The Collins Guide To Opera And Operetta

If Rossini was the presiding genius of Italian bel canto opera in the first half of the 19th century, Donizetti and Bellini were his two lieutenants, and like Rossini, they made their mark in Naples before moving on to Paris, which was the centre of the operatic world. Bellini was Sicilian by birth and showed an early gift for melody that got him noticed while he was still a student. His first full-length opera was staged at Naples’ Teatro San Carlo when he was twenty-three and a commission from Milan followed immediately, spreading his fame beyond Italy. From then on came a steady flow of work, totalling ten operas in ten years – frantic productivity by modern standards but fairly modest by the standards of the time. In fact, Bellini took uncommon care over his work, suiting the music to specific voices (from which he nonetheless made great demands) and developing a close association with the poet Felice Romani, which became one of the most effective composer/librettist partnerships in opera history.

Norma (#ulink_901eb3b2-5fb3-51d1-bbd8-77306aaecc30)

FORM: Opera in two acts; in Italian

COMPOSER: Vincenzo Bellini (1801–35)

LIBRETTO: Felice Romani; after Alexandre Soumet’s verse tragedy

FIRST PERFORMANCE: Milan, 26 December 1831

Principal Characters

Oroveso, chief of the druids and Norma’s father

Bass

Pollione, Roman pro-consul in Gaul

Tenor

Norma, high priestess of the druid temple

Soprano

Adalgisa, young priestess of the temple

Soprano

Clotilde, Norma’s confidante

Mezzo-soprano

Flavio, Pollione’s friend

Tenor

Synopsis of the Plot

Setting: Gaul; the Roman occupation

ACT I Oroveso comes to the sacred grove to pray to the gods to help him raise support to fight and defeat the Romans. After he has left, Pollione confides to Flavio that he no longer loves Norma, who has broken her vows of chastity for him and secretly borne his two children; he has transferred his affections to the young priestess, Adalgisa. When Adalgisa joins him, Pollione successfully persuades her to renounce her vows and go back to Rome with him. Adalgisa, in some distress, goes to see Norma to ask to be released from her vows. Norma, sympathising with her predicament, agrees to do so and asks the name of her lover. At that moment Pollione himself enters and Norma, stunned, realises the truth. She furiously denounces Pollione and the shocked Adalgisa declares that her first loyalty is to Norma, rejecting Pollione’s desperate attempts to persuade her to go with him.

ACT II In her hut Norma stands over her sleeping children, dagger in hand, contemplating the shame and humiliation they will suffer in the future because of her disgrace. She cannot bring herself to harm them, however, and suggests to Adalgisa that she should leave with Pollione and take the children with her to safety. Adalgisa’s response is to say that she will indeed go to Pollione – but only to try and convince him to return to Norma. In an atmosphere of gathering violence Norma learns that Pollione plans to abduct Adalgisa from the temple. Enraged, she strikes the great shield three times and declares war against Rome. Pollione is captured within the sacred temple but, to save his life, Norma offers herself, a disgraced and blasphemous priestess, as an alternative sacrifice. Confiding her children to Oroveso’s care, Norma prepares to mount the funeral pyre, as Pollione, overwhelmed by her selfless love and courage, commits himself to her once more and walks beside her to the flames.

Music and Background

Norma is Bellini’s masterpiece, written for what the composer called the ‘encylopaedic’ range of expression of the great bel canto singer Giuditta Pasta and closely responsive to the libretto of Felice Romani, which passed through many changes before the composer was satisfied with it. Norma herself is one of the most formidable roles in all opera, calling for extremes of tenderness and fury. Not for nothing does she get taken into the repertory of Wagner singers, and Wagner admitted a personal debt to Bellini’s combination of powerful passion with spacious melodies.

Highlights

Norma’s Act II ‘Casta diva’ is a benchmark aria for sopranos with the substance and finesse to tackle it (and there aren’t many of them). Also in Act II comes a superb scene for the two sopranos – ‘Mira o Norma’.

Did You Know?

The two great Normas of modern times once appeared in the opera together, in 1952. Maria Callas took the title role, Joan Sutherland the small part of Clotilde.

The 19th-century soprano, Therese Tietjens, playing Norma, swung her arm so wide as she struck the gong that she hit her leading man, who collapsed unconscious at her feet.

Recommended Recording

Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, John Alexander, London Symphony Orchestra/Richard Bonynge. Decca 425 488-2. A classic from the 1960s, magnificently cast in the two soprano roles, with Sutherland in better voice than when she recorded Norma a second time, aged fìfty-eight(!).

I Puritani (#ulink_9a0a35b4-84a6-5036-add7-c2b9ca82e3d6)

(The Puritans)

FORM: Opera in three acts; in Italian

COMPOSER: Vincenzo Bellini (1801–35)

LIBRETTO: Carlo Pepoli; after Ancelot and Saintine’s play, itself based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel

FIRST PERFORMANCE: Paris, 25 January 1835

Principal Characters

The Puritans

Lord Walton Bass

Sir George Walton, his brother

Bass

Sir Richard Forth

Baritone

Sir Bruno Robertson

Tenor

Lord Arthur Talbot, a Cavalier

Tenor

Henrietta of France, Charles I’s widow