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BELLINI, VINCENZO (1801--18J5)
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See also:BELLINI, VINCENZO (1801--18J5) , operatic composer of the See also:Italian school, was See also:born at See also:Catania in See also:Sicily, on the 1st of See also:November 18or. He was descended from a See also:family of musicians, both his See also:father and grandfather having been composers of some reputation. After having received his preparatory musical See also:education at See also:home, he entered the See also:conservatoire of See also:Naples, where he studied singing and See also:composition under Tritto and Zingarelli. He soon began to write pieces for various See also:instruments, as well as a See also:cantata and several masses and other sacred compositions. His first See also:opera, Adelson e Savina, was performed in 1825 at a small See also:theatre in Naples; his second dramatic See also:work, Bianca e Fernando, was produced next See also:year at the See also:San Carlo theatre of the same See also:city, and made his name known in See also:Italy. His next work, Il Pirata (1527), was written for the Scala in See also:Milan, to words by Felice Romano, with whom Bellini formed a See also:union of friendship to be severed only by his See also:death. The splendid rendering of the See also:music by Tamburini, Rubini and other See also:great Italian singers contributed greatly to the success of the work, which at once established the See also:European reputation of its composer. In almo°t every year of the See also:short See also:remainder of his See also:life he produced a new operatic work, which was received with rapture by the audiences of See also:France, Italy, See also:Germany and See also:England. The names and See also:dates of four of Bellini's operas See also:familiar to most lovers of Italian music are: I Montecchi e Capuleti (1830), in which the See also:part of Romeo became a favourite with all the great contraltos; La Sonnambula (1831); Norma, Bellini's best and most popular creation (1831); and I Puritani (1835), written for the Italian opera in See also:Paris, and to some extent under the See also:influence of See also:French music. In 1833 Bellini had See also:left his See also:country to accompany to England the See also:singer Pasta, who had created the part of his Sonnambula. In 1834 he accepted an invitation to write an opera for the See also:national See also:grand opera in Paris. While he was carefully studying the French See also:language and the See also:cadence of French See also:verse for the purpose, he was seized with a sudden illness and died at his See also:villa in See also:Puteaux near Paris on the 24th of See also:September 1835. His operatic creations are throughout replete with a spirit of See also:gentle See also:melancholy, frequently monotonous and almost always undramatic, but at the same See also:time irresistibly sweet. To this spirit, combined with a See also:rich flow of cantilena, Bellini's operas owe their popularity. " I shall never forget," wrote See also:Wagner, " the impression made upon me by an opera of Bellini at a See also:period when I was completely exhausted with the ever-lastingly abstract complication used in our orchestras, when a See also:simple and See also:noble See also:melody was revealed anew to me." See also G. Labat, Bellini (See also:Bordeaux, 1865) ; A. Pougin, Bellini, sa See also:vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1868). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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