Bellini had cast Giuditta Pasta as Norma, who had had recent success as Amina in La sonnambula, Domenico Donzelli as Pollione, who had earned fame for himself with Rossini’s Otello, and Giulia Grisi as Adalgisa, who was Pasta’s sister (a perfectly cute detail). The libretto by Romani - also the librettist for Rossini’s Il turco in Italia, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi and La sonnambula - was inspired by the play by Alexandre Soumet, Norma ou l’infanticide. His opera based on Romeo and Juliet was an instant success at its premiere in March, 1830, including his adaptation for La Scala, lowering Giuletta’s part to suit mezzo-soprano Amalia Schütz-Oldosi.ġ831 first saw the Milan premiere of La sonnambula in March, and Norma was on the Scala stage by December of the same year.
The Italian premieres of Il pirata in 1827 and Bianca e Fernando in 1828 gained him international recognition, and earned him fees which allowed him to live solely on composing music.īellini’s 1829 Zaira was, comparatively, a cool reception in Parma and in Florence, but when composer Giovanni Pacini, somewhat of a contemporary rival figure, failed to deliver on his contract with La Fenice, Bellini was given an opportunity (tightly scheduled as it was) for what because I Capuleti e i Montecchi. They denounce him, and only when Norma volunteers to sacrifice herself - a priestess who offended her faith - to the Druid rites, does Pollione have a change of heart he joins her on the pyre, and leaves their children to Adalgisa.īy the time Norma premiered at La Scala in December of 1831, Vincenzo Bellini had already enjoyed his first taste of success, and his first taste of waning fame. The two women band together over their shared doomed love, after Norma reveals that she has had children by Pollione. Pollione has fallen out of love with Norma, and now loves the priestess Adalgisa. Familiar & exotic: a brief history of Bellini's Norma Op-ed Jenna Simeonov Aug 23, 2016īellini’s Norma is the story of the Druid High-Priestess, who has broken her vows by getting involved with the Roman Pollione.
0 kommentar(er)
