I remember when it happened, the first - and only - time I ever fell asleep in an opera. Jane Eaglen was on stage in one of her career-defining roles as the heroine in Bellini's Norma at Scottish Opera in Glasgow. And as a callow teenager, I didn't know how lucky I was to be hearing this stellar performance, and somewhere during Act 2, I think, I fell into a slumber. I think I may have quite enjoyed Casta Diva, but that was about it. Thing is, after castigating myself for my philistine snooze, I then started to blame Bellini. Was it something in the music that made me unable to resist the temptation for 40 winks? The rumty-tum of his accompaniments, the banality of the melodies, the transparency of his orchestrations, the apparent disconnect between the emotional trajectory of the story and the near-continuous triviality and joviality of the music (well, the music I heard, that is, before my eyelids closed)? I tried more bel canto with Donizetti, but found The Elixir of Love almost as trite, and only Verdi and Puccini of the Italians had moments of real expressive depth.
Or so I thought as a probably - ok, certainly! - rather pompous, musically Germanophile teenager. I now realise the error of my ways with Verdi and Puccini, but Bellini, Donizetti? I'm still not there. Alright, when you hear a Natalie Dessay or a Juan Diego Florez sing it, there's am irresistibly voluptuous pleasure at hearing singing and virtuosity of that quality. That I understand. But apart from momentary glimpses of great tunes, I still need a Bellini and bel canto epiphany. It's possible I'll find it at Opera North and their new Norma that opened on Saturday - at least, I hope so. Otherwise, I'm with Tchaikovsky - who admittedly loved Bellini's tunes but could see his shortcomings, too - and called aspects of his operas vapid...vulgar...trivial". How can I, and Pytor Ilyich, be converted?...
