LA GAZZA LADRA (THE THIEVISH MAGPIE), an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), was given its premier performance at La Scala, Milan, on May 31, 1817; about fourteen months after the debut of his THE BARBER OF SEVILLE. Even though the plot is complicated in the manner of the period, Rossini and his librettist, Gherardini, had fashioned a 'book' with many fresh touches. The lecherous old mayor; the falsely accused maiden in the clutches of despair - these and many other charact...