The ultimate bel canto
Conductor
Maurizio Benini
Oroveso
Christian Van Horn
Pollione
Michael Spyres
Flavio
Yongzhao Yu
Norma
Sonya Yoncheva
Adalgisa
Ekaterina Gubanova
Clotilde
Brittany Olivia Logan
PRODUCTION
David McVicar
Norma is the one which unites the richest flow of melody with the deepest glow of truth: a great score that speaks to the heart, a work of genius.” - Wagner
“I love the beautiful, wherever it is to be found. I do not like the intransigence of the classicists, but neither do I like the extreme lack of restraint of the ultra-romantics.” -Belini
Premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1831
Norma is an extraordinary fusion of sublime melody, vocal challenge, and dramatic power. It examines an ageless and archetypal situation: A powerful woman compromises her ideals for love, only to find herself betrayed by her lover. But this is only one aspect of her dilemma. Equally gripping is her relationship with the younger woman who is the new object of her former lover’s attention and in whom Norma sees both a rival and a second self. The title role demands dramatic vocal power combined with the agility and technique of a coloratura singer. It is a daunting challenge to which few can rise; those who have are part of operatic lore.
Norma is the ultimate bel canto (from the Italian for “beautiful singing”) opera, a style of singing that flourished in Italy in the 18th and early19th centuries. Its principal features are beauty of tone, legato phrasing, and the delivery of florid ornamentation. Throughout the score, Bellini punctuates breathtaking melody with sharp moments of raw drama. The primary functions of the clear orchestral writing are to move the drama along with vigorous rhythm and to imbue certain moments with feeling and emotion, such as the superb flute accompaniment to the soprano’s Act I aria “Casta diva.”
For Bellini, only one thing was important: conveying the drama through the music, which for him meant through the voice. “Engrave on your mind in indelible letters: In opera, it is the singing that moves to tears, that arouses terror, that inspires death,” he told a librettist. “Simplicity is the keynote … if the heart is moved, then one can’t go wrong.”
“The piece was appreciated more and more each evening. … Norma’s music is declamatory; it fits intelligently to the words, and precisely because this music follows a road that has long been disused, our ears need a longer time to listen to it in order to judge it honestly. For this reason, part of the score didn’t please us at the first hearing and met with universal approval after the passage of time.”
Bellini died just four years after Norma’s premiere, six weeks shy of his 34th birthday.
Synopsis
https://www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/norma/
Production Detail
https://www.metopera.org/season/2022-23-season/norma/
Program note
https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/2022-23/norma/programs/022823-norma.pdf
Review
https://observer.com/2023/03/review-mcvicars-norma-opera-met/#:~:text=Yoncheva's%20Norma%20looks%20and%20feels,where%20they%20don't%20belong.