Bellini, Vincenzo

Bellini, Vincenzo
born Nov. 3, 1801, Catania, Sicily
died Sept. 23, 1835, Puteaux, France

Italian composer.

Born into a musical family, he was educated at the Naples Conservatory. He wrote his first opera at age 24 and went on to complete nine more before his death at age 33. The most famous are The Pirate (1827), The Capulets and the Montagues (1830), The Sleepwalker (1831), Norma (1831), and The Puritans (1835). His works, which rely strongly on beautiful vocal melody (bel canto), rivaled those of his contemporaries Gioacchino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti in popularity.

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▪ Italian composer

born Nov. 3, 1801, Catania, Sicily
died Sept. 23, 1835, Puteaux, near Paris
 operatic composer with a gift for creating vocal melody at once pure in style and sensuous in expression; his influence is reflected not only in later operatic composers, including the early works of Richard Wagner, but also in the instrumental music of Chopin and Liszt.

      Born into a family of musicians, Bellini produced his first works while still a student at the Naples Conservatory, where he had been sent by his father, an organist. Bellini gained the patronage of an important impresario, who commissioned Bianca e Fernando for the Naples opera. The success of this early work led to other commissions. Il pirata (1827), written for La Scala, the opera house at Milan, earned Bellini an international reputation. He was fortunate in having as librettist the best Italian theatre poet of the day, Felice Romani, with whom he collaborated in his next six operas. The most important of these were I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830), based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; La sonnambula (1831; The Sleepwalker); and Norma (1831). La sonnambula, an opera semiseria (serious but with a happy ending), became very popular, even in England, where an English version appeared. His masterpiece, Norma, a tragedy set in ancient Gaul, achieved lasting success despite an initial failure.

      Bellini lived briefly in London in 1833, then went to Paris, where the composer Gioacchino Rossini's influence secured for him a commission to write an opera for the Théâtre-Italien. The result was I puritani di Scozia (1835), the last of Bellini's nine operas; although handicapped by an inept libretto, it is in many ways his most ambitious and beautiful work.

      Bellini's fame was closely bound up with the bel canto style of the great singers of his day. He was not a reformer; his ideals were those of Haydn and Mozart, and he strove for clarity, elegance of form and melody, and a close union of words and music. Yet with perseverance he corrected some of the grosser abuses of opera then current. While he subordinates the orchestra accompaniment to the singers and places upon their voices the responsibility for dramatic expression, his harmony is more enterprising than that of his contemporary Gaetano Donizetti, and his handling of the orchestra in introductions and interludes is far from perfunctory. It is, however, for the individual charm and elegance of his luminous vocal melody that Bellini is remembered.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bellini,Vincenzo — Bellini, Vincenzo. 1801 1835. Italian composer whose operas include La Sonnambula and Norma (both 1831). * * * …   Universalium

  • Bellini, Vincenzo — ► (1801 35) Compositor italiano. Sus óperas La Sonámbula (1831), Norma (1832) y Los puritanos (1835) destacan por su gran dramatismo. * * * (3 nov. 1801, Catania, Sicilia–23 sep. 1835, Puteaux, Francia). Compositor italiano. Nacido en una familia …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • BELLINI, VINCENZO —    a musical composer, born at Catania, Sicily; his works operas, more distinguished for their melody than their dramatic power; the best are Il Pirati, La Somnambula, Norma, and Il Puritani (1802 1835) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Vincenzo Bellini — Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini Nacimiento …   Wikipedia Español

  • BELLINI (V.) — BELLINI VINCENZO (1801 1835) Compositeur d’opéras italien ayant une préférence marquée pour les sujets tragiques. Vincenzo Bellini naît à Catane; il entre, grâce à un riche seigneur, au Conservatoire de Naples dirigé par Zingarelli, et il a la… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bellini — Bellini, Gentile Bellini, Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo Bellini, Lorenzo Bellini, Vincenzo …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Bellini — famille de peintres vénitiens. Bellini (Vincenzo) (1801 1835) compositeur italien d opéras: la Somnambule (1831), Norma (1831), les Puritains (1835) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bellini [3] — Bellīni, Vincenzo, ital. Opernkomponist, geb. 3. Nov. 1801 zu Catania (Sizilien), seit 1833 in Paris, gest. 23. Sept. 1835 zu Puteaux bei Paris, Nachahmer Rossinis, aber mit starker Eigenart und Hang zur Sentimentalität. Opern: »Norma«, »Die… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Bellini [2] — Bellini, Vincenzo, sehr geschätzter italien. Operncomponist, geb. 1802 zu Catania in Sicilien, bildete sich im Conservatorium zu Neapel, nachher unter Tritto und Zingarelli. Schon seine 2 ersten Opern wurden mit größtem Beifall aufgenommen, noch… …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Vincenzo Bellini — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bellini (homonymie). Vincenzo Bellini Naissance 3 …   Wikipédia en Français

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