Text Box:  9. Now we learn about an Italian composer, who was born in 1792 and died in 1868 at age 76. His name is Gioacchino Rossini. He is ranked number 30 by Goulding. Rossini wrote 40 operas and made an enormous amount of money. He accomplished this by the young age of 38…but then, after suffering a nervous breakdown, didn’t write again until the last year of his life, 38 years later. His wealth was so great, however, that he didn’t need to work. Once when going to visit the great Beethoven, he actually cried upon seeing the extreme poverty and discomfort the great master lived under, as compared to his own.