Vincenzo Bellini

In his ten active creative years VINCENZO BELINI creates 11 operas, masterpieces of the bel canto style. They captivate with the elegance and emotional saturation of the melodic line of arias and ensembles.

Felice Romani’s libretto of the lyrical tragedy in two acts I Capuleti e i Montecchi is based on various Italian sources written on the drama of William Shakespeare. Bellini was commissioned to write the opera for the 1830 Carnival season at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with only a month and a half available for composition. He succeeded by appropriating a large amount of music previously written for his unsuccessful opera Zaira. The premiere of I Capuleti e i Montecchi took place on March 11th, 1830. On December 26th of the same year, the opera was staged at the Scala di Milano.