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.
$ 26,698 / 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..
sold
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Unpublished letter to a Madame Catterou [?]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.