Opera "Puritans": content, video, interesting facts, history

V. Bellini opera "Puritans"

His last opera Vincenzo Bellini laid the cornerstone of the future development of opera art, but did not have time to build a fundamentally new church. "Puritans" - a window to the future. The Italian composer created it with a jeweler's precision, showing not only musical talent, but also the genius of foresight, peculiar exclusively to extraordinary creators, not alien to experiments.

Summary of the opera Bellini "Puritans"and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary of "Puritans"

The action takes place during the revolution in England and refers to the 40th years of the XVII century. British society was divided into two opposing camps. The royalists support the ruling royal dynasty of the Stuarts and its concrete acting representative - the monarch Charles I.

In the English city of Plymouth, the Puritans are preparing to defeat the royalists, but the future triumph does not please Riccardo. He contritely shares his love experiences with his comrade Bruno. The young man has long and unrequitedly burning with passion for the daughter of the Lord Leader, even enlisted the support and protection of the girl's father. However, the wayward person gave preference to another, a supporter of monarchical views. He responds to the beautiful woman, they are ready to get married. "I am burning, but it is a flame of love, not glory!" exclaims the rejected puritan.

Giorgio tells her niece to prepare for marriage. Elvira is terrified, but despair quickly gives way to joy and delight when it turns out who exactly gave her father a blessing. The husband of Elvira is destined to become Arturo, the one whom she has long and selflessly loved. The powerful parent did not hinder the choice of the daughter.

Arturo resides in Plymouth, preparing for the wedding is gaining momentum. At this time, Lord Walton reports that he has a very important, serious and urgent matter, so he will not be able to attend the solemn ceremony. The secret mission is to bring the disgraced spouse of the king to London, where she could appear before members of the House of Parliament. Having seized a minute, Arturo meets a mysterious woman, who the Lord is carefully hiding from prying eyes. The royalist finds out about the fate that Henrietta is preparing for and promises the wife of the ousted monarch to transport her to France, where she would be safe.

The newly minted bride helps to carry out the plan. She gives her veil to the unfortunate woman. Covering her, Henrietta freely leaves the fortress. Arturo accompanies the fugitive, without warning Elvira about the daring plan.

Before the ceremony, everyone expects the groom. Its absence is detected. Riccardo, trying to hide his joy, says that the future spouse ran away and betrayed his beloved, but Elvira refuses to believe in the meanness of the chosen one. She plunges into the pool of despair and, it seems, will soon completely lose her mind.

Parliament sentenced Arturo to execution for helping to escape Henrietta. News from the capital transmits Riccardo. Elvira ceases to recognize her relatives and loved ones, calls her uncle on behalf of her lover, men concerned about the state of the girl tend to protect her from any new upheavals. Giorgio, seeing how her niece is going crazy, offers Riccardo to save the girl, stand up for the criminal and save him from legal punishment. Riccardo agrees reluctantly, noting that if Destiny will bring him and his rival in battle, he will not show loyalty and kill the royalist, obeying duty.

Three months later, exhausted by the wanderings, haggard Arturo returns under the walls of the fortress in Plymouth. He comes to the grove where the lovers spent time together under the canopy of trees, listening to the singing of birds and their own hearts sounding in unison. The memories of the wanderer are violated by the soldiers' detachment, who is looking for an uninvited guest to carry out the death sentence. The fugitive manages to hide, but, noticing Elvira, he leaves the shelter. A girl cannot distinguish reality from mad delirium, it seems to her that the beloved is part of another vision. Only came to the rescue soldiers make her believe in the reality of meeting with her beloved man. Before being captured, Arturo explains that he helped the queen to escape, and did not disappear with her mistress, as the abandoned bride thought.

Soldiers are ready to execute a criminal, and even Riccardo's heart squeezes when he sees how lovers suffer from the inevitability of eternal separation. At this time, a messenger appears with the news: Cromwell, who had come to power, granted pardon to all royalists. The news marks the onset of universal joy and harmony.

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Interesting Facts

• The Puritans, the bearers of the revolutionary reform ideology, were persecuted by the ruling circles for a long time, but they preserved the integrity of the community, as well as priority views on the structure of society and its interaction with the church. The Puritans themselves professed Protestantism and opposed this Christian branch to immaculate, in their opinion, Catholic wastefulness and pomposity.
• Main purpose Vincenzo Bellini in the matter of determining the place for a new production was to receive an offer from the French Theater of Italian Comedy. The author was attracted not so much by the prospect of receiving a fee, as the opportunity to stay in Paris at someone else's expense. The composer's wishes were completely satisfied. The order for a new opera from the theater was received in the winter of 1834, when the management was convinced that the previous operas Pirate and Capuleti and Montecchi had passed with great success on stage.
• Among other things, the diversity of literary material for the libretto Bellini chose the love story that unfolded during the English Revolution: the composer was attracted to the main female image, Eleanor, who was capable of loving craziness despite the prejudices, stereotypes and family interests.
• In early 1834, the maestro learned the planned premiere of the opera "Puritans" to be presented in France in the same season as the opera. Gaetano Donizetti. The news extremely upset and even angered Vincenzo. He saw this as a conspiracy, organized by the omnipotent, in his judgment, Rossini. Bellini even rashly expressed the opinion that Gioacchino deliberately pits rivals in the world of music, creating at the same time, in the same genre and literary basis of one author (Donizetti planned to create his future outstanding opera "Lucia di Lammermoor"according to the novel by V. Scott" The Lammermoor Bride ").

• The competition between Donizetti and Bellini, acutely felt by both creators, became extremely acute in the year of preparation for the premiere of "Puritans", but the confrontation ended on its own, when Vincenzo was the first to appear on the stage, and it was a huge success. However, Fate decreed that Donizetti was able to take revenge. It was he who was commissioned by a requiem when Bellini died suddenly in September 1835.
• The sincere attitude to the opera Bellini expressed the words addressed to Pepoli at the stage of writing the libretto: "The opera should make you cry, terrify and make you die of the performance heard." However, at the stage of the work of Bellini himself terrified only the liberal inclinations of the poet. Vincenzo even forbade the insertion of the word "freedom" into the text, fearing that later censorship simply would not allow the inclusion of "Puritans" in the repertoire of the Italian theater.
• The author’s dissatisfaction and anxiety about the vivid expression in the work of his assistant’s political views completely disappeared when Pepoli sent the final version of the final duo Swoni la Tromba, which was played at the end of the second act, by mail. The musical number of the maestro himself, without fear and conscience, called the "Hymn of Freedom."
• "My dear Rossini ... now loves me like a son," said Vincenzo with such a successful conclusion of the rehearsal period. At this moment, the composer noted, not without pleasure, that between him and his idol there was no hatred or fear left.
• The premiere showed: the opera created a furor and became a landmark event of the theatrical season in Paris. From January until its end (March 31), the opera was staged 17 times, and invariably the action ended with a loud ovation.

• The success of the opera "Puritans" received a concrete embodiment. The composer was awarded the Order of the Cavalier of the Legion (presented by the King of France Louis-Philippe I) and the award in the form of a cross of the Order of Francesco I (from the hands of the third king of both Sicily Ferdinand II).
• Despite the triumph of success and universal recognition, the ingenious creator faced personal loneliness: there was no one to share the moment of glory. Vincenzo several times, from February to July, invited the beloved Florimo to Paris, but he answered with silence.
• "Puritans" became the favorite opera of English Queen Victoria. It was on this statement in the audience hall that the royal person was seen, accompanied by Prince Albert, with whom at that time she was not tied by the bonds of legal marriage.

The best numbers from the opera "Puritans"

"A te, o cara"- Arturo's aria passing into the ensemble (with the participation of other main characters). Performed in the 3rd scene of the first act, when the royalist finds himself in the armory hall of the fortress in Plymouth and frankly admits:" Love directed me through secrets and tears, and now led to your side! ". The vocal composition is played in the German film Fitzcarraldo in 1982. The film, which won the palm branch at the Cannes festival, tells the story of a guy who dreams of opening his own opera house.

"A te, o cara" (listen)

"Suoni la tromba"- Riccardo and Giorgio are joining, sticking together the agreement between them. Performed in the final of Act 2. As predicted by the omnipresent Rossini, the significance of political overtones was completely leveled by the power and grandeur of the sound of two basses.

"Suoni la tromba" (listen)

"Credeasi, misera"- the ensemble from the third act. The initial part belongs to Arturo, gradually heartfelt words are picked up by all heroes shocked by the heartache of lovers, whom society does not allow to be together and repair insurmountable obstacles with happiness. The original of Arturo was written taking into account the high notes from the third octave. This implied a switch from a tenor to a falsetto, and in modern productions the part is often transposed a few tones below.

"Credeasi, misera" (listen)

The history of the creation of "Puritans"

Libretto was written by Count Carlo Pepoli. With this man, positioning himself as an Italian revolutionary, Bellini met in the cabin. In March 1834, the composer was looking for ideas for a new creation. Sometimes the author was even desperate: it seemed impossible to come up with a plot that would be equally liked by the creator and could be easily adapted to the interests of the modern public. The meeting with the emigrant, not alien to creativity, granted the long-awaited specifics.

It was based on the Walter Scott novel "Old Mortality", published in 1816. Based on the historical novel, the French J. Ancelos and J. Santin in 1833 wrote the play "Roundheads and gentlemen." Based on the literary source and adapted for the stage version of Pepoli created a libretto. This was the first work of the poet in a similar genre.

A month after starting work on creating the libretto, in the middle of spring 1834, Bellini complained to a close friend of Florimo that he was extremely tired, and the reason for this was the creative research with Pepoli. The composer complained that the poet lacked practice in writing words for arias, and experience in this matter is of paramount importance for future success. However, by mid-December, before the start of dress rehearsals, the master had “polished”, according to him, material that was presented to D. Rossini with a feeling of complete satisfaction and joy regarding the combination of textual and musical components.

Initially, the structure of the opera was formed from two acts. The work was divided into 3 episodes by Gioacchino Rossini, with whom Vincenzo was able to establish friendly relations. Bellini could not ignore the recommendation of a man who frankly admired (the author "Barber of seville", in the opinion of his friends at the conservatory, he" erected on a pedestal ").

In the first version of "Hymn of Freedom" completed the opera "Puritans" and was performed at the end of the second, final act. Rossini, obeying intuitive flair and professionalism, insisted that the opera was divided into 3 acts, and the provocative duet sounded at the end of the second part. This design, in the opinion of the maestro, was supposed to keep the public’s attention and rule out the possibility of a ban in Italian theaters. D. Rossini was completely right.

The premiere performance at the Paris Comedy Theater of Paris is dated January 24, 1835. Seven months later, Bellini died from acute acute inflammatory bowel disease.

The opera became the personification of all the creativity of the “master of melancholia”. For many years he worked in the bel canto opera genre: "Puritans"embodied the master's aspiration for the melodiousness of phrases and the excessive drama typical of climax moments. The opera was redeemed in applause while the composer was alive." - This is how the famous Catania native described the Parisian premiere in a letter to his friend Francesco Florimo.

The composer polished his work from April 1834 to January 1835. Thorough work and creative search made it possible to give the world the embodiment of true perfection, which will survive the master for centuries and remain in operatic art forever as an eloquent demonstration of musical genius Bellini.