The packed Carmen Melis Theater hosted the premiere of Bellini's Norma this morning. The lyrical tragedy premieres March 18th at 8:00 PM, the third title in the opera season at the Cagliari Opera House. Musicologist Carla Moreni outlined the opera's journey through four key themes: war, the figure of Norma, vocalism in the opera, and a focus on Bellini.

"The first is highly topical. And it's incredible," observed Carla Moreni, "how opera continues to resonate with such direct eloquence in our present. Because if melodrama is associated with great love stories, the landscape behind these great love stories is the conflicts that composers lived through, witnessed in the streets, and recounted in the evenings in the cultured salons of the cities."

"War, war!" is the chorus associated with Norma. "A distinctly Risorgimento-inspired, assertive chorus," the expert explained, "with that stamping of feet we hear in the distance."

Moreni then highlighted Bellini as a man of his time, living in the present. "With that chorus, he tells us what he sees around him. The Gauls, invaded by the Romans, want war, and this brings us closer to situations in our own present, lands invaded by neighboring populations, by neighboring powers. The interesting thing," he continued, "is that Bellini sings a war chorus, but with overtones that implore 'peace, peace,' and this is the desire that emerges in those who listen to this opera."

The second theme is dedicated to Norma, "the priestess. The Gauls turn to her to decide whether the time has come to attack the Roman invaders," he continued, "but Norma is hopelessly in love with Pollione, Roman proconsul of Gaul, leader of the invading army, and in some way, she is forced by love to betray her people."

Moreni then offered a vocal comparison between the two women, Norma and Adalgisa. "A prima donna, a soprano who embodies the most exquisite characteristics of bel canto, as expressed in Casta Diva and the marvelous recitative "Dormono Borisovni," knows how to sharpen her voice with nocturnal flourishes and delicacies, and at the same time, a soprano with the dramatic incisiveness of a great tragic heroine," he emphasized. "Alongside Norma's voice is Adalgisa's, a fresher, more delicate type of vocality."

The musicologist then focused on the composer and his short life. She recalled his funeral, his body transported from Paris to Catania in a black-lined carriage, arriving at the Duomo, where he still rests. She then told a curious anecdote. "In his house-museum in Catania, one of the rooms of the young Bellini's home overlooks a Greek theater, a setting that influenced his imagination and also the choice of a subject as classical as Norma. From the windows, you can see the steps, a proximity to his home that speaks volumes about the composer Bellini's spontaneous attachment to this classicism, which, brought back into the 19th century, nourishes him, speaks eloquently to us, and reaches us directly."

(Unioneonline)

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