The article focuses on unfinished opera rewriting project of Victor Hugo’s Hernani by Felice Romani for Bellini’s music. From the analysis of the Belli- ni’s sketches and fragments, some significant elements of his compositional process stand out, such as the importance assigned to the timbre in the crea- tive phases of the melody or the care reserved for recitatives. Very interesting is the presence of ‘skeleton-sketches’ that could be rewritten but which could become ‘skeleton-scores’ ready to be completed by composer. The discrepan- cies between Romani’s surviving manuscript and the text under the notes of the Bellinian autograph demonstrate the complexity of the work phases which were definitively interrupted due to problems related to the Habsburg censor- ship.
Bellini, Romani, Ernani. Un'occasione mancata
Lorenzo Mattei
2023-01-01
Abstract
The article focuses on unfinished opera rewriting project of Victor Hugo’s Hernani by Felice Romani for Bellini’s music. From the analysis of the Belli- ni’s sketches and fragments, some significant elements of his compositional process stand out, such as the importance assigned to the timbre in the crea- tive phases of the melody or the care reserved for recitatives. Very interesting is the presence of ‘skeleton-sketches’ that could be rewritten but which could become ‘skeleton-scores’ ready to be completed by composer. The discrepan- cies between Romani’s surviving manuscript and the text under the notes of the Bellinian autograph demonstrate the complexity of the work phases which were definitively interrupted due to problems related to the Habsburg censor- ship.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
