Puteaux, 21 settembre 1834
Puteaux N: 19: bis rampe de
Neuilly – 21: Sett:e 34:
Mio caro Florimo – Ho tardato a rispondere alla tua del 25: agosto, stante delle successe
Io spero che non avrai dimenticato che il Direttore della
1:° Atto (I Puritani)
1:° Introduzione composta di coro militare, preghiera Puritana e coro di paesane ec: ec:
2.° Cavatina di Tamburrini
3:° Duetto fra Lablache e la
4:° Coro e cavatina d’un sol tempo per Rubini
5:° Finale = composto d’un quartettino brillante \Lablache, Rubini, Grisi, e 2da donna)/ d’un terzetto di due tempi non lungo ed il largo secondo tempo è d’un effetto grande, se non m’inganno, (si può chiamare duetto questo perché è fra Tamburrini Rubini e la 2:da donna, e questa ha qualche parola quà e là) e poi d’un Largo concertato ove non ho che i due bassi e la Grisi coi cori, e la Stretta del finale –
2:do atto
1:° Coro e Romanza di Lablache
2:° duetto dei due bassi
3:° terzetto di due bassi e la Grisi
questo è come il quartetto della Nina ove questa ha
tutto quindi sembrerà una scena per lei piuttosto
4:° Coro dell’Alba o libertà ec:
5:° Scena di Rubini
6:° finale – composto d’un duetto fra la Grisi e Rubini d’un pezzo d’insieme, e cabaletta infine per la donna –
Se vogliamo contare i pezzi sono veramente 14: ma mio caro Florimo sono al mio solito, brevi, caldi e l’azione progredisce bene: Pepoli mi serve con vera amicizia e non vi è male a tutto ciò che m’ha fatto: è migliore di qualunque altro, ma non è
325
33.
Putreux, 21 September 1834
Vincenzo Bellini to Francesco Florimo. Letter.
Aut. I-Nc, Rari 4.3.6 (36). Two bifolia, eight sides (incomplete).
Ed. Florimo 1882, pp. 436-441; Cambi 1943, pp. 435-439; Neri 2005, pp. 317-320.
Puteaux N. 19 bis rampe de
Neuilly - 21 September 34
My dear Florimo - I've delayed answering your letter of 25 August pending the outcome of subsequent issues involving the directors of the Opéra Comique, with whom I broke everything off in the end. It's difficult, my friend, to negotiate favorable contracts with Jews, as this situation was, since for me it came down to a question of money and not personal prestige. I must say however that every cloud has a silver lining, and if it had to go this way perhaps it was for my own good. Now let me explain the reason for this rupture. As I'd already mentioned, the theatre here has engaged a certain Cholet (tenor) for next May, and the Director told me he would very much like to have an opera from me for that period. I always responded that I would certainly do what I possibly could but that I was unwilling to commit myself, because, as you know, I was waiting for a response from Naples, and if the Society were to have accepted my final demands I would have been bound by my agreement with them. When their response came, I told the Director I considered myself free from any obligation with Naples and was ready to negotiate, so we discussed the singers, payment, and general period, all set out as I wrote to you in my last letter. Since I was anxious to give the Society my answer, I asked the Director for confirmation before sending the letter, which I then did with his reassurance. The next day I received a draft of the contract, containing the stipulation that I had to consign the finished opera no later than six months after my acceptance of the libretto. When I responded that this article was not part of our agreement, the director replied that my contract was of no advantage to him without consignment of the finished opera by this next 15 May. At that point I became angry and wrote to him that both the draft of the contract and his letter went beyond our mutually established terms, and that consequently there was nothing more to discuss. Amen - So I left it there, because in the end it was for the money; and if Cholet were to have been unsatisfactory, I swear they haven't another male singer worth a dime, while I'd intended to train the women to sing rather than shout no matter what or indulge in those endless mind-numbing roulades as they do now. - I would always have given Naples the same answer — but don't let it be known around there that I broke this off, otherwise someone might suspect I lied to the Society in order to decline their offer. Keep it to yourself, don't give anyone the opportunity to gloat about it. - Yesterday I ran into Lablache and we exchanged a cordial embrace. Sometime in the next few days I'll let him hear what I've already written for him. - Now I'll answer your two letters, the one from 25 August and the other from 7 September which I received yesterday, with my thoughts concerning your advice about dealing with the French theatres and journalists. -
I hope you haven't forgotten that the Director of the Grand Opéra invited me to write an opera for him, and that when I demanded the same fee Rossini got plus rights the affair went no further. So I was invited, just like Donizetti probably was, and he'll accept while I refused. Do you really think, my friend, that now that the Grand Opéra is run by a director (which is what we would call an impresario), it would continue to be so hard for an opera or a composer to gain access to the grand theatre without first earning the general approval of the French establishment? Here's proof to the contrary: a certain Mr. Halevy, who failed miserably at both the Théâtre Italien and the Opéra Comique, has since become the chorus master for the Grand Opéra and will have an opera performed three months from now on the same stage where La vestale, Guillaume Tell, and Robert le Diable were born! The theatre of the Académie Royale operates just like San Carlo, La Scala, etc. etc., where they engage everyone from Rossini down to Salvoni, and merit is determined exclusively in terms of profit and popularity — so let whoever wants to write for them go right ahead. Up to now I've been considered the best in Paris after Rossini and, unless I'm deceiving myself, this new opera should strengthen my reputation still further. I think it's extremely promising, even because I've taken such unbelievable care with the orchestration that when I look over every piece I've finished I'm immensely satisfied with what I've done. Tamburini is enchanted with his cavatina and a terzetto, as I nearly am myself with everything so far. - All but two pieces in the first act are orchestrated, and everything I've written in the second act as well: that is, a coro d'introduzione with a romanza for Lablache describing his niece's madness, and a scena and romanza for Rubini that came out so well I'm hoping the dramatic effect in performance will bring the audience to tears. This scena begins with a hurricane and its gloomy imagery of nature pelted by bolts of lightning from the sky, during which soldiers appear from the rear in pursuit of someone. A shot is heard, the hurricane reaches its peak, then it grows calmer and we see a pale and breathless figure enter wrapped in a cape, Arturo (Rubini), who is now a fugitive. In the libretto he's been condemned to death for helping the Queen of England flee the country, but he has returned to see his Elvira again. Unaware that she has gone mad with sorrow, he begins a tender recitativo when he hears her voice in the distance, singing four lines of a romanza they once shared during their clandestine courtship, when her father opposed their union. He recognizes this love song and, lacking the courage to reveal himself, he responds in kind, but at the end of the first stanza he is interrupted by the sound of a drum. Here I've written military music for the orchestra, where the rustle of the drum marks every beat of a repeating motif that begins softly, growing louder and then softer, always with different instruments (whether the violins [...], pizzicato basses, cellos, murmuring violas, etc. etc.), and interwoven with the singing of soldiers as they draw close to the place where Arturo is hiding and then move off, their voices fading away, etc. etc. Arturo reappears, and when he is certain they've gone he resumes singing another stanza with a short coda that ends the scena. Elvira then enters attracted by this melody, and here there's a duetto of great emotional impact which I've already completely worked out — just like the following finale that closes the opera, since I've persuaded Pepoli to make two acts of it. So you see, I've got all of the music for this duetto, for the finale that ends with a cabaletta for the heroine, and for a hymn to liberty (the same one that was originally in the introduzione, but which I moved instead to the second act just before Rubini's aforementioned scena). - I've orchestrated quite a bit these past few days, and this list of pieces shows you where I am with my work. Rossini is most pleased with my progress, always telling me how he had been so terribly ill informed by those who said I was slow and sluggish -
1st Act (I puritani)
1st Introduzione consisting of a military chorus, a Puritan prayer, and a chorus of villagers, etc. etc.
2nd Cavatina for Tamburini
3rd Duetto between Lablache and Grisi
4th Chorus and cavatina in one movement for Rubini
5th Finale - consisting of a short but brilliant quartetto (Lablache, Rubini, Grisi, and the second female), a terzetto in two movements that is not long, with what I think will be an enormously effective largo second movement (one could call it a duetto because it's between Tamburini and Rubini, with the second female contributing an occasional word here and there), followed by a largo concertato where I have just the two basses and Grisi with the chorus, and then the stretta of the finale –
2nd Act
1st Chorus and Romanza for Lablache
2nd Duetto for the two basses
3rd Terzetto for the two basses and Grisi
this is like the quartetto in Nina where she has everything, so it will seem more like a scena for her
4th Hymn to the dawn or to liberty, etc.
5th Scena for Rubini
6th Finale – consisting of a duetto between Grisi and Rubini, an ensemble piece, and finally a cabaletta for the heroine –
If we want to count the pieces there are really 14, but I've made them tight and compelling as is my wont, dear Florimo, and the action moves along well. Pepoli works for me in the spirit of true friendship and everything he has written is not bad at all, better than what anyone else would have done — but he's not Romani, who's a rare find indeed. - Everything in the first act is composed and orchestrated except for the terzetto and the short quartetto in the finale, plus the duetto for Lablache and Grisi, which I haven't orchestrated because Lablache just arrived the other day but neither Grisi nor Rubini are in Paris yet, and I need to have her try it out first. - In the second act, both the first piece and all of Rubini's scena are entirely finished, while I've already got all of my thematic material for the hymn to liberty, the duetto between Rubini and Grisi, and the finale, so I only need to put these three pieces together. There's still the [other] duetto and the terzetto left to write, but I intend to finish what I've drafted first and do the duetto and terzetto last. Yesterday I told all of this to Rossini by way of seeking his opinion, and he agreed that it's best to finish [orchestrating] everything else first and then compose the two remaining pieces. - I hope to have it all done in October, even if Rossini told me the deadline is more of a formality, and that since I am so far along with things I should work without worrying someone will not want