Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was an Italian opera composerThe Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, "Vincenzo Bellini, Italian Composer", Encyclopædia Britannica, 15 January 2018 of the early Romantic era famed for his long, graceful melodiesGiovanni (no surname provided) to "Uncle Ignazio" ("identified as Ignazio Giuffrida-Moschetti, Catanese friend of Bellini" in Weinstock), 18 January 1832, quoted in : He was dubbed "the Swan of Sicily, or to phrase it better, of Catania". and evocative musical settings. A central figure of the era, he was admired not only by the public but also by many composers who were influenced by his work. His songs balanced florid embellishment with a deceptively simple approach to lyric setting.
Born to a musical family in Sicily, he distinguished himself early and earned a scholarship to study under several noted musicians at Naples' Real Collegio di Musica. There he absorbed elements of the Neapolitan School's style and was inspired by performances of Donizetti's and Rossini's operas, among others, in more modern idioms. He wrote his first opera, Adelson e Salvini (1825), for the conservatory, and his next, Bianca e Fernando (1826), on a Teatro di San Carlo-affiliated commission for promising students. He also became close friends with his peer and first biographer, Francesco Florimo.
Bellini then went to Milan to compose for La Scala, where the success of Il pirata (1827) established his short but significant career. He wrote many celebrated operas, ascending to triumphal heights with I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830, La Fenice), La sonnambula (1831, Teatro Carcano), and more gradually Norma (1831, La Scala). He travelled abroad and wrote I puritani after a visit to London. Its successful premiere (1835, Théâtre-Italien) capped an illustrious international career. Bellini died at the age of 33 in Puteaux, France.
Verdi praised Bellini's expansive melodies as unequaled,Verdi to Camille Belaigue, 2 May 1898, while Wagner, who was rarely complimentary, was captivated by Bellini's expressive integration of music and text. Liszt and Chopin were also admirers, though Berlioz was less enthusiastic. Most musicologists now assess Bellini positively, though some question the quality of his work.Tim Ashley, "Opera must make you weep and die", The Guardian (London), 1 November 2001. Many of his operas, including Pirata, Capuleti, Sonnambula, Norma, and Puritani are regularly performed at major opera houses throughout the world.List of "671 performances of 146 productions in 95 cities" on Operabase, from 1 January 2012 into 2015 on operabase.com. Retrieved 24 June 2014
Catania: early life
Born in Catania, the eldest of seven children in the family, he became a child prodigy within a highly musical family. His grandfather, , had studied at the conservatory in Naples and, in Catania from 1767 forward, had been an organist and teacher, as had Vincenzo's father, Rosario.
An anonymous twelve-page hand-written history, held in Catania's Museo Civico Belliniano, states that he could sing an aria by Valentino Fioravanti at eighteen months, that he began studying music theory at two years of age and the piano at three. refers to "an anonymous précis of his life, twelve handwritten pages" held in Catania's Museo Belliniaro By the age of five, he could apparently play "marvelously".Quoted by , which also references the anonymous précis. The document states that Bellini's first five pieces were composed when he was just six years old and "at seven he was taught Latin, modern languages, rhetoric, and philosophy". Bellini's biographer Herbert Weinstock regards some of these accounts as no more than myths, not being supported from other, more reliable sources. Additionally, he makes the point in regard to Bellini's apparent knowledge of languages and philosophy: "Bellini never became a well-educated man".
Another biographer, Stelios Galatopoulos,John Steane, Review of Galatopoulos' Bellini Life, Times, Music, Gramophone, September 2002, p. 98: "will remain the standard major work in English for years to come." discusses the information presented in the précis and accepts some of the evidence for early compositions but expresses scepticism regarding the young Bellini's child prodigy status. He mentions that Bellini never became a "proficient" piano player and, when he later went to the music conservatory in Naples at an age well past that required for admission and took an examination in which his compositions were assessed, he was placed in the beginners' class.
After 1816, Bellini began living with his grandfather, from whom he received his first music lessons. Soon after, the young composer began to write compositions. Among them were the nine Versetti da cantarsi il Venerdi Santo, eight of which were based on texts by Metastasio.
By 1818, Bellini had independently completed several additional orchestral pieces and at least two settings of the Mass Ordinary: one in D Major, the other in G Major, both of which survive and have been commercially recorded.
He was ready for further study. For well-off students, this would include moving to Naples. While his family wasn't wealthy enough to support that lifestyle, Bellini's growing reputation could not be overlooked. His break came when Stefano Notabartolo, the duca di San Martino e Montalbo and his duchess, became the new intendente of the province of Catania. They encouraged the young man to petition the city fathers for a stipend to support his musical studies. This was successfully achieved in May 1819 with unanimous agreement for a four-year pension to allow him to study at the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano in Naples. Thus, he left Catania in July carrying letters of introduction to several powerful individuals, including Giovanni Carafa who was the intendente of the Real Collegio as well as being in charge of the city's royal theatres. The young Bellini was to live in Naples for the following eight years.
Naples: musical education
The Conservatorio di San Sebastiano (as it had been named when the original Real Collegio di Musica, established in 1806 and then renamed as such in 1808) had moved to more spacious facilities close to the church of Gesù Novo and the building formerly occupied by the nuns of San Sabastiano, was run by the government and there, students, who wore a semi-military uniform, were obliged to live under a tight daily regimen of classes in principal subjects, in singing and instrumental coaching, plus basic education. Their days were long, going from early morning mass at 5:15 am to finally ending by 10 pm. Although beyond the normal age for admission, Bellini had submitted ten pieces of music for consideration; these clearly demonstrated his talent, although he did need to do remedial work to correct some of his faulty technique.
The focus of study was on the masters of the Neapolitan school and the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart, with the emphasis put upon the Italian classical era composers such as Pergolesi and Paisiello, rather than the "modern-day" approaches of composers such as Rossini. The young student's first teacher was Giovanni Furno, with whom "he studied exercises in harmony and accompaniment"; another, from whom he learned counterpoint, was the composer of over 50 operas, Giacomo Tritto, but whom he found to be "old fashioned and doctrinaire". However, the artistic director of the school was the opera composer, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli.
By 1822/23, Bellini had become a member of a class which he taught: the older man appears to have recognised Bellini's potential and treated his student like a son, giving him some firm advice: If your compositions "sing", your music will most certainly please. ... Therefore, if you train your heart to give you melody and then you set it forth as simply as possible, your success will be assured. You will become a composer. Otherwise, you will end up being a good organist in some village., quoting Zingarelli, p. 34
It was during these early years at the Collegio that Bellini met Francesco Florimo, with whom he had a lifetime of correspondence. Other fellow students—who were to become opera composers—included Francesco Stabile and the Ricci brothers—Luigi and Federico—as well as Saverio Mercadante, who, by this time, was a graduate student.
Another person to whom the young student/composer was introduced was Gaetano Donizetti, whose ninth opera—which had been a great success in Rome—was given at the Teatro di San Carlo. About 50 years later, Florimo gave an account of the meeting of the two men: "Carlo Conti [one of Bellini's tutors] said to Bellini and me, "Go and hear Donizetti's La zingara, for which my admiration increases at every performance." After hearing the opera, Bellini acquired the score, convinced Conti to introduce him, and [Florimo] reports that Bellini's reaction was that he was "a truly beautiful, big man, and his noble countenance—sweet, but at the same time majestic—arouses affection as well as respect."Florimo, quoted in
First Naples compositions Increasingly, Bellini did better and better in his studies: in January 1820 he passed his examinations in theory, and was successful enough to gain an annual scholarship, which meant that his stipend from Catania could be used to help his family. In the following January he was equally successful and, to fulfill his obligations to write music for Catania – a condition of his scholarship – he sent a Messa di Gloria in A Minor for soloists, choir and orchestra, which was performed the following October.
Besides this melodious work, his output from these study years in Naples included two other settings of the Mass: a full Ordinary in E Minor and a second full Ordinary in G Minor, both of which probably date from 1823. There are two settings of the Salve Regina (one in A Major for solo soprano and organ, the other in F Minor for choir and orchestra), but these are less accomplished and may date from the first year of study after leaving Catania, 1820. His brief two-movement Oboe Concerto in E-flat from circa 1823 also survives and has been recorded by no less than the Berlin Philharmonic.
Bellini's involvement in Zingarelli's class took place over the 1822/23 school year. By January 1824, after passing examinations in which he did well, he attained the title primo maestrino, requiring him to tutor younger students and allowing him a room of his own in the collegio and visits to the Teatro di San Carlo on Thursdays and Sundays, where he saw his first opera by Rossini, Semiramide. While Weinstock gives an account of how he was "clearly captivated by the music of Rossini [and] put Rossini on a pedestal", he relates that, returning from Semiramide Bellini was unusually quiet and then "suddenly exclaimed to his companions, 'Do you know what I think? After Semiramide, it's futile for us to try and achieve anything!'"
But a tougher challenge confronted the young composer: how to win the hand of young Maddalena Fumarolis, whom he had met as a guest in her home and to whom he had become a music tutor. As their affair became obvious to her parents, they were forbidden to see each other. Bellini was determined to obtain the parents' permission for them to marry, and some writers regard this as the propelling reason for his writing his first opera.
Adelson e Salvini