Mysterious power of music

03/22/11 09:08
(http://www.klassa.bg/)

Mysterious power of music

by Petar PLAMENOV

25 March (Friday), 19:00
26 March (Saturday), 19:00
27 March (Sunday), 16:00

Concert performance

Participants: Rumen Doykov, Dimitar Stanchev, Radostina Nikolaeva, Tsvetana Bandalovska, Ivanka Ninova, Plamen Papazikov
Angelo Simos, Petar Buchkov, Elena Baramova, Daniela Dyakova, Ivanka Ninova, Plamen Papazikov

Conductor GRIGOR PALIKAROV

National Opera and Ballet
Address:
Sofia, 1 Vrabcha Str.
Phone: 02 987 13 66

For the celebration of 70th anniversary of the famous Bulgarian opera diva Ghena Dimitrova, Sofia National Opera and Ballet will be on stage - concert performance Opera Norma, Lyric tragedy in two acts. Libretto by Felice Romani based on the work by Alexandre Soumet. Music by Vincenzo Bellini. First performed on 26 December 1831 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. First performed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu on 16 October 1847. Norma (1831) is unquestionably one of Bellini's great operas, and one of the finest in the bel canto repertory and the entire history of opera. Bellini's magnificent, impressive Norma is probably one of the more convincing examples of that supreme Romanticism where the "song" - to quote David Kimbell - "had this mysterious, irrational power, a magic beyond the understanding of words".

Norma is possibly the most popular and most often revived opera seria from Italian composer in close competition with Lucia di Lammermoor, which actually is its only redoubtable challenger. However, the frequency of productions of Norma go pretty-often hand-in-hand with either unsatisfying or low profile performances, let alone the "inventive" mises en scène contrived by directors whose mission - so they believe - is to rescue opera from decline and loss of appeal.

Vincenzo Bellini was born in 1801 and died, prematurely, September 23, 1835 at the age of 34. Norma was written at the peak of his career and the first performance was given in Milan on December 26, 1831. The libretto was written by Felice Romani, who collaborated with bellini on all his most successful operas. It is interesting to note that the opening of Norma was a fiasco. "In the course of the subsequent performances, however, the public began to understand the worth of this masterpiece" wrote one critic.
"Bellini's Norma combines the requirements of both a coloratura and a dramatic soprano, calling for not only perfect vocal agility but intensity, stamina, and a wide range of characterizations as well.