Meanwhile, back in Italy…
Rossini, with his two slightly younger contemporaries, Donizetti and Bellini, are at both the end and a high point of the Italian style known as ‘Bel Canto’ [Beautiful Song] – Bel Canto went out with a bang!
Known for its skilful vocal writing and use of florid virtuoso passages (particularly for coloratura sopranos) the style came under heavy criticism from several composers (Gluck in particular) for empty display for its own sake, and had, by the mid nineteenth century, practically disappeared.
Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Donizetti was a prolific opera composer (his total getting up into the high sixties!). Here are excerpts from three of his most famous works, the two comic operas L’Elisir d’Amore and Don Pasquale and his opera seria, based on a novel by Walter Scott, Lucia di Lammermoor:
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
Bellini wrote eleven operas in the short, thirty-six years of his life. Perhaps the most famous come towards the end of his career – La sonnambula [The Sleepwalker], Norma and I puritani [The Puritans].
These are among the most famous arias and ensembles: from Norma, Casta Diva, followed by a mad scene to pair with that of Lucia di Lammermoor (above), this time from I puritani, then the unusual duet for basses the ends Act Two of that opera. Finally the infamous top F for tenor (here well taken by Nicolai Gedda) that occurs in the Act Three ensemble, Credeasi misera [Unhappy girl, she believed that I had betrayed her].
You can watch these whole operas by clicking on:
Don Pasquale
Norma
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The Art of Listening 