Vincenzo Bellini is today honoured by a
museum that stands in his birthplace of Catania in Sicily. He
seemed destined to become a composer, and guided by his
grandfather, also a composer, wrote his first piece at the age
of six.
In 1819 he went to Naples to the San
Sebastiano Conservatoire, but for a boy of such promise he was
slow to develop. Various minor pieces date from these student
days, but it was only when he turned to opera and wrote
Adelson e Salvini that he discovered the form that was
most congenial to him.
The work had a tremendous impact on the
impresario Barbaia, who in 1827 commissioned Il pirata
tor La Scala, Milan. Il pirata demonstrates well
Bellini's style, which favours a pure, simple vocal line. This
delighted his teacher Zingarelli, who had always warned his
pupils against Rossini's music, claiming that the overly
florid vocal lines were physically dangerous! Bellini also
expected the librettos for his operas to have simple plots
with fast-moving action, and the brilliant dramatist Felice
Romani was an ideal partner. Their next collaboration was in
1830 on the opera I Capuleti ed i Montecchi. This
version of Romeo and Juliet was made exaggeratedly
melodramatic by Romani to suit the popular tastes of the day.
The partnership was again fruitful with
La sonnambula (The Sleepwalker). This time the inclusion
of just a hint of contemporaneous popular song made the opera
an instant hit. Norma, premiered later the same year of
1831, was again very well received, largely for the clearly
rebellious sentiments it contained, particularly in the
final-act chorus "Guerra, Gucrra" (War, War). Today its
best-known aria is "Casta Diva", in which the pure soprano
solo line soars above the chorus.
Opera composition did not debar Bellini from
affairs of the heart, and after he failed to win his first
love due to opposition from her parents, he turned his
attentions to Giuditta Turma. The relationship lasted five
years, although for all that time the young woman was married
to someone else.
After Norma, Bellini and Romani
argued and Bellini wrote his final opera, I puritani
(The Puritans) with Carlo Pepoli. Although the libretto was
poor, the weaknesses were more than compensated for by the
beauty of the melodies, the development of Bellini's style,
and the magnificence of the premiere production: the opera was
another triumph. After the exhausting task of composing and
staging I puritani, Bellini was suddenly struck
down with a fatal illness, and died in 1835 aged just 34. His
place in the history of opera is assured, not only for the
beauty of his own operas but also as a forerunner to the
genius of Giuseppe Verdi.
