After having been on the verge of death in the spring of 1830 and after overcoming several crises, Vincenzo Bellini moved in 1831 to the beautiful town of Moltrasio to cope with his convalescence and enjoy an idyllic peace in the company of Giuditta Cantu. There, she gave him the love and care the other two Giuditta could not offer him for being in the backstage of Vincenzo's emotional scenario.
Having been brought back to life, he addressed the composition of La Sonnambula upon his return to Paris. The same year he premiered Norma, as well.
Four years later, in January 1835, what was to be his last opera, I Puritani (The Puritans) was premiered at the Teatro Italiano in Paris, the same theatre Rossini had been in charge of until the Revolution of 1830.
I Puritani's composition had begun in the summer of the previous year and passed parallel to a series of relapses in Bellini's disease. Seven months after the premiere, on September 23, 1835, Bellini's life was extinguished in a Parisian suburb, on the farm of a friend and assisted only by serfdom. He died at the age of 33 years.
I Puritani
A love melodrama in three acts, it takes place in a castle in Plymouth, England, in the midst of the struggle between the supporters of Oliver Cromwell –the Puritans–, and the royalist supporters of the House of Stuart. It all occurs in the year 1650.
Full of beautiful melodies with exquisite purity, it is at the same time a work extremely difficult for the singers. The aria Credeasi misera from act III demands the tenor –albeit optional– to sing a high note that moves away four notes beyond the upper note of his vocal range. And in A te o cara, also from the last act, the tenor is required to intone –now, imperatively– a C♯, two tones above his range.
In the following version of A te o cara, Luciano Pavarotti reaches a flawless C♯ at minute 2:50. The recording is from the year 1973. The soprano is Joan Sutherland.
Pavarotti, anew, in Credeasi misera, reaching the natural F (4:51). It seems as if a soprano had replaced him.
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