I - Borrowings

Summary

Bellini draws upon four earlier compositions for Norma. In chronological order they are:

1. Adelsone Salvini (1825)

The cabaletta of the Act I duet between Salvini and Bonifacio includes, towards its close, an animated new theme on the words ‘con questo mano il core saprò dal sen strappar’ (ex. AI). This was adapted and reworked in imitative form at a similar juncture in the Act II duet for Norma and Adalgisa, at the words ‘Teco del fato all' onte’ (VS 182).

2. Bianca e Fernando (second version, 1828)

This provided material for two movements:

(i) Bianca's aria di sortita has a cabaletta, ‘Contenta appien quest'alma’, which is reproduced almost in its entirety, though with its coloratura somewhat chastened, to serve as the cabaletta of Norma's sortita, ‘Ah! bello a me ritorna’ (VS 73).

(ii) The Act II chorus ‘Tutti siam’ provides the material for the Act II chorus in Norma, ‘Non partì?’ (VS 188). In this case the borrowing came via a third opera, Zaira, where the same material had been used for the chorus of French knights mourning the death of Lusignano, ‘Poni il fedel tuo martire’. Bellini's contemporary, Federico Ricci, was in no doubt that the movement reflected Bellini's familiarity with Beethoven's C# minor Sonata, Ope 27/2 (MS letter, Naples Conservatory Library).

3. ‘Bella Nice, che d'amore’, composed sometime between 1827 and 1829, and published as No.3 of Sei ariette per camera in 1829 by both Ricordi in Milan and Giraud in Naples, provides the material for that part of the Adalgisa/Pollione duet beginning ‘Sol promessa al Dio tu fosti’ (VS 96).