frequently, but on stuff more relevant to this book), which is @byowebsite.

About Tom Museth

Tom Museth first fell in love with code while creating scrolling adventure games in BASIC
on his Commodore 64, and then usability testing them on reluctant family members. He then
spent 16 years as a magazine writer, newspaper journalist, and production editor before de-
ciding web development would be much more rewarding. He has a passion for jQuery, PHP,
HTML5, and CSS3, is eagerly eyeing the world of mobile dev, and likes to de-stress via a
book, a beach, and a fishing rod.

About SitePoint

SitePoint specializes in publishing fun, practical, and easy-to-understand content for web
professionals. Visit http://www.sitepoint.com/ to access our books, newsletters, articles, and
community forums.
For Manda, my “better half.” This
book would not have been
possible without your continued
support. All my love, Lloydi.
Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
What is a Browser? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Who Should Read This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiv
What You’ll Learn from This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
How You’ll Learn to Build Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvi
HTML, Markup, CSS … Welcome to Your First Bits of Jargon! . . . xxvi
Building the Example Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxviii
What This Book Won’t Tell You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxviii
What’s in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix
Where to Find Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxii
The SitePoint Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxii
The Book’s Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxii
The SitePoint Newsletters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
The SitePoint Podcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
Your Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiv
Conventions Used in This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv
Markup Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv
Tips, Notes, and Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxvi

Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Basic Tools You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Windows Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Mac OS X Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Beyond the Basic Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Windows Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Mac OS X Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
x

Not Just Text, Text, Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Windows Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Mac OS X Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Online Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Creating a Spot for Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Chapter 2 Your First Web Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Nice to Meet You, HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Anatomy of a Web Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Viewing the Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Basic Requirements of a Web Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Doctype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The html Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The head Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The title Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
meta Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Other head Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The body Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Most Basic Web Page in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Headings and Document Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Paragraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
For People Who Love Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Commenting Your HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Diving into Our Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Home Page: the Starting Point for All Websites . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Splitting Up the Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
 xi

Linking Between Our New Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The blockquote (Who said that?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
The cite Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
strong and em . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Taking a Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Chapter 3 Adding Some Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

What is CSS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Inline Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Adding Inline Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
The span Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Embedded Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Jargon Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Why Embedded Styles Are Better Than Inline Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
External stylesheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Why External Stylesheets Are Better Than Embedded Styles . . . . . 80
Creating an External CSS File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Linking CSS to a Web Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Starting to Build Our Stylesheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Stylish Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
A Mixture of New Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
A New Look in a Flash! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
A Beginner’s Palette of Styling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Recap: the Style Story so Far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Looking at Elements in Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Contextual Selectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Grouping Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Which Rule Wins? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Recapping Our Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
xii

Styling Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Class Selectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Styling Partial Text Using span . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Chapter 4 Shaping Up Using CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Block-level Elements versus Inline Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Block-level Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Inline Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Inline Begets Inline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Inline Elements Can Never Contain Block-level Elements . . . . . . . 124
Styling Inline and Block-level Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Sizing Up the Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Setting a Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Setting a Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Adding Borders to Block-level Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Example Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Styling Individual Sides of an Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Shorthand Border Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Border Styles You Can Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Shaping and Sizing Our Diving Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Adding Padding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Introducing Padding to the Project Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
The Box Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Positioning Elements Anywhere You Like! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Showing the Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Absolute Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Other Layout Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
More Absolute Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
 xiii

Relative Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Floated Positioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Styling Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Chapter 5 Picture This! Using Images on

Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Inline Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Anatomy of the Image Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Web Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
JPEG versus GIF versus PNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
PNG: King of Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Adding an Image Gallery to the Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Updating the Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Adding the New Gallery Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Adding the First Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Formatting the Picture Using CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Captioning the Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Basic Image Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Image Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Resizing Large Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Other Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Filling up the Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Sourcing Images for Your Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Background Images in CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Repeated Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Nonrepeating Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Shorthand Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
xiv

Fixed Heights and Widths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Setting a Background for Our Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Chapter 6 Tables: Tools for Organizing

Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
What is a Table? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Anatomy of a Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Styling the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Borders, Spacing, and Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Making Your Tables Accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Linearization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Captioning Your Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Adding an Events Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Stylish Table Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Advanced Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Merging Table Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Advanced Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Chapter 7 Forms: Interacting with Your

Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Anatomy of a Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
A Simple Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
The Building Blocks of a Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
The form Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
The fieldset and legend Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
The label Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
Barbaja, whose reputation was well known to him, came to propose
an engagement of several years, assuring him, besides a fixed sum
of about 11,000 francs, an annual interest of about 4,000 francs in
his gambling business. It is true that in return Rossini was to agree
to write two new works each year, and to arrange and adapt all the
ancient works which it might please Barbaja to mount at the San
Carlo and Fondo theatres. It was, in fact, besides the composition of
his operas the whole musical direction of these two theatres, which
Rossini was thus assuming, a charge which was simply enormous
and which had dismayed all others. But what was that for an artist
such as he, in exchange for the fortune which Barbaja held before
his eyes, and the influence upon his future of the brilliant situation
offered him on one of the first lyric stages of Italy?
So the contract was quickly signed, and Rossini went immediately to
Naples to assume his new functions. No sooner did he arrive at that
city, in the beginning of the year 1815, than Barbaja gave him the
libretto of Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, to set to music. It was with
this work that he was to make his debut at the San Carlo, having for
principal interpreter an artist of Spanish origin, Isabella Colbran,
then in the zenith of her talent and her beauty, and who was one of
the most esteemed cantatrices of that period in all Italy. (Isabella
Colbran, then the mistress of Barbaja, soon became that of Rossini,
who afterwards married her, only to be separated at the end of a
few years). The composer and the cantatrice obtained a wonderful
success and the Elisabetta won a veritable triumph at Naples.
 ISABELLA ANGELA COLBRAN.
Rossini's first wife. From an original contemporary drawing in chalks
and pencil.

Rossini profited by this success to leave Naples for a time. His

engagement with Barbaja was not exclusive, and a certain liberty of
action was reserved to him. He took himself to Rome, whither he
was called to write two operas for two different theatres; one,
Torvaldo e Dorliska, for the Valle theatre, the others il Barbiere di
Siviglia for the Argentina.
We know that Paisiello had already treated the subject of the Barber
of Seville, and that the opera conceived by him on Beaumarchais's
comedy had been performed in 1789 at St. Petersburg, where he
was imperial capellmeister; from there the work of the Neapolitan
master had spread over all Europe, and had met, particularly in Italy,
with a very flattering reception. Therefore it happened that Rossini
was charged with presumption for daring to put il Barbiere to music,
and that he was accused of trying to eclipse the glory of Paisiello,
who was the first to use this idea. The reproach was all the more
singular since such things were of very frequent occurrence in Italy,
where, for nearly a century, composers had been setting to music,
one after another, all the lyric poems of Apostolo, Zeno and
Metastasio, such as Nerone, Alessandro nell'Indie, Artaserse,
l'Olimpiade, etc., etc. Why then should Rossini, who in this case had
only done what so many others had done before him, become thus
an object of criticism and anger? It is difficult to say. Possibly it was
Paisiello himself, whose jealousy and faults of character are
sufficiently well known, who from Naples, where he had retired,
started the hostile sentiments against his rival, and secretly planned
the fall of the new work. At least, so it has been said, and the idea
does not seem wholly unlikely.
Rossini, however, out of respect for the old master, had courteously
written to him on the subject, declaring that it was not his intention
to enter into competition with him, but simply to treat a subject
which pleased him. Furthermore, and in order to avoid even the
appearance of a desire for competition on his part, he had taken the
precaution to have a new libretto made on the subject, and even to
change the title of the work to Almaviva, ossia l'inutile precauzione
(it was not until later that the title of il Barbiere di Siviglia was
definitely adopted). Finally, in order that the wishes and intentions of
the poet and composer might not be misunderstood, and that the
public might not be mistaken in the matter, the following preface
was placed at the head of the libretto.
"Notice to the public. The comedy by Beaumarchais entitled le
Barbier de Séville or la Prècaution inutile, is presented to Rome
under the form of a comic drama, with the title of Almaviva, ossia
l'inutile precauzione, with the object of fully convincing the public of
the sentiments of respect and veneration which the author of the
music of the present drama entertains toward the celebrated
Paisiello, who has already treated this subject under its original title.
"Impelled to undertake this same difficult task the master,
Gioacchino Rossini, that he might not incur the reproach of a daring
vanity with the immortal author who has preceded him, has
expressly required that the Barber of Seville be entirely versified
anew, and that there shall be added several new situations,
demanded, moreover, by the modern theatrical taste which has
changed so much since the renowned Paisiello wrote his music.

Caricature of Rossini by Carjat reproduced from a print at the Paris

Opera.
"Some other differences between the contexture of the present
drama and that of the French comedy above mentioned, have been
required by the necessity of introducing choruses, partly to conform
to modern customs, partly because they are indispensable in a
theatre of such vast proportions. The courteous public is informed of
this fact in order that it may excuse the author of the present drama,
who, except for the concurrence of circumstances so imperative,
would not have dared to introduce the slightest change in the
French work consecrated by the applause of all Europe."
All these precautions and the artistic uprightness which Rossini
exhibited in this delicate matter, could not avail to still the storm
which hurled itself about him. No matter what he might have done
to appease them, the Romans were exasperated in advance against
his work and against himself, and the first performance of il
Barbiere, outrageously hissed, was the most complete scandal of
which the annals of the theatre can offer example. An account of it
has been given by one of the Italian biographers of the master,
Zanolini, from whom I borrow the following details: "The Romans
went to the theatre, persuaded that they were going to hear
detestable music, and disposed to punish an ignorant upstart. The
overture was executed in the midst of a confused hub-bub, the
precursor of the tempest. Garcia attempted to accompany with his
guitar the first air of the count Almaviva; all the strings broke at
once, and then commenced the laughs, jeers and hisses. A little
while after, Don Basilio, an old singer of the Sistine chapel,
stumbled, on entering the stage, and fell and bumped his nose. This
was enough; laughs and hisses burst from all sides, and people
would not and could not listen any longer. One person applauded,
one only, and that was the composer; and the more he clapped, the
louder grew the hisses, until, when the fury of the crowd had
reached its climax, he mounted upon his chair, so that he might be
seen by all, and with head, hands and voice testified to the actors
his approbation. He remained intrepid until the orchestra had all left,
waiting to receive the very last insult. He was to be present at the
second performance, but he found some pretext for being excused,
and the directors were delighted, because they feared him at the
same time that they had confidence in his music. During the second
evening, Rossini was conversing at his home with some friends,
when cries were heard in the street in front of the house and the
lights of many torches were seen through the window. When they
distinguished among the cries the name of Rossini, his guests were
alarmed but afterwards, the voices of friends having been
recognized, the doors were all opened wide to the messengers sent
by the spectators assembled at the Argentina, and who, carried
away by their enthusiasm were clamoring for the maestro to show
himself. Rossini was carried thither in triumph, and was covered with
applause." So we see that this happy Barbiere which for eighty years
has been the delight of the whole world, was badly enough received
on its entrance into that world.

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI.
 Reproduction of a lithograph by A. de Bayalos,
made from a portrait by Dupré. Rossini in
middle life. Portraits in spandrel are,
Grisi. Pasta.
Garcia Viardot.
Rubini. Curioni. Mario.
Tamburini. Lablache.
Meanwhile, when the bad humor of the Romans was fairly over, and
the Barber established in public favor, Rossini prepared to go to
Naples in response to a call from Barbaja. Immediately on his return
he set to work, giving first to the Fiorentini theatre a little work
entitled la Gazzetta, then writing for the San Carlo his Otello, which
achieved a considerable success and was played by the great artists
Nozzari, David, Garcia, Benedetti and Colbran. He afterwards
returned to Rome where he gave that gem of comic verve, la
Cenerentola, then went to Milan where he wrote for the Scala, la
Gazza ladra, a work little remembered to-day. He then went back to
Naples to give Armida, and again returned to Rome where he
brought out Adelaide di Borgogna, which met with very meagre
success. But he soon made up for this failure by giving at Naples
Moses in Egypt, one of his best works, which was followed by
Ricciardo e Zoraide and Hermione, the libretto of which was taken
from Racine's Andromaque. At the same time he sent to Lisbon the
score of a little comic work which was requested of him by the royal
theatre of that city; Adina, o il Califfo di Bagdad, on the subject of a
French comic opera by Boieldieu, bearing the same title. After having
given at Venice Edoardo e Cristina he again won great success at
Naples with la Donna del Lago, a work full of poetry and originality.
It was at this point that Rossini had reached the fulness of his glory.
Scarcely twenty-seven years of age, he had already written twenty-
nine operas, several of which had achieved a brilliant success, and
his name, popular throughout Italy, was famous in all Europe, which
applauded his works with frenzy. And yet, the success of la Donna
del Lago could not sustain a mediocre work like Bianca e Falerio,
which was coldly received at the Scala, Milan. But the master
regained public favor with his Maometto II. which was received with
enthusiasm at Naples. He went to Rome shortly after to give Matilde
di Shabran, one of the feeblest of his works, and then rose to the
top again with Zelmira, which was very successful, not only at
Naples, but at Vienna where Rossini was invited to direct the
performance of the opera, accompanied by Colbran, then his wife,
who sung the leading part. Finally, he wrote and brought out at
Venice, Semiramide, one of the most remarkable of his works, in
spite of its faults. Rossini counted much, and with reason, on this
score which the Venetians received with a cold reserve. Neither the
richness of the inspiration, nor the variety of the forms, nor the
grandeur of the style which distinguished this noble and superb
work, could overcome the indifference of the public. After a
reception so unjust, a result so contrary to his legitimate hopes,
Rossini, who at that moment was solicited on all sides, did not
hesitate to leave Italy. An engagement was offered him in England;
he accepted it immediately and went to London, passing through
Paris where he formed relations which were soon to bring him back
to that city.
Rossini was to write for the Italian theatre at London an opera
entitled la Figlia dell'aria; he had composed the first act, when the
direction of the theatre failed, and the project was abandoned.
However, his trip to England was far from being unfruitful of results.
Sought after by the highest society, encouraged in every way,
received at court, Rossini, during his five months stay at London
where he excited the liveliest enthusiasm, was able to realize from
the concerts and lessons which he gave with his wife, about 200,000
francs, which was the basis of his future fortune. At the same time,
through the intervention of the French ambassador in England, he
signed an engagement with the minister of the royal house, by
which he accepted the direction of the Théâtre-Italien of Paris at a
salary of 20,000 francs per year, without prejudice to the author's
rights in the works which he might wish to write for that theatre or
for the Opéra.
Rossini found in France the same enthusiastic welcome which had
been given him in England. He composed first a little Italian opera
called il Viaggio a Reims, which was performed on the occasion of
the fêtes given in that city for the coronation of King Charles X. He
next occupied himself with transforming for the French stage two of
his best Italian works, Maometto II. which became at the Opéra le
Siège de Corinthe, and Mosé in Egitto, which was performed at that
theatre under the title of Moïse. In passing from one tongue to the
other, these two works were subject to much remodelling from the
hand of the composer. He changed parts of them, added to them,
strove to render the declamation more clear and precise, finally
forced himself to adapt his inspiration to the necessities of the
French stage and of the musical genius of that country. Success
crowned his efforts, and in the face of that success, Rossini dreamed
of writing a great new work expressly for the Opéra. But first he
brought out at that theatre a pretty little opera in two acts, le Comte
Ory, which was received with great applause, and in which he had
embodied some fragments of the Viaggio a Reims.
 ROSSINI ON HIS DEATH BED.
Reproduction of Gustave Doré's celebrated picture, from photograph at
the Paris Opera.

At last came the great work which the public were awaiting with
impatience, William Tell, which was performed Aug. 3, 1829, with
Nourrit, Dabadie, Levasseur, Prévost, Mmes. Cinti-Damoreau, Mori
and Dabadie for the principal interpreters. In writing the score of
William Tell, Rossini had applied his genius to the exigencies of the
French stage, as Gluck had done fifty years before. He had given to
his declamation a breadth hitherto unknown, to his instrumentation
a superb color and éclat, while the dramatic action had acquired with
him a marvellous power, and the wealth and freshness of his
inspiration surpassed all that could be desired. It cannot be denied
that the appearance of William Tell is a luminous date in the history
of music in France, that the success of this masterpiece has never
diminished, and that after more than sixty years it is still as
touching, as pathetic, as grand, as much respected as in the first
days of its existence.
How comes it then that after so complete, so brilliant, so
incontestable a triumph, Rossini should have renounced the theatre
forever, that he should never have wished to repeat so happy an
attempt? That is a mystery which as yet it has been impossible to
solve, and it is certainly a great misfortune for the art, which has
thereby been deprived of untold masterpieces. But the fact remains
that from the 3rd of August, 1829, date of the first performance of
William Tell until the 13th of November, 1868, date of the master's
death, Rossini wrote nothing more for the stage. This does not mean
that he stopped composing; far from it. His compositions on the
contrary are numerous, and some of them very important, but none
are for the theatre. First should be mentioned his religious music: a
Stabat Mater, a Petite Messe solennelle, and a Tantum ergo; then
three choruses for female voices, la Foi, l'Espèrance, la Charitè; le
Chant des Titans for four bass voices; Soirées musicales, comprising
eight ariettes and four duets; and finally a great number of songs
and piano pieces. Earlier, and in the course of his Italian career,
Rossini had written, for different occasions, a number of cantatas
and lyric scenes, the titles of which are: il Pianto d'Armonia per la
morte d'Orfeo; Didone abbandonata; Egle ed Irene; Teti e Peleo;
Igea; Ad onore di S. M. il re de Napoli; Ad onore di S. M.
l'emperatore d'Austria; la Riconoscenza; il Vero Omaggio; i Pastori;
etc.

ROSSINI'S CLAY PIPE BEARING HIS AUTOGRAPH.

Now in the library of the Paris Conservatory. Sketched by special
permission.
 Fac-simile autograph musical manuscript written by Rossini.
[See larger version]
[Listen midi]

[
Rossini, whom Weber did not understand, and whom Beethoven did
not wish to know, belongs nevertheless to the race of those grand
creators, and in his veins coursed the blood of a man of genius. At
the period of his birth three great musicians represented principally
that beautiful Italian school so justly celebrated in the last century in
spite of its characteristic defects. These three great musicians were
Guglielmi, Cimarosa and Paisiello; Guglielmi, forgotten to-day even in
his own country, and whom artists themselves no longer know;
Cimarosa, the verve and gaiety of whose genius seemed to reserve
him to a less tragic end; finally Paisiello, whom Rossini was called to
down with his own weapons, in successfully making after him
another il Barbiere di Siviglia, and whose glory was to be somewhat
obscured by the glory of his brilliant rival. As for the others, Niccolini,
Sarti, Portogallo, Gazzaniga, Nasolini, etc., they were undoubtedly
artists of real talent, but devoid of originality and who confined
themselves to following in the path which these great leaders traced
out for them.
Some years later, and after a sort of interregnum, three more great
artists were coming to fill the vacant place, and to govern in their
turn the Italian musical world. Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti—three
geniuses quite distinct from each other, not only from the standpoint
of the nature of their personal inspiration, but also as regards the
form with which they clothe their ideas, were coming to throw a new
lustre, unhappily the last, over that Italian school so glorious for two
centuries, and of which the author of Rigoletto and Aïda remains to-
day the venerable and last representative. Rossini, a brilliant and
luminous genius, Bellini, of a pensive, poetic and tender nature,
Donizetti, nervous and expansive in temperament, all were called to
take place in the first rank, with this distinction, that the first always
preserved an evident advantage, and that he alone brought into the
art a new and characteristic note.
And yet for years past Rossini has been spoken of slightingly, his
genius has not been understood, his worth has been denied and
these wrongs are carried on at the present hour. Certain adepts of a
new school, who affect to disparage all that was done before them,
are ready to drag him to the gibbet without even giving him credit
for what they owe him,—directly or indirectly. They do not seem to
have the least idea that it is Rossini who has emancipated musical
art as applied to the theatre; that it is Rossini who has given
freedom to melodic form; that it is Rossini who has substituted for
the majestic and uniform solemnity of the ancient lyric declamation,
a rational diction, with an expression more vivacious, more intense
and more vigorous; that it is Rossini who, by the movement and
variety communicated to the rhythm, has given to the musical
phrase the natural sentiment and warmth of action which it too
often lacked; that it is Rossini to whom we owe the richness and the
splendors of the modern dramatic orchestra. Who knows if that
admirable orchestra of Wagner, to which unhappily everything is
sacrificed, would exist to-day had it not been for Rossini? Whatever
may be his faults—and assuredly he has them—we can afford to
pardon them all in consideration of the incomparable qualities of this
great man.
During nearly half a century Rossini has reigned supreme on all the
stages of the world. Wherever there existed an Italian theatre, there
were played and sung the works of Rossini: Otello, Semiramide,
Mosé, il Barbiere, la Gazza ladra, Cenerentola, l'Italiana in Algeri, la
Donna del Lago, Maometto. If all his serious works are not complete
and perfect, at least all of them contain superb parts. Witness Mosé,
what grandeur, what power and what majesty! Witness Otello, what
spirit, what vigor and what boldness! Witness Semiramide, what
color, what brilliancy and what splendor! However, there are grave
faults to be found with Rossini's serious operas; in the first place a
lack of unity, and also certain weaknesses which by their proximity,
militate against some really admirable pages; then the abuse of
vocalization and of the ornate style, absolutely incompatible with the
purely dramatic element; finally, the occasional lack of real emotion
and the frequent absence of pathos, an absence so complete that it
may justly be said of Rossini that he never knew how to sing of love.
And yet, by the side of these grave faults are qualities so grand, an
inspiration so rich, a style so noble, a phrase so elegant, an
orchestra so vigorous and always so full of interest, that the works
though imperfect in their ensemble, have been able through certain
sublime portions to win very great success.
But the place where Rossini is complete and inimitable is in opera
bouffe. Il Barbiere is certainly a masterpiece, and Cenerentola comes
very near being one. A wonderful imagination, gaiety carried
sometimes to the point of folly, an ardor and quickness of inspiration
that was simply prodigious, together with an instrumentation always
new, always piquant, always of an extreme elegance; such are the
qualities which characterized Rossini's light music, and which make it
still as young and fresh as when it first appeared, eighty years ago.
 ROSSINI.
Caricature bust by Dantan in the Carnavalet Museum. Paris.

In regard to his dramatic music, I must not forget, after having

pointed out its shortcomings, to make an important statement,
giving him credit for the progress which is unquestionably due him. I
refer to the transformation which he has brought about in the
recitative, beginning with his Elisabetta. Until then he had not risen
above Tancredi, a charming score, but one in which his methods
scarcely differed from those employed by the musicians of his time,
Mayr, Generali, Paër and others. Undoubtedly his harmony was fuller,
his instrumentation richer, more varied and more brilliant than that
of these artists, but the progress stopped there. With Elisabetta, his
first work given at Naples, Rossini started an important reform. Up
to that time the Italian composers had employed almost exclusively
the recitativo secco, that is to say, a recitative accompanied solely by
the clavichord, with a continuous bass by the violoncello in the
orchestra. Now these thin and meagre recitatives, often much
developed, weakened the scenic effect, killed all musical interest,
and formed too violent a contrast with the general style of the work.
It was only in exceptional cases that the composers allowed
themselves some measures of recitativo strumentato, to serve as an
introduction to an important piece.
Rossini, in his Elisabetta, was the first to treat all the recitative part
as a grand lyric declamation, and to sustain that precise, vigorous,
very rhythmic declamation with a melodic accompaniment, arranged
for the full orchestra. Thanks to this means, the scenic action was
considerably developed, the musical interest was sustained from
beginning to end, without break or sign of weakness, the work
gained a homogeneity and a general color hitherto unknown; finally,
the composer experienced the advantage of being able to bind
together, as strongly as need be, incidents, situations, episodes
which otherwise would have been chilled by the untimely presence
of those recitativi secchi, the crying evil of the serious operas.
Certainly this is a trait of genius, which classes Rossini in the rank of
the happiest of innovators.
When, fifteen years after having given his Elisabetta at Naples, he
wrote William Tell for the Paris Opéra, people were able to judge of
the incomparable grandeur of his dramatic genius. Here were no
concessions to a perverted taste, no ill-timed vocal effects, no
weakness of style, no negligence in the form; but a grand
inspiration, a bold and noble accent, heroic outbursts, a color
marvellously appropriate to the subject, and above all the sincerity
of an artist of genius desiring to create a masterpiece.
A study of Rossini would be incomplete, which did not consider the
influence which that great man exercised over the artists of his time.
It is with some reflections on this subject that I am going to close
the present work.
 ROSSINI.
Caricature from Paris "Panthéon Charivarique" designed to express
popular disapproval at his retirement from the Opera to live upon his
means.

An abundance of melody, precision of rhythm, richness of

instrumentation, untiring verve, movement, color and life, such are
the distinctive signs of Rossini's musical personality. Moreover, this
personality was so powerful, so exuberant, so magnetic, that it not
only effaced that of his contemporaries, who were unable to struggle
against this colossus, but it soon absorbed that of all the young
composers who were coming after him, and who, gifted by nature
with less generosity, were appropriating his methods, as far as
possible, and making themselves his servile imitators. With the
exception of Bellini and Donizetti, whose natural temperament and
personal gifts were safeguards against this rage of imitation, one
may say that for half a century all the Italian composers applied
themselves to writing music a la Rossini, and seemed preoccupied
solely with reproducing effects and combinations originated by the
young master. Pacini, for example, wrote eighty operas in the
Rossinian style, not one of which was worthy to pass down to
posterity; and the Ricci brothers, though more gifted than Pacini as
regards a freshness of inspiration, also imitated Rossini too closely,
and allowed some little of their own personality to appear only in the
pleasant, merry score of Crispino e la Comare, their one work which
has gained recognition outside of Italy. Furthermore, these Italian
imitators of Rossini, not knowing how to separate the tares from the
wheat, followed exactly in his footsteps, and reproduced his faults as
conscientiously as his virtues, mistaking noise for sonority, sadly
abusing the flowery style, even in the most pathetic moments, to the
great detriment of dramatic truth (Mercadante himself has not
escaped this fault), and unhappily not having, like their model, that
wonderful gift of melody for which certain of his faults could be
pardoned, and which constituted a good part of his power.
The flagrant imitation of Rossinian forms by the fellow-artists of the
master clearly indicated their inferiority, at the same time that it
demonstrated his absorbing influence. In France also where the
Théâtre-Italien, brilliant with its splendid array of illustrious singers,
had early made known the most important of Rossini's works, this
influence made itself felt to a considerable extent, but less
completely, and with more discernment, our musicians merely
drawing profit from the progress made by the author of il Barbiere
and Semiramide, without permitting themselves to abandon in his
favor their own personality. It was easy to recognize the trace of this
influence in certain of Boieldieu's scores, in Auber's manner, nay,
even in that of Herold, an artist of strong and eclectic temperament,
whose own originality never failed him for an instant, while
accepting up to a certain point a reflection from Weber on the one
hand, on the other Rossini, whom he had been able to study for a
long time in his own country. But the French musicians had as a
safeguard against servility to the latter artist, that innate sentiment
of dramatic truth which formed part of the genius of their country
and which did not permit them to sacrifice anything to the exact
expression of that truth. Besides, the great artists of whom I speak
here had a personal worth which put them quite beyond the thought
of slavery or of too great submission to any artist whatever.
Nevertheless, I repeat that Rossini's influence over the French artists
was very considerable, and I add that it was happy and beneficial
because it was limited to making them profit by methods and
discoveries, the use of which, joined to their natural gifts and
qualifications, could only enrich the latter and increase the domain
of art.

MARBLE MEDALLION OF ROSSINI, BY H. CHEVALIER.

Made by order of the Minister of Fine Arts for the Foyer of the Paris
Opera House. Exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1865.
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebookultra.com