| Il pirata | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Vincenzo Bellini | |
 Rubini as Gualtiero in the premiere production | |
| Librettist | Felice Romani |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Bertram, ou le Pirate by Charles Nodier and Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor |
| Premiere | 27 October 1827 Teatro alla Scala, Milan |
Il pirata (The Pirate) is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, which was based on a three-act mélodrame from 1826: Bertram, ou le Pirate (Bertram, or The Pirate) by Charles Nodier and Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor. This play was itself based upon a French translation of the five-act verse tragedy Bertram, or The Castle of St. Aldobrand by Charles Maturin which appeared in London in 1816.[1]
The original play has been compared with Bellini's opera and the influence of Il pirata on Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor has been noted.[2] Also, Bellini's recycling of his own music in this opera has been analyzed, as well as his utilizing "a more self-consciously innovative compositional style" and participating more in work on the libretto, as compared with prior efforts where he was more deferential to the librettists chosen by the Naples opera management and the corresponding texts.[3] In addition, 19th-century commentary refers to the musical influence of Il pirata on the early Richard Wagner opera Das Liebesverbot.[4]
- ^ Weinstock 1971, p. 293
- ^ Stephen A. Willier 1969, "Madness, the Gothic, and Bellini's Il pirata". The Opera Quarterly, #6, pp. 7–23.
- ^ Mary Ann Smart, "In Praise of Convention: Formula and Experiment in Bellini's Self-Borrowings", Journal of the American Musicological Society, #53(1), pp. 25–68, Spring, 2000
- ^ "Wagner on Bellini" 1886, The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, #27 (516), pp. 66–68