Born in Catania, Sicily, Italy, Bellini was a child prodigy from a highly musical family and legend has it he could sing an air of Valentino Fioravanti at eighteen months, began studying music theory at two, the piano at three, and by the age of five could play well. His first composition dates from his sixth year. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, it is certain that Bellini grew up in a musical household and that a career as a musician was never in doubt.
Having learned from his grandfather, Bellini left provincial Catania in June 1819 to study at the conservatory in Naples, with a stipend from the municipal government of Catania. By 1822 he was in the class of the director Nicolò Zingarelli, studying the masters of the Neapolitan school and the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart. It was the custom at the Conservatory to introduce a promising student to the public with a dramatic work: the result was Bellini's first opera Adelson e Salvini an opera semiseria that was presented at the Conservatory's theater. Bianca e Gernando met with some success at the Teatro San Carlo, leading to an offer from the impresario Barbaia for an opera at La Scala. Il pirata was a resounding immediate success and began Bellini's faithful and fruitful collaboration with the librettist and poet Felice Romani, and cemented his friendship with his favored tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, who had sung in Bianca e Gernando.
Bellini spent the next years, 1827–33 in Milan, where all doors were open to him. Supported solely by his opera commissions, for La straniera (1828) was even more successful than Il pirata, sparking controversy in the press for its new style and its restless harmonic shifts into remote keys, he showed the taste for social life and the dandyism that Heinrich Heine emphasized in his literary portrait of Bellini (Florentinische Nächte, 1837). Opening a new theater in Parma, his Zaira (1829) was a failure at the Teatro Ducale, but Venice welcomed I Capuleti e i Montecchi, which was based on the same Italian sources as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
The next five years were triumphant, cut short by Bellini's premature death.
Bellini died in Puteaux, near Paris of acute inflammation of the intestine, and was buried in the cemetery of Père Lachaise, Paris; his remains were removed to the cathedral of Catania in 1876. The Museo Belliniano, Catania, preserves memorabilia and scores.
Bellini is best known for his opera Norma, the title role of which is considered one of the most difficult roles in the soprano repertoire. During the 20th century, only a small number of singers were able to sing it with success: Rosa Ponselle in the early 1920s, and later Joan Sutherland in the 1950s and 1960s. Maria Callas was the famous Norma of the postwar period; she performed it many times and recorded it in the studio twice.
Fenesta che lucive
Vincenzo Bellini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sign'è ca nenna mia stace ammalata
S'affaccia la sorella e me lo dice
Nennella toja è morta e sotterrata
Chiagneva sempe ca durmeva sola
Mo' duorme co' li muorte accompagnata
Mo' duorme co' li muorte accompagnata
Va nella chiesa e scuopre lu tavuto
Da chella vocca che n'ascéano sciure
Mo' n'esceno li vierme, oh che pietate
Zi' parrucchiane mio, àbbice cura
‘Na lampa sempe tiénece allummata
‘Na lampa sempe tiénece allummata
The lyrics to Vincenzo Bellini's song Fenesta che lucive depict the scene of a window that used to shine but now doesn't. The sister of the singer's loved one appears and tells of her illness. Then, she confirms the death and burial of the singer's loved one, Nennella. Nennella used to cry because she slept alone, but now she sleeps with the dead. The sister then goes to the church and uncovers the shroud, witnessing how Nennella changed. From the mouth that used to utter sweet words now the worms come out.
Line by Line Meaning
Fenesta che lucive e mo' nun luce
The window that was once shining is now dark and gloomy.
Sign'è ca nenna mia stace ammalata
I realize that my dear child is sick.
S'affaccia la sorella e me lo dice
My sister appears and tells me the sad news.
Nennella toja è morta e sotterrata
My little Nennella has passed away and been buried.
Chiagneva sempe ca durmeva sola
She always cried because she slept alone.
Mo' duorme co' li muorte accompagnata
Now she sleeps with the dead as her companions.
Va nella chiesa e scuopre lu tavuto
I go to the church and uncover her tombstone.
Vide nennella toja comm'è turnata
I see how my little Nennella has transformed.
Da chella vocca che n'ascéano sciure
From that mouth that used to ask for candy.
Mo' n'esceno li vierme, oh che pietate
Now worms come out of it, what a pity.
Zi' parrucchiane mio, àbbice cura
Dear barber, take care of her.
‘Na lampa sempe tiénece allummata
Always keep a light burning for her.
Writer(s): Roberto Murolo, Eduardo Caliendo Copyright: Chappell Edizioni S.r.l.
Contributed by Emma H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.