Known for Norma: Vincenzo Bellini

            Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania, Sicily in 1801; his father was a church organist in the local cathedral.  Like Donizetti, he showed very early musical promise and eventually was sent to the conservatory of music in Naples, which was paid for by a Sicilian nobleman who believed the young Bellini displayed a bright future.  His success came much quicker than that of Donizetti, while he was still a student, his opera Adelson e Salvini, (finished 1825 and written to a libretto by Andre Leone Tottola who also had worked with Rossini and Donizetti) had earned him a positive reputation as a composer.

            The opera that would really make a name for Bellini was the piece Il Pirata, his third work for the stage.  The piece is a tragedy in almost every sense of the word. To summarize, it is the story of an estranged lover returning home to find his love-interest had been forcibly married to a violent man, eventually the husband is killed and the main character sentenced to death.  I find it very interesting that this kind of plot would have gone over as well as it did as it seems like the pure tragedy in the face of recent wars and violence would have turned off most theatre goers, which is something mentioned by Ashbrook.  Other operas composed by Bellini include Zaira (1829), La Straniera (1829), I Capuleti e I Montecchi and La Sonnambula (1831).

           Bellini is most well known by modern audiences for his masterpiece Norma (written in 1831). The piece is notable for its masterful duets and finale to act 1, as well as the very famous aria “Casta Diva,” which did not emerge onto the score easily. William Ashbrook notes that “’Casta Diva’ was rewritten a number of times, tradition has it, before Pasta was perfectly satisfied with it.” Like Il Pirata, this success has its basis in a tragic story. Norma is the story of a soured marriage where the main male character turns to a virgin priestess. The tale seems very much to be a retelling of the aging Media drama and her attempted revenge on Jason for his abandonment.  At least in this version we (the audience) are spared the murder of the children.

            A few operas were written after Norma, such as Beatrice di Tenda (1833) as well as the piece written in Paris: I Puritani (1835) which was composed the year of his death at 34 years of age. Bellini influenced many Italian composers as well as non-Italian and non-Opera musicians such as Wagner and Liszt. It is amazing how many composers of very significant works both composed and died so young and although it is a very romantic scene to think of all the great singers of Paris lined up at the funereal. I cannot help but consider how many more Norma-grade works the young composer could have finished.