Passion, Warmongering and Bel canto

Within the context of continuous war and the midst of a worn out and conquered society, along with the evident conflict between conquered and defeated, the amorous delusions and jealousies of Norma are revealed as the greatest heroine to issue forth from Bellini’s quill.

Norma is a mythical opera. It also has one of the most moving and well-known arias -Casta Diva- associated with legendary singers, such as Maria Callas, to whom we pay tribute to her this season on the centenary of her birth by programming one of the roles with which she is most associated. Joan Sutherland or Montserrat Caballé, are also names to remember, in a role of female complexity and forcefulness, combined with values of devotion, maternity, and vengeful rivalry which made her a transgressive heroine of Bel Canto melodrama.

Since its premiere at the Scala of Milán in 1831, the dramatic story of the high priestess and the Roman proconsul Pollione, has ignited theatres with its explosion of dazzling vocal demands and melodic beauty.

Under the musical direction of Yves Abel and Pedro Bartolomé, and the stage direction of Nicola Berloffa, is the magnificent double cast by Yolanda Auyanet, Berna Perles, Francesco Demuro, Joseph Dahdah, Raffaella Lupinacci, Andrea Niño, Rubén Amoretti and Luis López Navarro. The Teatro de la Maestranza presents a title which, like Tristan und Isolde - Wagner admired Norma, by the way – revolves around conflicting grand concepts and which, in the setting of ardent passion, warmongering and religious fanaticism, traps us in a melodic and vocally exquisite web which Bellini, admirably, composed in less than three months.

Libretto by Felice Romani. Premiere at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan on December 26, 1831.