Norma (Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series)

Norma

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NORMA Dramatic Opera in Italian (tragedia lirica) in four acts by Vincenzo Bellini Libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ou L’Infanticide, by the French dramatist Alexandre Soumet. Premiere: Milan, Teatro alla Scala December 26, 1831

Adapted from the Opera Journeys Lecture Series by Burton D. Fisher

Principal Characters in Norma Brief Story Synopsis Story Narrative with Music Highlights Bellini and Norma

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Norma

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Principal Characters in Norma Norma, Druid high priestess, daughter of the arch-Druid Priest, Oroveso Soprano Adalgisa, a young priestess, friend of Norma Mezzo-soprano Oroveso, Arch-Druid Priest, Norma’s father

Bass

Pollione, Roman proconsul in Gaul Tenor Flavio, Roman centurion, friend of Pollione

Tenor

Clotilde, Norma’s confidante Mezzo-soprano Two children of Norma and Pollione Mime Druids, priestesses, and Gallic soldiers TIME: Around 50 B.C., at the time of the Roman occupation of Gaul.

Brief Story Synopsis The story of Norma is exotically placed in Roman-occupied Gaul around 50 BC. The primary theme of the music drama involves a conflict between love and duty: Norma, a Druid High Priestess of the vanquished Gauls, falls in love with Pollione, a proconsul of the conquering Romans; she has broken her sacred vows of chastity and borne two children with Pollione. However, Norma becomes spurned by Pollione, who has abandoned her after he falls in love with Adalgisa, a Druid priestess and friend of Norma.

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In the sacred forest of the Druids, the archpriest, Oroveso, expresses the Druids’ despair and hatred of the Roman conquerors; he calls upon their god, Irminsul, to exact revenge upon the Romans. Norma, a High Priestess and Oroveso’s daughter, cautions restraint and prays for peace; secretly, she fears for Pollione’s safety, the Roman enemy whom she loves, and the father of her two children. Pollione has betrayed Norma by falling in love with Adalgisa, a young priestess; but more importantly, Pollione fears that if Norma learns of his infatuation with Adalgisa, she will seek revenge and kill him. He pleads with Adalgisa to escape with him to Rome, but Adalgisa refuses. Adalgisa becomes overcome with guilt and confesses to Norma that she has broken her vows of chastity and has a secret lover. As High Priestess, Norma forgives her, but when she discovers that Adalgisa’s lover is none other than Pollione, she curses them both. In despair and near madness because of Pollione’s betrayal, Norma resolves to kill her children, but her maternal sensibilities overcome her and she is unable to perform the deed. Adalgisa, loyal to Norma, pleads unsuccessfully with Pollione to return to Norma. After Norma learns of Adalgisa’s failure she becomes enraged by Pollione’s defiance. She gathers the Druids and encourages them to war against the Romans, declaring that it is their god Irminsul’s wish that the Roman invaders be exterminated. Pollione is captured and brought before Norma for judgment. Norma offers to save his life if he agrees to renounce his love for Adalgisa, but Pollione remains adamantly defiant. Nevertheless, Norma’s love for Pollione is so profound that she is unable to condemn him to death. Norma confesses her sacrilege to Oroveso and the Druids: she invokes self-punishment and decides to sacrifice herself on the pyres. Pollione

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becomes moved by her courage and his love for Norma becomes reborn. Both reunite in death as Pollione and Norma mount the pyre.

Story Narrative with Music Highlights ACT I: The sacred forest of the Druids The vanquished warriors of Gaul join their Druid priests and their arch-priest, Oroveso, to declare their hatred for the Romans conquerors. They fervently implore their god, Irminsul, to drive the Roman legions from their land, and inspire their High Priestess, Norma, to lead an insurrection that will liberate them. Pollione, the Roman proconsul, appears in the grove with his friend, the centurion Flavio. Pollione, lover of Norma and father of their two children, has tired of Norma; he has betrayed her and become impassioned by the young priestess, Adalgisa. Nevertheless, Pollione trembles in fear that his betrayal will incite Norma to revenge. He relates a dream in which he and Adalgisa appeared at the altar of Venus in Rome where he was confronted with a dreadful phantom’s voice predicting that Norma will avenge his treachery. Pollione expresses his foreboding of Norma’s vengeance: “Meco altar di Venere” (“Adalgisa was with me in Rome at the altar of Venus.”) “Meco all’altar di Venere”

In the distance a gong resounds. The voices of Druids are heard announcing that the moon has risen, a signal for all profaners to leave the

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sacred Druid grove. As the Gauls throng to their altar, Pollione proclaims that love will protect him from the fury of the Druids and Norma. “Me protegge! Me defende un poter maggior di loro”

After the Druids fill the grove and chant an invocation to their High Priestess, Norma appears. “Norma viene”

Norma is surrounded by priestesses and attendants; her hair is wreathed in mistletoe, and she holds a golden sickle in her right hand. Norma boldly censures the Druids’ war chants, announcing that the time is not yet ripe to rise against the Romans, but at the appropriate time, she will lead their revolt against the Romans. Norma cuts a branch of mistletoe from the oak-tree in the center of the grove, and then prays to the chaste goddess of the moon for peace: “Casta diva.” “Casta Diva”

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The Druids, obsessed with revenge against the Romans, demand that the first victim of their retaliation be Pollione, the proconsul. Norma becomes conflicted. She is stirred by inner fears and emotions. She has hidden the truth of her secret love for Pollione, and she cannot punish the man whom she loves so profoundly. But Pollione has abandoned her. In an aside, Norma prays for the return of Pollione’s love; if he does indeed return, she promises to proterct him from the vengeance of the Druids. “Ah! Ah! Bello a me ritorna”

After Norma and the Druids depart, Adalgisa is left alone. Adalgisa laments her weakness in surrendering to Pollione, and begs the gods for their pity, protection, and the strength to resist him. Pollione appears and finds Adalgisa in tears. Adalgisa is in conflict. She hesitantly renounces Pollione, but at the same time she reveals that she is overcome by her love for him. Pollione succeeds in persuading Adalgisa to escape with him to Rome. Overpowered by her emotions, Adalgisa agrees to flee with Pollione and renounce her holy vows. Duet: “Vieni in Roma ah! Vieni o cara”

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Act II: Norma’s dwelling Norma appears with her children. She has become troubled by news that Pollione has been recalled to Rome. As someone is heard approaching, she asks servant Clotilde to hide her children, fearful that the sacrilege she committed by bearing children with the Druids’ enemy would be revealed. The visitor is Adalgisa, who has come to her friend and High Priestess to confess her guilt, and ask for help and counsel. Adalgisa reveals that while she was praying in the sacred grove, she met a man. She continued to see him in secret, and each time they met, she fell more deeply in love with him. She reveals that she is prepared to abandon her vows and flee with her lover. Norma becomes sympathetic to Adalgisa’s confession of love, recalling nostalgically her passions for Pollione. Compassionately, Norma agrees to free Adalgisa from her sacred vows and allow her to flee with her lover. Their voices unite in warm friendship. “Ah! Sì fa core abbracciami”

Norma inquires who Adalgisa’s lover might be. Suddenly, Pollione appears, and Adalgisa identifies him as her lover. Norma becomes outraged and reveals that Pollione has been her lover and the father of her children. She enlightens Adalgisa, warning her that he would likewise betray her. “Deh! non volerli vittime”

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Norma turns to Pollione and vehemently denounces and curses him for his treachery. Pollione begs Adalgisa to flee with him, but Norma succeeded in convincing Adalgisa that Pollione will eventually betray her. Adalgisa refuses to depart with Pollione, and assures Norma of her loyalty; she would rather perish than take Pollione from her side. As Norma erupts into even greater fury, Pollione vainly begs Norma to conceal their shame from Adalgisa, and insists that the power of his new love is stronger than the torment of the old. A distant signal booms from the Druids’ bronze shields, a summons to Norma to lead the Druids in revolt against Rome. Norma and Adalgisa proclaim that the sounds of war represent a death knell for Pollione and the Romans. As Norma and Adalgisa curse and condemn Pollione, he escapes, shouting defiantly.

Act III Inside Norma’s dwelling Norma, clutching her dagger, considers infanticide as she contemplates her innocent sleeping children. She has decided that their death would be preferable to the shame that they would endure if they remained alive. She advances to complete the deed, but hesitates, and then embraces them. Norma has a new idea to escape from her dilemma, a plan to save her children as well as her honor. She calls for Clotilde to summon Adalgisa. Norma announces to Adalgisa that her own death is imminent. She proposes that Adalgisa marry Pollione and accompany him to Rome, but that she must take the children with her so that she can care for them after Norma’s death. Adalgisa refuses, insisting that she will go to Pollione, but only to persuade him to return to

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Norma. Norma and Adalgisa passionately vow their eternal friendship: “Mira, o Norma.” Norma and Adalgisa: “Mira Norma”

Act IV - Scene 1: Near the sacred Druids grove The Gallic warriors proclaim their hatred of the Romans, expressing a renewed hope for freedom because they have learned of Pollione’s imminent departure for Rome. But Oroveso cautions their enthusiasm, warning them that the Romans will surely replace Pollione with a more tyrannical and oppressive proconsul. Oroveso rails against the infamy of Roman bondage, but bids the Druids pretend submissiveness; with patience, revenge will come and Norma will guide them to freedom. Oroveso and Druids: “Ah! del Tebro al giogo indegno”

Act IV - Scene 2: The temple of Irminsul Norma hopes that Pollione will return to her, but Clotilde advises the contrary; that he intends to abduct Adalgisa from the temple, even though Adalgisa wishes to renew her vows as priestess.

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Norma rushes to the altar to signal war by striking the shield of Irminsul three times.The Gauls respond with a ferocious war hymn as Norma anoints the soldiers. Pollione has been captured by the Gauls. Norma raises the sacred dagger, threatening to kill him, but she is unable to strike the man she indeed loves. Norma offers Pollione his life if he will swear to abandon Adalgisa, but Pollione refuses. In revenge against Pollione, she threatens to kill everyone dear to him: their children as well as Adalgisa. Pollione pleads with Norma to recant, falling at her feet in tears, and swearing to end his misery by suicide. Norma is prepared to fulfill her promise to destroy Adalgisa, the object of Pollione’s impassioned love. She summons the Druids to announce that she has condemned a Priestess to death for betraying her vows. But suddenly, Norma is overcome with remorse, and is unable to accuse and denounce Adalgisa of the crime that she herself has committed. She astonishes the Gauls by announcing that it is she, the High Priestess Norma, who has violated her sacred vows: “Son io” (‘It is I”). Norma confesses her guilt to the Druids, and announces that her own punishment will be death on the sacrifical pyres. Oroveso implores Norma to retract her confession, but she refuses. She in turn implores her father to spare her children and to protect them after she is dead. “Deh! Non volermi vittime!”

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Norma’s courage inspires Pollione, and his love for her is reborn. Norma and Pollione mount the pyre and go to their death together; a death in which they will be united in eternal love.

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Bellini and Norma Commentary and Analysis

V

incenzo Bellini was born in in 1801 in Catania, Sicily, another descendant from a long line of family musicians. He received his first musical education from his father, an accomplished organist, but a Sicilian patron became so impressed with his musical promise that he provided the funds for him to study at the Naples Conservatory. Bellini eventually became a master of the bel canto Italian opera genre, inventing a profound lyrical signature that differed sharply from his celebrated contemporaries: thenineteenth century bel canto masters, Rossini and Donizetti. Specifically, Bellini became the apostle of a beautiful and sensual lyricism. He was a supreme and unrivaled melodist, the inventor of a musical language that encompassed a broad and genuine emotional and dramatic spectrum; his music was perfectly designed in structure, aristocratic in style, and varied in expression. Great singers of the era responded with awe to the intensive musical soul of his arias. Even Richard Wagner never hesitated to be candid about Bellini’s music, commenting that they were “all heart, connected with words.” Bellini left a legacy of 10 dramatic operas: Adelson e Salvini (1825); Bianca e Fernand (1826); Il Pirata (“The Pirate”) (1827); La Straniera (“The Stranger”) (1829); Zaira (1829), I Capuleti e I Montecchi (“The Capulets and the Montagues”) (1830); La Sonnambula (“The Sleepwalker”) (1830); Norma (1831); Beatrice di Tenda (1833); and I Puritani (“The Puritans”) (1835). Shortly after the sensational premiere of I Puritani, Bellini was struck with a fatal intestinal fever, and died at the age of 34. Like so many premature and tragic deaths — Mozart, Chopin, Gershwin — one wonders what musical gems the world was deprived of had he lived longer.

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uring the first half of the 19th century, Italian opera was synonymous with the bel canto style, a term literally meaning “beautiful singing.” Three composers dominated the Italian bel canto era: Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, together the composers of more than 120 operas; Bellini only composed tragic operas, but Rossini and Donizetti composed in the genres of comedy (opera buffa) and tragedy. Italian bel canto operas were more inclined toward an emotionalism that was conveyed through vocal exhibitionism; bel canto operas had become showcase operas, showpieces for virtuoso singers. In style, they were far from the contemporary grandiose styles of Cherubini and Spontini that focused on spectacle. Likewise, they did not contain the German cultural ideology that inspired von Weber, or Beethoven’s focus on spiritual values. In general, the integrity of bel canto librettos has always been suspect; their goal was pure entertainment through vocal exhibitionism, rather than an artistic expression of ideas that stirred the mind. Nevertheless, bel canto operas were immensely popular as pure entertainment, prompting Berlioz to complain about their composer’s earnestness: “Music of the Italians is a sensual pleasure and nothing more. For this noble expression of the mind they have hardly more respect than for the art of cooking. They want a score that, like a plate of macaroni, can be assimilated immediately without having to think about it, or even pay attention to it.” The nineteenth century bel canto era, its second flourishing after the seventeenth century, began with Rossini’s first opera, La Cambiale di Matrimonio (“The Marriage Contract”) (1810), and ended in about 1848 with the death of Donizetti. Afterwards, the second half of the nineteenth century was dominated by the operatic spectacles of Auber and Meyerbeer, the powerful passions portrayed in Verdi’s operas, and the music dramas of Wagner. By the close of the

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nineteenth century bel canto had lost favor with the opera public; most bel canto operas were rarely performed, and only a handful survived during the century, among them, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (“The Barber of Seville”), Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale, L’Elisir d’Amore (“The Elixir of Love”), and Bellini’s Norma. In the twentieth century, bel canto would experience a phenomenal revival as their inherent dramatic truths became rediscovered by a host of celebrated virtuoso singers: among them, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Krauss, Cecilia Bartoli, and Jeniffer Larmore. In the Italian bel canto style of the first half of the nineteenth century — the primo ottocento — the primary focus and concentration of opera composers was to compose beautiful and virtuoso melodies. In bel canto, the voice served to convey the dramatic elements of the story, its inherent drama expressed chiefly through the inflection of the vocal line. As such, passages achieved their dramatic poignancy and eloquence through the dynamics of being turned and twisted, stretched, speeded up or slowed down. So the primary focus of the bel canto genre was vocal virtuosity and vocal acrobatics. To a large extent, that ideal of the supremacy of the voice in opera was a legacy from the seventeenth century castratos, singers who were not only opera’s superstars, but outstanding technicians who melted their audiences with their impassioned bravura, technical fireworks, and vocal purity. Often, the terms bel canto and coloratura are used interchangeably, but primarily, they both stress spectacular vocal displays and an elaborate and brilliant ornamentation of the vocal line. In bel canto, the singer dominated; opera was a showcase for showpieces, and even the orchestra was subdued to accommodate the singer’s artistry. As the first half of the nineteenth century unfolded, that legacy of vocal brilliance continued to dominate and remain the preeminent feature of

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the operatic art form. But most bel canto operas were hastily composed, and in most cases, the drama and dramatic continuity of their underlying librettos were secondary considerations; many — but not all — of the librettos are deemed humdrum and hackneyed by today’s music drama standards, even though many of these bel canto librettos were written by talented and original craftsmen — as well as hacks. Nevertheless, it has become the freshness of bel canto’s underlying music that has compelled many opera-goers to simply overlook the librettos. Indeed, modern champions of the bel canto school have proven through their vocal artistry that there is much more drama and emotional truth in some of these operas than had ever been suspected. Certainly, during the twentieth century revival of bel canto, Maria Callas became a role model for the vocal generations who followed her, and she may have single-handedly rejuvenated the art of bel canto singing as well as the operas associated with the genre. Callas provided an amazing vitality and artistry in her delivery of bel canto texts, as well as in conveying the dramatic and emotional truth of the music. If anything, she stressed the necessity of the bel canto singer to act with the voice, the art of making every note, dramatic phrase, or dramatic gesture meaningful. The bel canto style requires a beautiful, warm, full and sustained sound, a virtuoso mastery of technique to deliver its rapidly moving passages and ornamentation, a precision in Italian diction, preeminent musicianship, and a thorough technical skill for improvisation. That virtuosity is necessary to deliver arias in slow tempo that feature long, sustained vocal lines and subtle intricacies in their ornamentation, as well as fast arias that feature springing rhythm and brilliant coloratura. Certain vocal techniques are de rigeur: legato, the idea of “tieing” or “binding” notes to one another, and portamento, “carrying” the voice through tones that glide through the intermediate

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pitches between two written notes without resting on any. Richard Wagner, no friend to the Italian bel canto school of opera, indeed contributed his own insight to the ideals of the “old and noble Italian school of singing,” commenting that “The basis of all expression is an equally sustained tone.... The manifold modifications of tonal power, which constitute one of the principal elements of musical expression that rest upon it.” In that coloratura, or fioritura style, singing required decoration, ornamentation, elaborate passing tones, turns and trills. To add further color, appoggiaturas became popular: the idea of “leaning” on a dissonant note, or evolving from a strong beat and resolving on a weaker beat. Likewise, the bel canto singers embellished their treatment of chromatic notes with extra half-steps that do not appear in the prevailing scale of the piece, but were introduced for added color and displays of virtuosity. Cadenzas, or freely displayed passages at the close of an aria involve some modulating passage and always finish with a long trill on the note just above the final keynote, or less often, the leading-tone, just below. Two-octave-plus spans in bel canto are routine; that spread, the tessitura, provides vocal color in the extremely high register. In essence, the bel canto artist uses every conceivable vocal invention necessary to mesmerize its audiences: trills, cadenzas, appoggiaturas, and portamentos. Bel canto operas dutifully follow a structural formula that relies heavily on the devices of the cavatina and cabaletta. Cavatina, a diminutive of the Italian cavata, meaning “extraction,” is an arioso, or short aria at the end of a recitative, its melody being “carved out” of the preceding music. Cavatinas are generally single-part, relatively simple short arias in slow or sustained tempos, but lyrical and long-phrased: they usually express sorrow and anguish, enabling the singer to conspicuously display varying vocal talents and abilities, but always demanding phrases that

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possess beauty of tone, nuance and color. Cavatinas often follow the cabaletta, a fast section in which the virtuosity of the singer and technical fireworks are brought into full focus: generally, the dramatic effect is achieved through acceleration that serves to express the character’s determination to do something about his or her dilemma that had been previously expressed in the cavatina. Although cavatinas and cabalettas dominate the bel canto operatic structure, their execution requires the singer to display combinations of a flawless and brilliant technique, as well as tastefulness in embellishment and ornamentation.

A

fter the triumph of La Sonnambula in 1831, Bellini agreed to compose a new opera for the next carnival season at La Scala. He was fortunate in having as his librettist the best Italian theatrical poet of the day, Felice Romani, his librettist for the earlier Il Pirata (1827), and the later La Sonnambula. For their new opera, Bellini and Romani decided to adapt the play, Norma, ou L’Infanticide (“Norma, or the Infanticide”), by the French dramatist Alexandre Soumet, also renowned as the co-librettist for Rossini’s Le Siège de Corinthe (1826). Romani was determined to add more dramatic poignancy to Soumet’s story, so he incorporated elements from several other works: Jouy’s libretto for Spontini’s La vestale (1807), Chateaubriand’s novel Les Martyrs, Romani’s own earlier libretto dealing with infanticide, Medea in Corinto written for Mayr (1813), and La Sacerdotessa d’Irminsul (“The Priestess of Irminsul”), written for Pacini (1820). Oroveso was elevated from an avenging Gallic warrior to Norma’s father, thus providing moments of fatherly love and compassion. But in many senses, Romani Christianized certain basic elements of the original story. The Norma in its

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literary antecedents was a savage and murderous pagan priestess. In the Bellini-Romani opera version, Norma is given a soul: she contemplates infanticide but cannot bring herself to the deed; she contemples killing both Adalgisa and Pollione, and likewise cannot act. In the opera version of the story, Norma possesses a higher self, an inner morality that prevents her from violent and irrational acts. The reception to Norma’s premiere on December 26, 1831 was cold. Bellini responded with bitterness, writing to a friend that “the first performance of Norma was, would you believe it, a dismal fiasco!!! I tell you truly, the audience .....seemed to me to want my poor Norma to suffer the same fate as the Druid priestess….” Bellini was frustrated and chagrined that the Milanese public did not applaud Norma with the same enthusiasm that they had greeted his earlier operas, Il Pirata, La Straniera, and La Sonnambula, even though he thought he had assured success for the opera by composing the title role for the then renowned soprano, Giuditta Pasta. Bellini suspected skulduggery, alleging that the antagonism to his opera emanated from a formidable faction that was supported by the mistress of his rival, Giovanni Pacini, whose opera Il Corsaro was about to premiere at La Scala. Nevertheless, after 39 subsequent performances of Norma at La Scala during its premiere season, enormous enthusiasm gathered. After its presumed unsuccessful premiere, Norma quickly became popular. It was immediately staged at Naples, Bergamo, Venice, Rome, and outside of Italy, in Vienna and London. By the end of the nineteenth century, Norma had become the most popular of Bellini’s operas, and many considered it Bellini’s masterpiece and tour de force: an opera that represented the ultimate flowering of the bel canto tradition. Wagner conducted Norma at Riga in 1837, and when in Paris in 1839, wrote an additional aria for the opera that was never performed: “Norma il predisse” for the bass role of Oroviso.

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Norma was the inaugural opera at the New York Academy of Music in 1854, sung in English. The first performance at the Metropolitan Opera took place in 1890 (in German), with Lilli Lehmann in the title role. Maria Callas made her London debut in Norma at Covent Garden in 1952, her American debut at Chicago in 1954, and later at the Metropolitan Opera in 1956. And, among the many accolades to this opera, Bellini’s Norma has entered the international cuisine as “Pasta alla Norma,” a culinary testament that derives from Catania, Sicily, Bellini’s birthplace; Bellini’s fellow townspeople consider it a fitting tribute to their native son’s greatness, as well as to his opera.

T

he story of Norma takes place in ancient Gaul: the French Gaule, or Latin Gallia, a region comprising modern-day France, areas of Belgium, western Germany, and northern Italy. The inhabitants of Gaul were Celts, a race of early Indo-European peoples, who, by the fifth century B.C., had established themselves in part of the British Isles, Spain, and Asia Minor. They were an agricultural society that was divided into several tribes and ruled by a landed class. The Romans called the region of Italy occupied by the Gauls “Cisalpine Gaul” ( “Gaul this side of the Alps.”) In 390 B.C., the Gauls seized and plundered the city of Rome, which humiliated the Romans and subsequently precipitated wars of revenge. In a series of confrontations, the Romans defeated the Gaul tribes, dispersed them into a buffer zone of colonies, and by the end of the Punic Wars, had totally prevailed, subjugating and colonizing all of “Cisalpine Gaul.” By the second century B.C., the Romans extended their territory across the Alps into the Gallic regions of southern France; by making alliances, they controlled most of the commerce

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in that part of the Mediterranean. Julius Caesar, the principal source of information about the Druids in Gaul, in 58-50 B.C., responded to a new wave of revolts by initiating invasions into Gaul, ultimately suppressing the revolts and conquering all of the territories. Nevertheless, Caesar treated the Gauls generously, leaving their cities with a significant measure of autonomy, and thus securing Gallic allegiance for his civil wars against Pompey in 49-45. The Romans built towns and roads throughout Gaul and taxed the old Gallic landowning class and nobles, but at the same time they promoted the development of a middle class of merchants and tradesmen. In 41-54 A.D., the emperor Claudius assimilated the Gallic aristocracy as Roman citizens, made them eligible for seats in the Roman Senate, and appointed them to governing posts in Gaul. The priesthood of the Gauls, like Oroveso and Norma in Bellini’s opera story, were Druids: in Celtic, Druid has been variously interpreted as “Knowing” or “Finding the Oak Tree.” The ancient Celtic Druids were considered a learned class of teachers and judges who assumed control of public and private sacrifices, actively educated their people, judged all public and private quarrels, and decreed punishment and penalties for transgressions. One Druid was made the chief, or arch-Druid; upon his death, another was appointed. The Druid principal god was Irminsul, who appears prominently in the Norma story. Irminsul, derived from the Saxon language, was their principal deity, but one with many divine attributes: he was a war god, the supporter of the pillars of the heavens, and also a fertility god responsible for all growth as well as the continued maintenance of life. The goddess of childbirth would receive the souls of unborn children from Irminsul, while he would take the souls of the departed to the realm of the dead. A principal Druid religious belief was that the soul was immortal and passed at death from one person into

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another: Norma’s contemplation of infanticide, as well as her own suicide, although horrifying, bears transcendent meaning within the interpretation of Druidian theology.

T

he role of Norma is emotionally concentrated: she quickly vacillates between violent rages of jealousy and revenge, to love and tenderness. Norma is a woman possessing complex attributes: she is lover, friend, mother, priestess and victim. In Norma, Bellini proved that he was the ultimate musical dramatist. His noble heroine is subjected to overwhelming dramatic conflicts and tensions, and her powerful characterization and willpower influence every element of the plot; she is extremely forceful, mature and omniscient, and a delicate contrast to the inexperienced younger priestess, Adalgisa. Norma’s tragedy lies in her fatal love for an enemy of her people, a classic conflict, like in Verdi’s later Aida, between love and duty. Bellini marvelously portrays the many different aspects of Norma’s temperament and character, not only in the centerpiece aria “Casta diva,” but also in the superb duets and trios with Adalgisa and Pollione. As such, the title role of Norma is one of the most taxing and wide-ranging vehicles in the entire repertory, a demanding bel canto role that incorporates every virtuoso requirement of the genre: vocal bravura, technical fireworks, and vocal ornamentation.

B

ellini, a sublime melodist, possessed supreme gifts to create melody that was pure in style, and sensuous in its expression. Throughout the score of Norma, Bellini’s melodic inventions are enthralling, abounding with confidence, variety, and sheer beauty. The music is saturated with elaborate and brilliant coloratura sections, as well as a demanding high tessitura, especially for the

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soprano and tenor voices. Although so many bel canto operas were traditionally mere vehicles to exhibit a singer’s virtuosity, Norma’s libretto adds the dimension of being a fine drama; its text was not a secondary consideration, and its music and text, in comparison to other bel canto operas, are dramatically integrated. That close relationship between music and text so impressed Bellini’s contemporaries that they often called his music filosofica. As such, in Norma, Bellini remained true to his ultimate objective: “to introduce a new genre and a music which should express the text as closely as possible, and provide a unity of its song and drama.” Generations later, in 1880, even Wagner was won over to Bellini’s incredible lyricism: “Bellini’s music comes from the heart, and it is intimately united with the text.” So each scene’s intellectual content and mood are explicitly interpreted by the music. But it was Bellini’s treatment of his texts with such heretofore unknown seriousness that provides the difference in Norma, in part the composer’s revolt against Rossini’s frequent nonchalance. In Bellini’s melodies, the text is precisely declaimed, and verbal and musical accents normally coincide, a technique that tended to lessen the number and the extent of coloratura passages. As a result, critics began to speak of Bellini’s style as “declamazione cantata,” or “canto declamato”: a “declaimed song” or “speech song.” Obviously, Bellini needed good librettos and verses to fire his imagination and integrate those texts into dramatically intense situations. The result became thrilling moments that would portray lively passions. Bellini’s operas in general represent sequences of scenes, each depicting particular emotions, but not always psychologically connected. And in general, characterizations are not complex or multidimensional: a villain expresses evil, and a romantic aria expresses love. Bellini expressed his conceptions of opera in a letter to Count Pepoli in early 1834: “Opera,

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through singing, must make one weep, shudder, die.” In that context, Bellini’s operatic ideals preceded and inspired Verdi as he entered his middle period (1850), that moment when he was seeking more passionate operatic subjects. In Italian opera, the development of multifaceted operatic characterizations would begin decades later: during the Verdi’s middle and late periods, 1850 through 1888, and during the late nineteenthh century verismo (realism) period.

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he masterly Overture to Norma immediately evokes the somber mood of the opera: in the orchestral introduction, the theme from Oroveso’s cavatina is heard, “Ite sul colle,” prompting Verdi to comment that no one had ever created a phrase “more beautiful and heavenly.” In its appearance during the first act, Oroveso’s grave cavatina is followed by the male Druid chorus in a martial cabaletta, “Dell’aura tua profetica,” a conclusion to the scene that is majestic in stature. Pollione’s description to his colleague Flavio of his dream of a vengeful Norma, “Meco all’altar di Venera,” is tranquil in mood, but when he is interrupted by the Druids’ sacred song, he launches into a cabaletta that expresses his passion: “Me protegge, me difende.” The chorus of Druids, “Norma viene,” is in a march rhythm and precedes Norma’s commanding recitative, “Sediziose voci,” its first phrases unaccompanied. But that leads to Norma’s great andante aria, “Casta Diva,” the long, gently, undulating line of its enchanting melody first introduced by a solo flute. The aria’s delicate fioritura decorate the second strophe which has been compared to, and considered by some to have influenced nocturnes of Chopin. Norma’s “Casta diva” aria is the centerpiece of the opera, and as such, it bears many legends. At the premiere, Bellini transposed the aria down from its original key of G to F in order to accommodate the principal singer, the renowned

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Giuditta Pasta for the opera was composed. Nevertheless, Pasta refused to sing the “Casta Diva,” finding it unsuited to her style. However, Bellini persuaded her to study it for a week, and if she still refused, he promised to write a new aria for her. By the end of the week Pasta had surrendered to the fascination of the aria and sent Bellini two gifts, together with a note of apology in which she modestly described herself as “little equipped to perform your sublime harmonies.” The “Casta Diva” contains a rudimentary orchestral accompaniment and fairly simple harmony; it is homophonic and with almost no counterpoint or countermelodies. There is some doubling of the vocal line in the orchestra, but mostly there is chordal accompaniment for the vocal line. Accompaniments were traditionally light in bel canto operas; these were singer’s showcases, and it was not the composer’s intention to interfere with the singer. Adalgisa is introduced in a solo scene that begins with a highly expressive recitative that is followed by her intense allegro duet with Pollione, “Va crudele.” Later, the moving Norma-Adalgisa duet, “Sola, furtiva, al tempio,” begins with one of Bellini’s most elegiac and melancholy melodic inventions, but quickly transforms into a more animated second section, “Ah, sì, fa core, abbracciami,” the two soprano’s voices blending in triads, and concluding with a cadenza, again with voices in triads. Act I concludes with the superb trio, “Oh! Di qual sei tu vittima,” in which Norma, Adalgisa, and Pollione confront each other, but very quickly the sopranos vent their anger with impassioned curses at the perfidious Pollione. After Act II’s brooding orchestral prelude, there is an expressive recitative in which Norma contemplates killing her children, broadening into the arioso, “Teneri figli,” a repetition of the theme heard in the prelude. The following scene contains the moving andante duet between Norma and

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Adalgisa, “Mira, o Norma,” with its equally affecting cabaletta, “Sì, fino all’ore,” in which the two women swear eternal friendship, their voices again blending in voluptuous harmony. “Non partì,” the chorus of Gallic warriors, contains echoes of Beethoven. The vigorous chorus, “Guerra, guerra,” in which the warriors prepare for battle after being incited by Norma, proves that Bellini was not just a composer of languorous melodies; its concluding phrases possess a mood of religious awe. In the climax of the opera, the great duet, “In mia man alfin tu sei,” Bellini rises to unprecedented heights in the skill in which he weaves the tense dialogue into a melodic whole: Norma has summoned the Druids and confessed her sin, and then launches the finale with the intensely moving melody of “Qual cor tradisti, qual cor persesti,” in which she is gradually joined by Pollione, Oroveso, and the Druids. After Norma’s last anguished solo, “Deh! Non volerli vittime,” the swelling ensemble intensifies dramatically as Norma and Pollione are led to the funeral pyre, the opera concluding with a sublime unity of event and music.

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héophile Gautier wrote in an essay about Bellin’s Norma: “from the moment when Norma confesses her guilt, it is one of the finest things in all musico-dramatic literature. The thought is sublime, and the layout for voice and orchestra equally admirable. It is restrained and masterly writing that has not been surpassed by any other composer.” Bellini’s orchestrations are hardly complex, but always appropriate. Bizet was once asked by a French publisher to reorchestrate the score; he discovered that the task was neither possible nor necessary. Even Wagner, no friend of Italian bel canto opera — the gossamer that was at the core of his crusade for transformation — wrote of

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Norma that he admired “the rich melodic vein expressing the most intimate passions with a sense of profound reality: a great score that speaks to the heart and is a work of genius.” Bellini knew the worth of his Norma: “If I were shipwrecked, I would leave all of my other operas and try to save Norma.” Sixty years later, Verdi commented: “Even in Bellini’s lesser known operas, La Straniera and Il Pirata, there are long, long melodies such as no one before him had ever written. What truth and power there is in his declamation, in for example, the duet between Norma and Pollione. What loftiness of thought in the first phrase of the introduction to Norma, and another, no less sublime, a few bars later. Badly orchestrated perhaps, but beautiful, heavenly, beyond reach of any other mortal.” Bellini’s Norma remains a jewel of Italian bel canto lyric theater. The opera has held the stage for over 200 years, continually rejuvenated by singers who discover its musical and dramatic greatness, as well as audiences who become inspired by its sublime lyric beauty.