Norma by Vincenzo Bellini STUDY GUIDE 1 Norma Study Guide Table of Contents Welcome 3 Introduction to Opera 4-5 A Night at the Opera: Your guide to a night to remember 6 Opera Terms and Voice Categories 7 About Our Director: Nicolas Muni 8 About the Composer: Vincenzo Bellini 9 About the Conductor: Alice Farnham 10 About the Librettist: Felice Romani 11 Historical Context of Norma: Who were the Druids? 11 Synopsis 12 Cast of Characters 13 The Opera: Everyone Else! 13 Bel Canto Opera 14 What to Listen For 14 For Teachers and Parents 15 References 16 2 Norma Study Guide WELCOME! “Opera is about life and everything that entails—love, hate and passion.” - Lesley Garrett Hello dear teachers, parents and students, My name is Patricia Kesler and I run the Education and Community Outreach programs at Calgary Opera. I am so happy to welcome you all back for our 2019-2020 Season here at the Opera. I have been so privileged in the past year to get to know and work with many of you, and hope that our relationships expand and multiply during my time. We opened the year with a hugely successful production of Puccini’s La Bohème and are moving along quickly to our second and third productions of the season: Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma and Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, respec- tively. I absolutely embrace the drama, heartache and passion that will play itself out across the stage of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium this year and hope you will all be there to join me. Opera is increasingly relevant in today’s society. It is an art form for the times as it opens us to different stories, per- spectives, cultures and traditions—in other words, to compassion and empathy. I can’t think of a better time to intro- duce more of these elements into the world. I hope we can all take this journey to the heart together because, as Ned Canty, General Director of Opera Memphis said, ”...we are an art form that brings people together to hear voices that connect us and remind us that the things that make us the same are far, far greater than the things that make us different…” See you at the opera, Patricia Kesler Education and Community Outreach Calgary Opera 3 Norma Study Guide INTRODUCTION TO OPERA The word opera comes from the Italian “opera in musica,” this day we can hear the music in performance and which means “works or plays in music.” Simply put, opera is recordings: https://youtu.be/sKD1qUVJJBU a play in which the characters sing their lines rather than speak them, with music as its driving force. It is a mixture of many different types of art, combining music, drama, dance elaborate costumes and scenery. Traditional view holds that the first completely sung musical drama (or opera) developed as a result of discussions held in Florence in the 1570s by a group of intellectuals, poets, artist, scientists and humanists such as composers Giulio Caccini, Peri and Vincenzo Galilei (father of astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei, particularly known for his improvements to the telescope). The Florentine Camerata, as they called themselves, explored trends in the arts, focusing on music and drama. One particular point of focus was their joint belief that music, in particular vocal works, had become over-embellished and that returning to a more Opera has flourished throughout the world as a vehicle pure form would be a powerful way to tell stories and for the expression of the full range of human emotions. express emotions. Gathering inspiration from Classical Italians claim the art form as their own, retaining dominance Greece, its dramas and the idea of the Greek chorus, which in the field through the death of Giacomo Puccini in 1924. acts as a commentator reporting on the actions, they Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Leoncavallo developed evolved the idea of “recitativo” — a single vocal line, sung in the art form through clearly a free, declamatory style, with simple instrumental support. defined periods that produced opera buffa, opera seria, bel canto and verismo. Mozart (1756-1791) wrote operas in Italian as well as German and championed the singspiel (sing play), which combined the spoken word with music (The Magic Flute 1791, Abduction At the time it was argued that recitativo was far superior to from the Seraglio 1782), a form spoken verse, since the musical inflections intensified the also used by Beethoven in his implied emotions. Thus, it is no wonder that many of opera Fidelio. Bizet (Carmen), Offenbach (Les Contes the first operas were based on Greek tragedies with D’Hoffmann), Gounod (Faust) and Meyerbeer (Les mythological themes. Huguenots) led the adaptation by the French which ranged The first opera composed by Jacopo Peri in 1597, Dafne, from the opera comique to the grand full-scale tragedie about the nymph who fled from Apollo and was turned into lyrique. German composers von Weber (Der Fresichutz), a laurel tree as a way to save her virtue, was a through- Richard Strauss (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Wagner (Der Ring composed musical work comprised of recitative sections, to des Nibelungen) developed diverse forms such as singspiel reveal the plot of the drama, and arias, which provided the to through-composed spectacles unified through the uses of soloist an opportunity to develop the emotions of the leitmotif. The English ballad opera, Spanish zarzuela and character. Sadly most of the music for the opera has been Viennese operetta helped to establish opera as a form of lost. However, Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, composed in entertainment which continues to enjoy great popularity 1607 based on the Orpheus myth, was very successful. To throughout the world. 4 Norma Study Guide With the beginning of the 20th century, composers in North America diverged from European traditions in order to focus on their own roots while exploring and developing the vast body of the country’s folk music and legends. Composers such as George Gershwin with Porgy and Bess, Douglas Moore with The Ballad of Baby Doe, Carlisle Floyd with Suzanna, John Adams with Nixon in China and Gian Carlo Menotti with The Medium have all crafted operas that have been presented throughout the world to great success. In Canada, composer John Estacio and librettist John Murrell were commissioned by Calgary Opera to produce Filumena, based on a true Canadian John Adams’ Nixon in China, Vancouver Opera story of the last woman to be hanged in Alberta — which https://youtu.be/vd-ODo8v06A premiered in 2003 in Calgary to great success, and is one of the most produced Canadian grand operas in the world. George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at Teatro la Scala https://youtu.be/VfziZxrXNy0 Laura Whalen as the title character in Calgary Opera’s Filumena (2003) Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium, Pensacola Opera https://youtu.be/_4Riw2wLsww https://youtu.be/uReeJn3v0EM 5 Norma Study Guide A NIGHT AT THE OPERA: Your Guide to a Night to Remember There are many preconceived notions propagated by intermission to have a look! popular media about opera, so a first visit to an Food and drink are not allowed inside the hall and, since operatic performance may bring up a number of questions. sound carries due to the acoustics of the hall, please open Here are some tips on how to make your night at the opera any candies you might have prior to the start of the show. most enjoyable. Also remember that many hours have gone into bringing By far, the most popular question and concern is: this particular production to you, so please be considerate of the performers and your fellow audience members and What do I wear to the opera? turn off and put away your cell phones. In the past, opera audiences have been known to wear Please remember that photography is not permitted once lavish gowns as well as top hats and bow ties, giving the the performance starts. The design and direction of the rest of the public a feeling that opera isn’t for everyone, show is protected under intellectual property laws and only which is definitely not the case! In today’s opera lovers’ the official Calgary Opera photographers can take pictures. world audiences come dressed in whatever they feel most Another big concern that the public has about opera is the comfortable! Your pajamas might attract stares, but to fact that it is in a different language. This, of course, is true each his own! for most operas. However, like any foreign film that is https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2012/ accessible to the public, opera always, no matter what oct/18/what-should-you-wear-at-theatre language it’s sung in, has easy to read supertitles which are Where are the performances held? projected above the stage. All Calgary Opera’s mainstage productions are held at the Please, do feel free to show your appreciation to the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. If you are performers by laughing at the humorous parts and driving, it is recommended that you arrive applauding after a well-performed aria. If you were approximately 45 minutes prior to the start of the show to particularly impressed by a performer’s vocal acrobatics, avoid traffic. Another great reason to ensure that you feel free to express your enthusiasm vocally as well as by arrive on time is that if you are late, you may have to wait applause; if you hear fellow audience members shout in the lobby for the late arrival entries and watch the “bravo” for a man, “brava” for a woman or “bravi” for a opera from the monitors in the lobby for a period of time group of performers, chime in if the spirit moves you! It’s rather than from your seat.