New York Monthly Herald. July 2006 Issue P. 60  CONTINUES ON PAGE 61

NEW YORK PERFORMING ARTS AND OPERA

 

VINCENZO BELLINI (1801-1835), “Malinconia, ninfa gentile” (“Melancholy, Gentle Nymph”) (1829), Text by Ippolito Pindemonte
Like a rocket, Bellini’s life was intense and tragically short. The Sicilian-born composer died when he was just 34. His biographer and close friend, Francesco Florimo, added to the mystique by spinning facts and altering documents—especially the letters that passed between them. Whether fact or fiction, young Bellini is said to have been a baby prodigy (claims include that he sang a particular aria at 18 months of age!) Though influenced by Sicilian and Neapolitan folksongs, he is mainly associated with the bel canto operas that catapulted him to fame—La sonnambula, Norma, and I Puritani.  CONTINUES ON PAGE 61