Vincenzo Bellini lived a relatively short life dying at the height of his fame, in Paris, at the age of thirty-three. He was greatly admired by the public and his contemporaries for his gift for long-lined melody. Even Richard Wagner, who rarely had a kind word for another composer, held Bellini in high esteem. Counting revisions he only wrote 11 operas. Between 1827 and 1831 he produced four of his greatest works, Il Pirata, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La Sonnambula, and Norma all composed with the best and most prolific librettist of his age, Felice Romani, who also worked with Rossini and Donizetti.

Sleepwalking wasn’t seriously investigated or diagnosed until the early 19th century. It quickly became a fashionable convention in books and theater. Bellini based his opera on the scenario of a popular ballet in which the gentle Amina is discovered in the middle of the night in the bed chamber of Lord Rodolfo. Elvino, her betrothed, denounces her and calls off their engagement. The villagers rally around Amina even though Elvino gives back his ring and declares he will marry another. 

We begin our program with the joyous opening chorus “Viva Amina!” Set in a picturesque Swiss mountain village, a crowd gathers to celebrate the betrothal of Amina and Elvino. 

Later the mysterious Count Rodolfo arrives trying to reach his castle before dark. He’s offered lodging in the local inn as the villagers warn him of the village ghost: “A foscocielo, a notte bruna,/ al fiocoraggio d'incerta luna / "When the sky is dark at night, and the moon's rays are weak, at the gloomy thunder's sound a phantom appears." Bellini writes a beautiful staccato-tinged quartet here with the characters' voices fading in and out of the ensemble of the chorus.

Act Two of the opera opens with a beautiful pastoral sung by the villagers as they make their way with Amina to ask Count Rodolfo to vouch for her, “Qui la selva è piùfolta ed ombrosa / "Here the wood is thick and dark."

The bel canto style arguably reached its pinnacle with Norma and Bellini’s combination of classical drama and florid vocal writing. Norma is the high priestess of the Druid temple and the leader of the Gallic people who are staging an uprising against their Roman occupiers. Unbeknownst to almost all, Norma has fallen in love with Pollione the Roman proconsul and has secretly had two children with him. When she discovers that his affections have transferred to the young priestess Adalgisa, Norma vows war and vengeance.

The opera opens with Oroveso leading the Druids into the forest to pray for victory over the Romans, "Ite sul colle, o druidi" / "Go into the hills, Druids".

Later the assembled Druids announce the arrival of Norma, “Norma viene" / "Norma is coming" as they await her arrival to begin the sacred temple rituals.

In Act Two Norma and Adalgisa reunite in friendship as Norma begs her to take care of her children and take them to Pollione, their father. Adalgisa says she will only go to Pollione to tell him of Norma’s love in the hopes that he’ll return to her. She then bids Norma to regard her sleeping children with love, "Mira, o Norma" / "See, o Norma.”  After reflecting on all of this (in the most exquisite harmonic thirds Bellini could possibly write) they swear eternal friendship and sing that their hearts now beat as one, “Si fino all'ore estreme" / "Until the last hour.”

The famous operatic conceit of the “Mad Scene” certainly wasn’t invented by Bellini but he may have perfected it with I Puritani where the lead soprano, the tender Elvira, spends the better part of three acts slipping in and out of a coloratura delirium.

No expense had been spared and Bellini was given a superlative cast to work with. Soprano Giulia Grisi, tenor Giovanni Rubini, baritone Antonio Tamburini, and bass Luigi Lablache were dubbed the “Puritani Quartet.” Bellini lavished his not inconsiderable gifts of melody upon all of them and it was a tremendous success, given 17 performances in the first season alone.

We begin with the opening chorus, “A festa / To the party” as the ladies and gentleman of the castle sing of their happiness and the announced nuptials of Elvira to her beloved Arturo.

Later Uncle Giorgio persuades the formerly betrothed baritone Riccardo to do everything possible to protect his rival, the tenor Arturo, ensuring Elvira’s happiness. Pledging his help, the two sing one of the most rousing duets ever written in the bel canto canon. “Suoni la tromba / Let the trumpets sound!”

“Ah! dolor, Ah! Terror, Ah! pieta / Ah! Pain, Ah! Terror, Ah! Mercy” are the cries of the castle's inhabitants as they mourn Elvira as she wanders aimlessly and insanely searching for the man who deserted her.

The finale of Act One finds Elvira abandoned at the church after her betrothed leaves with the former Queen to take her to safety.  As the crowd prepares for the nuptials, they are informed that Arturo has left with an unknown woman wearing a bridal veil. Elvira, broken-hearted and believing herself betrayed, begins to slip into madness.

The Imperial Theater of St. Petersburg offered Verdi the then unheard of sum of 60,000 francs (roughly $175,000. in today’s money) and all expenses paid to travel to Russia to present a new opera. After completing the work, the Verdis reached St. Petersburg in December (!) 1861 only to have the production postponed for a year because of inadequate casting. The premiere finally took place in September 1862, requiring another trip to Russia, but this time scheduled for late summer. Verdi further revised Forza twice before its first performance at La Scala in 1869.

The plot of Forza spans Spain and Italy, a thwarted inter-racial marriage between Leonora di Vargas and Don Alvaro (an Incan Prince), and an elopement gone so wrong that it ends in the death of the bride’s father. Then Leonora dresses as a man and joins an order of hermits to hide her shame. Meanwhile there’s a war as background just to keep things exciting.

We open in a village inn with everyone sitting to dinner and drink. A Romani fortune teller named Preziosilla urges the men present to join the fight for Italy’s freedom, “Hola! Hola!  Viva la Guerra, Al suon del tamburo / At the sound of the drum.”

Next we have Padre Guardiano placing his blessing on Leonora as the Franciscan monks promise to protect her from the outside world, “Il santo nome di Dio Signore / Blessed be the Holy Father” and “La Vergine degli Angeli / Our Lady of the Angels.”

We move on to find Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo di Vargas, on the battlefield faced with a great dilemma, “Urna fatale del mio destino / Away fatal vessel of my destiny.” He has been entrusted with his fellow soldier’s private papers as his friend is taken off to the field surgeon. His fear is that his friend is actually the man who seduced his sister and was responsible for the death of his father. He discovers a locket bearing his sister’s likeness inside the pouch and swears vengeance.

Away from the camp the worst of the war rages and takes its toll on the innocent peasants who gather and beg for food, ““Pane, pan per carità! / Bread for pity’s sake!” Preziosilla continues recruiting for the army and sings to them about the glories of military life,”Rataplan, rataplan, della gloria – Rum-tum-tum on the drum is the music that makes a soldier's martial spirit rise.”

PATRICK MACK discovered his love of opera as a teenager to the total bewilderment of his rock ‘n’ roll mother. He sang leading tenor roles in the opera departments at SMC and UCLA. He sang with the Baltimore Symphony Chorus for three years and with the Verdi Chorus for 10 years. He has been wielding the critic’s pen since 2011 on Parterre.com.