La gazzetta  La gazzetta, ossia Il matrimonio per concorso (The Newspaper, or The Marriage Contest) is an opera buffa by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giuseppe Palomba after Carlo Goldoni's play "Il matrimonio per concorso" of 1763. The opera satirizes the influence of newspapers on people's lives. There is critical disagreement as to its success, although the New England Conservatory's notes for their April 2013 production state that the opera "was an immediate hit, and showed Rossini at his comic best." Following the success of his "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" in Rome, the composer arrived in Naples in February 1816 to discover that fire had destroyed the Teatro San Carlo, that he was obliged to compose a cantata to celebrate a royal wedding, plus supervise a production of his "Tancredi". And the music for "La gazzetta" was due for August performances. It would be Rossini's second opera written for Naples and the only comedy he wrote there. As was his wont, Rossini borrowed music from some of his previous works, These included "Il Turco in Italia" (1814), "La pietra del paragone" (1812), and also from "Torvaldo e Dorliska" (1815). None of these pieces would have heard by Naples' audiences of the time. However, musicologist Philip Gossett stresses that:  While the overture was written specifically for this opera, it is probably the best known piece from the work, because, along with other music from "La gazzetta", it was incorporated into "La Cenerentola". These borrowings may have speeded up the process of composition, but Charles Osborne notes that "on this occasion, Rossini failed to complete the opera with his usual alacrity" and speculates that it may have been caused by his attraction to the soprano Isabella Colbran. It opened a month later than originally scheduled.  19th century performances  The opera was first performed on 26 September 1816 at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples, where it ran for 21 performances. Osborne would appear to disagree, since he notes that "after a few performances it was withdrawn, the general opinion being that its libretto was clumsy and its music undistinguised." Following the initial performances there was only one revival of the opera in the 19th Century, when it was performed during the 1828 Carnival in Palermo.  20th century and beyond  While Osborne does not mention a revival in 1828, Philip Gossett's recent work would seem to support its existence.