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Don Basilio
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« on: 22:28:16, 04-05-2007 » |
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Bellini was mentioned on the obscure arias thread - any comments on him.
I am very fond of Donizetti and early Verdi, but Bellini's Norma knocks them all into touch. Obviously a limited composer in some ways, but, gosh, could he do what he could do wonderfully.
I have yet to read a feminist appreciation of Norma, but it would seem completely appropriate (girls stay together when got at by some bloke shit.)
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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Parsifal1882
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« Reply #1 on: 12:58:59, 05-05-2007 » |
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Apart from NORMA, I know PURITANI, CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI, SONNAMBULA and PIRATA. I'm interested in other recommendations. Why is Bellini neglected by UK opera houses?
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Il duolo della terra nel chiostro ancor ci segue, solo del cor la guerra in ciel si calmera! E la voce di Carlo! E Carlo Quinto! Mio padre! O ciel!
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #2 on: 14:00:52, 05-05-2007 » |
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And there's this funny thing that the ENO has never done anything by Bellini of which I have been aware. It is no more vocally tricky than Rossini, Handel or Donizetti, which the ENO cheerfullly puts on.
I get the impression that in the years before Callas when bel canto was not regarded as quite serious in this country, Bellini was regarded as less frivolous than Donizetti or Rossini because
A he didn't write any comic operas (although I think bits of Sonambula are very funny) and
B his melodies could be said to be like Chopin, who was a Very Romantic Northern European composer played by every amateur pianist and therefore not corny like other Italian operatic composers
This despite the Grand March from Norma being one of the most gloriously outrageous bits of oompah in the C19 Italian operatic rep.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #3 on: 14:18:57, 05-05-2007 » |
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I don't know much about Bellini. During my studies music history did not look kindly on him. He was not in the same league as Verdi or even Donizetti.
I find that his music is not so bad. Reiner helped me to understand what bad staging can do to an opera.
There are such a beautiful melodies in his operas. He writes wonderfully well for human voice.
I only know his opera Norma.
I love bell canto singing when it is well done. May be before they were too frivolous thoses singer and did too many roulads, but now many of them are too stiff.
I love it when singer doesn't force his voice and lets it sing, I love good technique too in fast passages (like Rossini).
I now think that Bellini is one of the great composers.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #4 on: 14:33:55, 05-05-2007 » |
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And there's this funny thing that the ENO has never done anything by Bellini of which I have been aware. It is no more vocally tricky than Rossini, Handel or Donizetti, which the ENO cheerfullly puts on.
Is that necessarily true? I believe Norma in particular is regarded as one of the most challenging of all soprano roles. I really adore Bellini (came to him via Chopin and Liszt), but only know the same operas as Parsifal1882. The expansiveness, the uninhibited nature of the vocal lines, rarely sounds contrived when sung well. There are only ten (unlike with Donizetti, who wrote over seventy, I think!), so should get to know them all. Vocal scores of several of them can be viewed at the VARIATIONS site - http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/ . |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #5 on: 14:48:48, 05-05-2007 » |
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I have yet to read a feminist appreciation of Norma, but it would seem completely appropriate (girls stay together when got at by some bloke shit.)
You can find one in Catherine Clément - Opera, or the Undoing of Women, pp. 102-107. Here is one passage: Norma is not Medea, not a goddess; Norma is only a woman. Completely hemmed in by endlessly involved betrayals, she ends up surrendering before rebelling. With all her heart she embodies defeated Gaul, ready to become Roman; and Rome, the terrible, magical word, is the embodiment of every oppression. Punic heroines, Cathaginian princesses prepared to die rather than be Roman women, the women of Numance, rebels against the rigid Imperial order, rise up in Norma. But Norma also prefigures the married vestals of Heliogabalus, as well as incestuous and murderous empresses. She even prefigures the diabolical popesses, still titillating cardinals in the Curia when the conclave is ready to elect a pope and they have to check one another to make sure that "duos habet, et bene pendentes...".......
Norma's goddess, the chaste Moon goddess, certainly is betrayed by her; Rome wins from the moment Norma has surrendered. Another betrayal is required for Norma to get hold of herself again, finding in her own sacrifice the lost roots. For that is the result: by delivering her own body to the ritual pyre, she regains the forfeited function. From betrayal to betrayal, Norma could no longer waver between Rome and Gaul, between love and defeat. The only one able to save her is the pagan god Irminsul, even if it is at the cost of her life. Rome bows before the god of the people it is colonizing....
Once again they are face to face. Pollione the Roman, driven only by desire, and Norma the druid priestess, the woman torn apart who no longer knows what to do. In this brief moment, in this slow, restrained duet, she is the one in control. She, the priestess, she the possessor of divine power, can kill him or save him. The Roman stands erect; these conquerors have all the eternity of the Empire yet to come, and Pollione does not give in. "In mia man'alfin tu sei." Finally, you are in my hands, she tells him. Only the threat against the other woman, the younger, the innocent Adalgisa, will affect the Roman; then he begs, he implores pity, he comes undone. That is all Norma wants. A quick victory song, full of elation, and she is conquered. She will denounce not Adalgisa but herself, the guilty mother, the unfaithful priestess. Around them everything, the Gallic world, the Roman world, the gods, the other gods, becomes confused. Lost, The lovers are lost in the midst of a mythical battle. But Norma's voice rises in the silence: the traitor, the victim who must be burned, is I. "Son io.". (pp. 104-106) |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #6 on: 15:12:11, 05-05-2007 » |
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The way you write about Norma, Ian, explains Norma very well. The production I went for in San Diego was awful. The audience was laughing all the way. They took it as a banal triangle. This reception affected my perception of the opera very much for many years.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #7 on: 15:16:14, 05-05-2007 » |
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The way you write about Norma, Ian, explains Norma very well. The production I went for in San Diego was awful. The audience was laughing all the way. They took it as a banal triangle. This reception affected my perception of the opera very much for many years.
I can't really claim credit for that writing - that's by Catherine Clément! |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #8 on: 19:47:44, 05-05-2007 » |
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It's certaintly true - ENO haven't staged any Bellini. I think part of the reason was that George Harewood didn't like it.... and then the "powerhouse" team weren't interested in that kind of material. They have staged one or two "bel canto" pieces, including one as a vehicle for Jane Eaglen which turned to glue around their feet, unfortunately. But no Bellini. This is remarkable considering that they've had singers over the last twenty years or so who might easily have shone in that repertoire (Rita Hunter, Josephine Barstow, Jane Eaglen, Eileen Hannan, Amanda Roocroft, Susan Bullock, and others).
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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George Garnett
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« Reply #9 on: 22:29:06, 05-05-2007 » |
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Reiner helped me to understand what bad staging can do to an opera. Possibly not one for the posters for RT's next production  |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #10 on: 02:58:16, 06-05-2007 » |
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Possibly not one for the posters for RT's next production  By coincidence I've got an opening night this evening (Monteverdi & Menotti double-bill - a "Menotti in Memoriam" show), so if we are short of press comment, I'll keep it in reserve |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #11 on: 06:34:55, 06-05-2007 » |
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This question is not for this thread, but how can I find out about Menotti opera. I never heard his name never mind his music.
I think it is very good idea to have old opera by Monteverdi for example and double bill with more recent opera. I wish I was somewhere near enough to go to Reiner's production (or whatever it is he is describing in the post).
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ernani
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« Reply #12 on: 11:56:28, 08-05-2007 » |
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I'd highly recommend the easily found live recording of Caballe in Il Pirata from the mid 60s - glorious stuff |
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Parsifal1882
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« Reply #13 on: 12:03:23, 08-05-2007 » |
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Thanks, ernani: I have the Imogene of Callas and would surely try the Caballe (is her husband Marti any good on this recording?): the finale, as I know it from various Callas dics, is stupendous.
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Il duolo della terra nel chiostro ancor ci segue, solo del cor la guerra in ciel si calmera! E la voce di Carlo! E Carlo Quinto! Mio padre! O ciel!
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Parsifal1882
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« Reply #14 on: 12:05:25, 08-05-2007 » |
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Oh, I'm confusing the EMI Caballe with the live one you mention, ernani: is the tenor on the second recording also Marti?
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Il duolo della terra nel chiostro ancor ci segue, solo del cor la guerra in ciel si calmera! E la voce di Carlo! E Carlo Quinto! Mio padre! O ciel!
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