Norma
In full score (Partitura)Tragic opera in two acts
Libretto by Felice Romani
based on a tragedy by Alexandre Soumet
First performance: La Scala, Milano 26 December 1831
Bellini Vincenzo

One of the standards of the operatic repertoire, Norma is Bellini’s masterpiece, a work of great emotional power and radiant melody, celebrated for its purity of style and “an ecstatic unfolding of sonority.” Based on a French play of the same name by Soumet, Norma concerns the tragic love of a Roman consul and a Druid
high priestess, set against a background of war and national entanglernents. The premiere took place at La Scala in 1831, and although Bellini felt the first performance was a fiasco, the pubiic soon came to realize the worth of Norma.
Besides its popularity with operagoers, Bellini’s most important serious opera is also
significant for its influence on Verdi and Wagner. And while the work’s dernanding
score and pure vocalizing present a daunting chailenge to singers, Norma remains
one of the rnost frequentiy performed and recorded operas.

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