Dal Pirata ai Puritani: la recezione critica di Bellini a Londra (maggio-ottobre 1830-1835)
Daniela Macchione
Abstract
The essay illustrates the reception of Bellini’s operas in London, from 1830, when Il pirata was fist performed, to 1835, through the reviews published in several periodicals, and emphasizes its contradictions.
Whereas the reviewers flctuated between opposite positions about the librettos, the choice and conduct of the subjects, about the composer, his music and instrumentation, the audience seemed to increasingly appreciate Bellini, his operas and arias, more rapidly after the composer’s stay in London in 1833, and also thanks to the personal charisma of the singers who took rôles in the London productions (Grisi, Malibran, Pasta, Lablache, Rubini). In 1835, Bellini’s last opera I Puritani was a great success. It became the favorite of Queen Victoria, who in her personal journals used to refer to it as «the dear Puritani», and, together with Il pirata and La sonnambula, established itself as the most performed work by Bellini in London after the premature death of the composer (for the press review of the fist season of I Puritani in London see the Documenti section in the present «Bollettino di studi belliniani»).
Keywords
London – music criticism – Queen Victoria
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