VINCENZO BELLINI Casta Diva from Norma

This month Bridget Mermikides tackles a piece that challenges even the soprano singers who perform it. Luckily she’s created a workable (if tricky) arrangement for us to play. Vincenzo Bellini Casta Diva from Norma

This piece was used to great effect in The Iron Lady, a film about Margaret Thatcher’s life. Mrs Mermikides offers a rather gentler rendition.

In his short life, the Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) managed to produce no fewer than 11 operas, eight symphonies and various other works; a body of music that was central to the bel canto musical era, and admired by – and hugely influential to – such great operatic composers as Verdi and Wagner. Bellini displayed a mastery of long, flowing and emotionally engaging melodic lines – characteristic of the bel canto style – and representing some of the masterpieces of the operatic repertoire. Among them the opera Norma, first performed in La Scala in 1831, has received persistent acclaim and success. Set in Gaul around 50BC, the opera tells the story of the native druids’ resistance to the Roman occupation. The broken love between the Roman proconsul Pollione and the high priestess Norma, leads to a tragic tale of romance, revenge and sacrifice. Norma’s prayer to the moon goddess for piece in Act I is represented by the stunning, seminal and particularly challenging aria Casta Diva. Norma’s (ultimately vain) plea for peace is manifested in Bellini’s distinctively long and intricately ornamented melodic phrases, supported by a light lifting orchestration that gradually thickens with Norma’s intensity of emotion. The lyrics implore the moon goddess to calm the ‘fire that burns in the hearts’ of the antagonists, and Bellini beautifully captures a defiant serene calm in the face of aggression.

Originally composed in G major, even the virtuoso soprano Giuditta Pasta, for whom it was written, complained of its range and it was lowered to F major for the premiere. It is now sung in either F or the original key of G depending on the soprano. The melody does not fit satisfyingly well on guitar in either of these keys, so I’ve opted for C major which allows the range of the melody (roughly the pragmatic range of the top two strings) to ‘sing’ above the accompaniment. The challenge here is not only in maintaining multiple voices of bass (played with thumb), chordal accompaniment in 12/8, and top line, but to do so with a melody adorned with ornamentations. It’s all playable but at times it involves some complex fingertwisting to maintain the multiple voices. To create a sense of build will require a good level of technical absorption so take your time, and use the tab captions to guide you through the technical challenges.

The piece includes a cadenza in bar 42, a moment when the soprano is given freedom to express herself unaccompanied, using ‘unmeasured’ notes (in some cases inventing her own). This run of ‘small’ notes shows that they don’t fit in measured but ‘borrowed’ time, for a moment of personal reflection. Take your time to enjoy this lovely piece.

ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN G MAJOR, THE VIRTUOSO SOPRANO GUIDITTA PASTA, FOR WHOM IT WAS WRITTEN, COMPLAINED OF ITS RANGE AND IT WAS LOWERED TO F