Programs · Episode

BELLINI: La Sonnambula

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, March 30, 2024 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Better known for his tragic dramas, including Norma and I Puritani, Bellini also had a smash hit with this lighthearted romp, set in a village full of good intentions where even the thorniest problems are simple misunderstandings, easily solved.  We'll explore the opera through a pair of contrasting recordings. One, featuring Cecilia Bartoli and Juan Diego Flórez, is the only recording featuring a mezzo-soprano in the title role of Amina.  The other is a splendid live recording, with soprano Luba Orgonasova and tenor Raúl Gimenez, from one of the world's great acoustic venues, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Featured Recordings

Alessandro De Marchi, conductor
Orchestra La Scintilla, Zurich Opera Chorus
(Decca  4781084)

CAST: Cecilia Bartoli (Amina); Juan Diego Flórez (Elvino); Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Rodolfo); Gemma Bertagnolli (Lisa); Liliana Nikiteanu (Teresa); Peter Kalman (Alessio)

Alberto Zedda, conductor
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra and Choir
(Naxos 8.660042)

CAST: Luba Orgonasova (Amina); Raúl Giménez (Elvino); Francesco Ellero d'Artagna (Rodolfo); Dilbèr (Lisa); Alexandra Papadjiakou (Teresa); Nanco de Vries (Alessio)

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

Vincenzo Bellini was only 33 years old when he died in 1835, and he had already become an operatic superstar. Still, judging from his operas, he doesn't seem to have been a happy-go-lucky kind of guy, at least when it came to choosing his subject matter.

Until La Sonnambula, and after it as well, all of Bellini's mature works were designated as serious operas. They all featured betrayal, backstabbing, heartbreak, and graphic death: throat-slitting, poison, immolation — you name it.

Bellini's first big hit was The Pirate, with a story of tragic love, blackmail, and murder. His next one was The Stranger, where we see a despondent lover stab himself to death — in the middle of his own wedding! Then there's Norma, Bellini's most famous opera. In that one the title character is burned alive after falling for the wrong guy.

So when the lead character in La Sonnambula is discovered in the wrong man's bed, you'd figure she's probably in for a similar, sad end. But, not this time. La Sonnambula is all about innocence. And even when that innocence seems false, it turns out to be a simple mistake — understandably made, and easily corrected.

When Bellini wrote La Sonnambula, he was trying to get around some picky censors — a sort of Italian "ratings council" — who had just nixed his latest project. He'd been working on a setting of Ernani, a bloody, Victor Hugo story about death and betrayal.

That one got canned just a couple of months before opening night. "Once-bitten," Bellini took no further chances and turned to a tale so innocuous that even its bad behavior is really nothing of the sort. Why was the young lady dozing in the wrong man's room? She'd been sleepwalking — it could happen to anybody! In the hands of another composer, the whole thing might seem silly and simpleminded. But the innocence of its sentiment is the perfect complement to the inspired purity of Bellini's melodic style.

At the Opera host Lisa Simeone takes us through the opera, with great moments from two, contrasting recordings. One stars Cecilia Bartoli, and marks the first recording with a mezzo-soprano in the title role. It's also the first recording in which Bartoli teams with tenor Juan Diego Flórez. The second release we'll hear from is a live performance, with a superb cast including Slovak soprano Luba Orgonasova and Argentine tenor Raúl Giménez, recorded in the superb acoustics of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw.

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