Maria Kallas..

Norma, opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini
with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet.
First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831.
It is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the Bel canto tradition.


The title role is generally considered one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire.
The role was created for Giuditta Pasta who also created the role of Amina in La Sonnambula.


During the 20th century, only a small number of singers were able to master it with success: Rosa Ponselle in the early 1920s, later Joan Sutherland in the 1960s.


Maria Callas was the most famous Norma of the postwar period,
she performed it more than 90 times and made official recordings in 1954 and 1960.



Cast

Norma, daughter of Oroveso, an astrologer (soprano).
Adalgisa, priestess in the grove of the Irmin statue (soprano).
Pollione, Roman proconsul in Gaul (tenor).
Oroveso, chief of the Druids (bass).
Clotilde, Norma’s friend (soprano).
Flavio, Pollione’s companion (tenor).




Synopsis.


Act I.

The grove. A secret love unites the seeress Norma with Pollione, the Roman proconsul, by whom she has borne two children. But Pollione has grown tired of the aging druid priestess and has fallen in love with Adalgisa, a young temple virgin. Despite Adalgisa's piety and virtue, she agrees to flee to Rome with Pollione. Adalgisa innocently tells Norma of her love, and Norma curses Pollione for his treachery.

Act II.

Norma’s apartment. She is about to kill her children, but through maternal pity finally confides them to the care of Adalgisa. When Pollione comes to take Adalgisa from the temple, Norma denounces him and he is seized by the Druids, after having refused to give up Adalgisa. Norma proclaims herself equally guilty with him. The funeral pyre is lighted, and ascending it, Norma dies with her lover.



The story of "Norma" is set in Gaul during the Roman occupation.
The titular character is a Druid priestess who has, in defiance of her vows of chastity, secretly borne two children of the proconsul Pollione. But the Roman governor has roaming hands; he is preparing to abandon Norma for Adalgisa, a young virgin priestess in the temple presided over by Norma's father, Oroveso.

When the women discover the truth about each other and Pollione, a raging Norma briefly considers murdering her children as revenge. Her maternal instincts win out; despairing, she asks Adalgisa to take them to Pollione and to look after them when he and Adalgisa return to Rome.

Adalgisa will have none of that. She goes to Pollione to plead for him to return to his former lover. When the Roman refuses, Norma urges her people to revolt.
Pollione, who has tried to carry off Adalgisa despite her pleas, is arrested for profaning the temple and sentenced by Oroveso to be burned to death as a sacrifice. Norma, moved by her love for Pollione, confesses the betrayal of her vows and offers to forfeit her life in exchange for Pollione's freedom.

But the proconsul, seeing the depth of Norma's love, refuses to let her die alone.
After entrusting the children to Oroveso, Norma and Pollione go to the pyre together.




ΥΓ: ουδεν.



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