Vincenzo Bellini Biography

Italian 'Bel Canto' Opera Composer of the Romantic Period

Oct 17, 2007
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Vincenzo Bellini, Italian Opera Composer - Music With Ease

Biography of composer Vincenzo Bellini, best known for opera Norma and as master of 'bel canto.'

Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer of the Romantic period, established himself as the master of the Italian operatic bel canto ('beautiful singing'). In Italian bel canto operas, the story and setting takes a back seat in favor of beautiful voice, and arias have long melodic score and dramatic tension brilliantly crafted. Bellini has been widely acclaimed for his opera Norma, with best known interpreter soprano diva Maria Callas in the role of Norma.

Vincenzo Bellini - A Brief Life

Born on November 3, 1801, in the Sicilian town of Catania, Bellini started piano lessons from his father. A child prodigy at five years old, he showed brilliance at the piano, immediately developing simplicity of melodic expression. Later in his teens, he studied at Naples Conservatory.

Bellini was a rival of Gaetano Donizetti, famous for opera L'Elisir d'amore. With Felice Romani his librettist, they were the Rodgers and Hammerstein of their day. They collaborated on six operas.

Bellini was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur. He died in Puteaux near Paris, from gastroenteritis, aged 34.

Major Works of Bellini - Consummate Opera Maestro

Bellini's first opera, Adelson e Salvini, was produced in 1825 while still a student. This attracted the attention of Domenico Barbaia, who commissioned him to write Bianca e Gernando, produced at the Teatro San Carlo. Norma and La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) followed. In I Puritani (The Puritans), his last work, he discovered a new boldness and vigor of orchestral effect.

Two years after he wrote Norma, he travelled to London and Paris, where he met and befriended Gioachino Rossini and Frédéric Chopin.

Like Mozart and Schubert, he also died in his thirties. His popularity after his death was enormous, but later his operas fell into neglect. Since World War II, however, singers including Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, and Montserrat Caballe, have helped restore Bellini’s popularity particularly with his masterpiece Norma.

He once told Count Carlo Pepoli, an exiled Italian poet he had difficulty working with as a librettist: “Carve in your head by letter of brass: an opera must draw tears, cause horror, bring death, by means of a song.” This is exactly what his operas portray.