The operas of Bellini

This paper is an analysis of the operas of Bellini in which the music is discussed in terms of melody, harmony, form, and dramatic devices, with an introductory survey of his operas. Eight operas were analyzed in detail as a basis for this paper; these eight were Adelson e Salvini, Beatrice di Tenda, I Capuletti e i Montecchi, Norma, Il Pirata, I Puritan!, La Sonnambula, and La Straniera. The results of the analyses show that Bellini’s operas employ many similar devices, styles, and forms with a developing maturation in his brief career which reached its peak in his acknowledged masterpiece, Norma.