A Brief History of Opera

Bel Canto

Time period: Late 1700s - 1850s
Major Composers: Gioacchino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini,

Background:
The bel canto period is defined by beautiful singing. More than in any other style of opera, the music written during this period was created to showcase the singers' range, power, and flexibility. Opera stories of this time frequently focused on passion and romance.

A leader in the bel canto style, Gioacchino Rossini is considered one of the most important Italian opera composers of the first half of the 19th century. Through his compositions, he reinvented the form and content of Italian opera. By the age of 20, he was the leading composer of his native Italy, and his musical contributions were widely celebrated throughout Austria, France, and England. Rossini was comfortable writing serious opera, but is perhaps best known for his comic operas, such as Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella).

Another important bel canto composer was Gaetano Donizetti. Born quite poor, his life changed when a conductor educated him and sent him to a prestigious music school. Donizetti moved from Italy to Paris and finally to Vienna while pursuing his career. Of the operas that comprise his operatic legacy, one of the most well known is Lucia di Lammermoor, which is based on a popular 19th-century English novel by Sir Walter Scott.

Vincenzo Bellini was a prolific composer in the bel canto operatic style. Born in Italy, he grew up in a musical household and was a child prodigy, composing his first work by the age of six. Trained in the Conservatory in Naples, Bellini moved to Milan where his operas were performed at the famous opera house La Scala and met with resounding success. Before his death at a young age, Bellini composed a number of operas, among those performed frequently today are I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues), La sonnambula (The Sleepwaker), and Norma.

Scott Piper and Eteri Lamoris in Connecticut Opera's 2004 production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Photo by Jennifer Lester and courtesy of Connecticut Opera.		Bruce Sledge, Dale Travis, and Ana Maria Martinez in The Santa Fe Opera's 2005 production of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). Photo by Ken Howard.

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