Aut.
Ed.
Milano, 31 dicembre 1831
Milano 31: Dec:e 1831
Pare impossibile che nemmeno dopo il 26: Dec:e mi abbiate scritto un rigo! è vero che potreste farmi l’istesso rimprovero, perché dovea darvi ancor’io le notizie dello spettacolo; ma la mia povera xxx i denari ed i più diabolici intrighi potranno per poco velare la verità, ma alla fine risplenderà alla sua vera luce, e questa luce per mia buona fortuna la spiegò quasi tutta nella prima rappresentazione, e tutta tutta nella 2:da e terza recita: la prova di ciò ne è il gran concorso che ha il teatro, che è sempre pieno a zeppo, ed il silenzio, specialmente nel 2:do atto che è l’istesso che si facea a
Se vi capitassero dei pezzi di quest’opera, conoscerete con che impegno l’ho scritta, ed insieme ne comprenderete la mia asserzione. Non fate legere la presente ad alcuno: vi sia a core la mia delicatezza. – Io abbandonerò
À Monsieur
Monsieur Jean B:e Perucchini
à Venise
t.p. […] - venezia | 5 gen.o
175
21.
Milan, 31 December 1831
Vincenzo Bellini to Giovanni Battista Perucchini. Letter.
Aut. I-Tamr, Fondo Autografi e Rari 47. One bifolio, four sides plus address on the verso.
Ed. Salvioli, pp.10-12; Cambi 1943, pp. 296-297; Neri 2005, pp. 204-206.
Milan 31 December 1831
My dear Perucchini
It seems impossible that even after 26 December you've not written me a single line! Actually you could say the same of me, since I should have told you all about the performance; but my poor Norma was so cruelly persecuted that they would sooner have seen it destroyed at birth. All of the newspapers, as you've seen, called it a total fiasco — quite a formidable lobby, given the generous financial support it gets from that madwoman — need I say more? ... Because there's an opera by Pacini that goes onstage in a few days — need I say more? ... But my dear Perucchini, while money and even the most diabolical of schemes may initially obscure the truth, in the end it will shine right through, as it did to my good fortune for nearly all of the first performance, and for the second and third ones from start to finish. By way of proof, one need only note the great crowds in attendance, with the theatre always packed to the brim, and the silence, especially in the second act, just as it was in Venice during the last scene of Capuleti — that's how much of a fiasco it's been. Those pieces that seem most consistently effective after three performances are the choral introduzione, the primo tempo of the cavatina for Donzelli (neither I nor the public were pleased with the secondo tempo); all of the scena and entrance aria for Pasta; then the following duetto between Grisi and Donzelli, which is no less impressive than the stretta of Donzelli's cavatina; and a terzetto at the end of the first act. This terzetto starts as a duetto between the two women which was powerful all the way through on the first evening, but by the beginning of the terzetto they were so tired they could barely get a note out, much less in tune, and the first act came to a frosty finish. With the second and third performances, however, the public began to warm to it because it was performed much better, and I was consequently called to the stage to take a bow. I won't go on about the second act, which was a decided and general sensation from the first evening: it consists of a charming duetto between the two women, a chorus of soldiers, a war hymn, a duetto between Pasta and Donzelli, and a finale consisting of an ensemble piece and a stretta, both so novel and impressive that my enemies were all left speechless, and I can assure you myself that I consider them to be the best pieces I've written to date. - The newspapers will be forced to retract their original assertions, especially the Gazzetta, and the public is so outraged that who knows how many articles they'll have to print confessing to such deceit. But enough, I'm more than happy with the way things came out, and especially to have completely destroyed the efforts of so many mean and jealous people.
If you should come across any of the selections from this opera, you'll see how much effort I put into them and understand why I have spoken thus. Don't show this letter to anyone: it's a matter of personal delicacy, which I take quite seriously. - I will be leaving Milan this week.
à Monsieur
Monsieur Jean B[aron]e Perucchini
à Venise
postmark […] - venezia | 5 gen.°