Vincenzo Bellini creates a terrific vehicle for…

Vincenzo Bellini creates a terrific vehicle for the soprano voice in his opera La sonnambula, an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime written by Eugène Scribe and choreographed by Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.

The ballet had premiered in Paris in September 1827 at the height of a fashion for stage works incorporating somnambulism.

The role of Amina was originally written for the soprano sfogato Giuditta Pasta and the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, but during Bellini's lifetime another soprano sfogato, Maria Malibran, will be a notable exponent of the role.

The first performance takes place at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on March 6, 1831.