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.
Norma: Casta diva ... Ah! Bello a me ritorna
Vincenzo Bellini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Queste sacre antiche piante,
A noi volgi il bel sembiante
Senza nube e senza vel.
Tempra tu de' cori ardenti,
Tempra ancor lo zelo audace,
Spargi in terra quella pace
Che regnar tu fai nel ciel.
The lyrics to Vincenzo Bellini's song "Norma: Casta diva ... Ah! Bello a me ritorna" express a plea to the goddess of the moon to bring peace and harmony to the world. The opening lines, "Casta Diva che inargenti, Queste sacre antiche piante" (Chaste Goddess who silverizes, These sacred ancient plants), suggest a reverence for nature and the divine feminine. The singer then asks the goddess to turn her beautiful face towards them, free of any clouds or veils. This request is not just for physical beauty but also for spiritual clarity and guidance.
The second stanza continues with a call to the goddess to temper the passionate hearts of the people and inspire them to pursue their goals with bravery and zeal. The singer then asks the goddess to spread the peace that she brings to the heavens down to earth. The lyrics convey a sense of longing for divine intervention in a world filled with conflict and chaos.
Overall, the song expresses a blend of religious devotion and romantic yearning. The goddess is both a symbol of divine love and the embodiment of the ideal feminine, a source of inspiration and strength for the singer.
Line by Line Meaning
Casta Diva che inargenti
Pure Goddess who gives shining light to these sacred, ancient trees
Queste sacre antiche piante,
These sacred, ancient trees
A noi volgi il bel sembiante
Turn towards us with your beautiful face
Senza nube e senza vel.
Without any clouds or veil
Tempra tu de' cori ardenti,
Temper the fiery hearts of the faithful
Tempra ancor lo zelo audace,
Temper once more the zealous and daring
Spargi in terra quella pace
Spread upon the earth that peace
Che regnar tu fai nel ciel.
Which you make reign in heaven.
Writer(s): Vincenzo Bellini, Celso Valli
Contributed by Kaelyn W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@eitanjakoubovitch3440
Unbelievable. This concert was in 1958, 66 years ago and still, no other singer sings like Maria.
Who's listening in 2024??
@mo1240
Kiri TeKanawa is amazing too
@gertweber157
me!
@colinjoseph2706
Me taff, listened to this great woman for years.
@mrc19591
And me
@iValkure
@@mo1240 Kiri ?! I don't think she ever attempted Norma though.... Not for her voice.
@Ahmaddakheel
Am I alone here in 2024 ?
@felixmintaka504
no
@mariamagdziarz4731
No ❤
@grmm91
No