Vincenzo Bellini
Italian opera composer, 1801-1835
"Bellini was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named ""the Swan of Catania"", and was the quintessential composer of the Italian bel canto era of the early 19th century. In considering which of his operas can be seen to be his greatest successes over the almost two hundred years since his death, Il pirata laid much of the groundwork in 1827, achieving very early recognition in comparison to Donizetti's having written thirty operas before his major 1830 triumph with Anna Bolena. Bellini died in Puteaux, France, at the age of 33."
Source: Wikipedia
Opernkomponist (1801-1835). Autograph musical manuscript from "Il Pirata". [Milano, La Scala. 2 SS. Qu.-folio.
$ 27,068 / 25.000 €
(72653/BN46541)
From Act II, Scene 2; one page with the text. - After the enormous success of "Bianca e Fernando" in Naples (May 1826), Bellini was introduced to the librettist Felice Romani, who proposed the subject of the composer’s first project, "Il pirata". Its premiere, given on 17 October 1827, was "an immediate and then an increasing, success. By Sunday, December 2, when the season ended, it had been sung to fifteen full houses" (Weinstock, Bellini: His life and His Operas. New York, Knopf, 1971, pp.
40f.). - Margins somewhat spotty and browned. With an early certification of authenticity in the left margin, written by the lawyer (to the heirs of Vincenzo, his brothers Carmelo and Mario), Francesco Chiarenza, and dated Catania, June 21, 1902..
operatic composer (1801-1835). Autograph letter signed. Como. 8vo. 3¼ pp. on bifolium with integral address panel.
$ 8,120 / 7.500 €
(92326/BN61417)
Beautiful letter to the composer André (Andrea) Monteleone in Palermo with thanks for letters, one of which Bellini had received through Monteleone's friend Gigli in Milan, about the journalist Barbieri being happy to receive theatre articles from Monteleone, reflecting on a journey to Venice during the Carnival season to make the local performance of his opera "Il Pirata" go as smoothly as possible, and mocking his opponent Giovanni Pacini over the number of operas this composer tries to write within a year: "Tu vuoi sapere ove scriverò in questo carnevale prossimo [...] tutti sperando de io nel vedermi senza scritture alla' fine mi accontentassi, si provvidero tutti del maestro dal carnevale: io visi del la loro bonarietà, et iddio voglio de non se ne avessero da pentire, perché non essendovi altro de Pacini, questi nel solo carnevale dove scrivere tre opere, una alla Scalá, un altra a Turino, e l'ultima a Venezia; mentre adesso dovrà andare in scena in S.
Carlo di Napoli pei 11o Ott.e, dunque capisci or ta che nuostra impasticciata dovrà fare [...]" - "Il pirata" premiered on 27 October 1827 in the Milanese Scala. The librettist Felice Romani had inspired Bellini to this his first project as a composer, as Bellini had been offered a commission for an opera by the impresario Domenico Barbaja in spring of the same year. Monteleone was director of the "Real Teatro Carolino", renamed "Teatro Bellini" in 1848. - With residue of a seal and a tear due to opening the letter; slight foxing; small holes along the folds and a small wormhole..
Italian composer (1801-1835). La Straniera. Manoscritto di Vincenzo Bellini i suoi Fratelli Mario e Carmelo. No place. Oblong 4to. Autograph musical manuscript on paper. 8 pp. on 4 ff. with twenty staves for 72 bars.
$ 10,286 / 9.500 €
(92793/BN62347)
Autograph score of the chorus "Voga, voga, il vento tace" from Act I, Scene 1 of "La Straniera". This is the choral part of the first scene of the opera, occupying (as was the practice at the time) the staves in the lower portion of the page, plus a few bars reserved for the instruments. From these features it is presumed to be an early sketch, datable to the autumn of 1828, when Bellini sketched out the vocal idea and some notes for the instrumentation of the strings. In the outer margin of the fifth page is the handwritten note "La Straniera | Manoscritto di Vincenzo Bellini i suoi Fratelli | Mario e Carmelo".
The opera was first staged at La Scala in Milan on 14 February 1829, conducted by Alessandro Rolla. The string score is not complete, but it shows small autograph corrections, some textual omissions and minor departures from the final version of the libretto..
sold
Eigenhändiges Musikmanuskript aus „Il Pirata“.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Autograph document signed.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Eigenh. Mitteilung mit Namenszug im Text.
Autograph ist nicht mehr verfügbar
Unpublished letter to a Madame Catterou [?] at the Paris Hotel Lillois (rue de Richelieu 63), in search of his missing washer-woman: "Mr. Bellini prie Madame Catterou à lui vouloir donner des nouvelles de sa blanchisseuse, par ce que a trois semaines que ne la voit pas. Milles salutations - [...] 19 bis rampe de Neuilly à Puteaux". - Slight brownstaining and wrinkling; minor edge defects. Written during the composer's final one and a half years, during his stay at the small country house of the English fortune hunter Samuel Lewis (Levys) and his companion, a former opera dancer, in the Paris suburb of Puteaux. "Seduced by two adventurers, the English 'couple' named Lewis, Vincenzo Bellini accepted their offer of hospitality [...]. The musician lost all of his savings, amounting to thirty thousand francs, in the speculations of his host, receiving in exchange the favors of 'Lady Lewis' - who was known by some as the 'gay Mademoiselle Olivier' - and the tranquillity to compose 'I Puritani'" (Quatriglio, Sicily [2011], p. 68). Bellini died at the Villa Lewis in Puteaux, but months after the triumphal première of his greatest success, "I Puritani". When his friends arrived, the "couple" had vanished without a trace, which fact gave rise to speculations as to the composer's having been poisoned.