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Royalty Free Music > Public Domain Music > Composers > Vincenzo Bellini (1801 - 1835)
Vincenzo Bellini was an Italian composer of operas known for his agility with writing melodic lines. He is considered the father of the specific Bel canto operatic style.
Bellini was born in Catania, Sicily Italy on November 3, 1801. Though he was most certainly a child musical prodigy, he was descended from a long line of professional musicians. It has been said by scholars that he could sing full airs and arias at only eighteen months, and began to comprehend and learn complex music theory at age two. He began piano lessons at age three and could already play effortlessly by five. His first known composition is dated in 1807, when he was just six years old. Regardless of the truth of his early life, he most certainly was raised in a family skilled in music and was destined to become a professional musician from a very early age.
Bellini studied initially with his grandfather and left Catania in June 1819 to study at the renowned music conservatory in Naples, Italy. The municipal government of Catania funded his studies, and by 1822 he had moved into the famous director Nicolo Zingarelli's class. Here he studied the major figures of the Neapolitan school and learned about the orchestration techniques of classical greats Mozart and Haydn. At the Naples Conservatory, it was customary to ask a talented student to premiere a dramatic work with the public, and Bellini composed his first opera, "Adelson e Savini" at the conservatory's theater. Another opera, "Bianca e Gernando" was semi-successful at the Teatro San Carlo and sparked the interest of a prominent opera figure, Barbaia for an opera. This opera "Il pirata" was immediately a hit, and launched a series of collaborations with the librettist and poet Felice Romani along with a long-standing professional relationship with his favorite tenor of the time, Giovanni Battista Rubini.
Bellini spent 1827-1833 in Milan with opportunities abounding. He was supported completely by hefty opera commissions that increased as he composed more works. His work "La straniera," composed and debuted in 1828 was even more successful than previous music works, and it marked a turning point in the history of opera. This opera was the subject of great controversy, not only because of its new and daring musical style, but also because of its subject matter. The opera showed some signs of music of the Romantic period, with dramatic shifts in harmony and to many different keys, and it presented a critical picture of social life and the excesses of the aristocracy.
Though some of his work throughout the last seven years of his life met mixed reviews, the final five were astoundingly productive and produced a sizeable amount of innovative operatic work that laid the groundwork for all other Bel canto opera composers that followed. Bellini's music successes ended abruptly with his untimely death at the age of 33 from an intestinal infection.
Bellini died in France, near Paris on September 23, 1835. The museum in his hometown of Catania, Italy currently maintains and houses all his personal effects and musical scores.
Bellini is most celebrated for the opera Norma, and this work' title role is often called the most difficult in soprano music. Only a few singers were able to tackle it successfully in the 20th Century, including Rosa Ponselle in the 1920's and Joan Sutherland in the 1950's and 60's. Maria Callas was the most famous of the "Norma's" during 1950's and performed the role countless times, recording it twice.
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