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Baker S Biographical Dictionary Of Musicians Third Edition, 1919
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1Duke of Mantua.—Publ. 3 books of madrigals a 6 (1583, '84, '93); 9 books of madrigals a 5 (1584, '86; the 9th, 1617); 2 books of canzonets a 4 (1584, '93); Sacrae cantiones a 6 (1585), a 8 (1589), and a 10 (1594); 2 magnificats (1610); and Salmi a 5; some 5-p. madrigals in the coll. 'De' floridi virtuosi d'Italia' (1586).
3Belli, Giulio, b. Longiano, c. 1560; in 1582, music-director at the cathedral in Imola; 1590, Franciscan friar at Carpi, and m. di capp. there; after living in Ferrara, Venice, and other cities he returned to Imola in 1607 as m. di capp. at S. Antonio.—Biogr. by A. Brigidi: Cenni sulla vita e sulle opere di G.B. (Modena, 1865; pp. 19).—He publ. canzonets a 4 (1584, '86, '93, '95); also madrigals (1589, '92); but was chiefly important as a church composer, publishing from 1586 to 1621 a great number of masses, motets, psalms, vespers, sacrae cantiones, etc.—See Q.-Lex.
5Bellincio'ni [-choh'nē], Gemma, Italian dramatic soprano; b. Como, Italy, Aug. 19, 1866. Taught by her father, Cesare B., and Corsi (1880); début at the Fiorentini Th., Naples, in 1881, in Pedrotti's Tutti en maschera. The same year she married the tenor Stagno (q. v.). She then travelled for several years in Spain with Tamberlik; has sung on all principal stages of Italy, including La Scala; has toured South America and (1899) the United States in opera; has also toured Germany, Russia, Austria, Rumania, Portugal, Switzerland, and England. Her creations include the prima-donna rôles in Cavalleria Rusticana (1890), Fedora, A Santa Lucia, Lorenza, La Martire, Saffo (Massenet; in Ital.), Nozze istriane, Moina (at Monte Carlo; in French), Labilia (Spinelli), Rudello (Ferroni). Favorite rôles are Carmen, Sapho, Manon, Violetta, Totea, Santuzza, Fedora; besides which she has about thirty more actually sung on the stage. Violetta (Traviata) is considered her most striking impersonation. Her voice is brilliant in the high register, though apt to be dull in the medium; but always of strong emotional power and intensity. In 1911 she settled in Berlin as a teacher.—Her daughter Bianca made her début at Graz in 1913.
7Belli'ni, Vincenzo, famous opera-comp.; b. Catania, Sicily, Nov. 3, 1801; d. Puteaux, near Paris, Sept. 23, 1835. Taught at first by his father, an organist, he was sent in 1819, at the expense of a nobleman impressed by the boy's talent, to the Conservatorio di San Sebastiano at Naples. Here his instruction from the masters Furno, Tritto and Zingarelli was carried on until 1827 with the slovenly lack of method then prevailing in the institution; B. probably profited far more by his private and zealous study of Haydn and Mozart, Jommelli and Paisiello, and, above all, Pergolesi. His student-compositions were a romance, an aria, a symphony for full orch., two masses, several psalms, and a cantata, Ismene; finally his first opera, Adelson e Salvini, was perf. by Cons. pupils on Jan. 12, 1825, and its success encouraged him to further dramatic effort. Barbaja, manager of the San Carlo Th., Naples, and La Scala, Milan, commissioned B. to write an opera, and Bianca e Fernando was enthusiastically received at the former theatre in 1826; followed in 1827 by Il Pirata, and in 1829 by La Straniera, both in Milan. It is interesting to note that the librettist of Il Pirata, Felice Romani, wrote the books of all the succeeding operas except I Puritani. B. met his first reverse at Parma, for the inauguration of the Teatro Nuovo in which town he wrote to order the opera Zaira (1829), which was a flat failure. Undismayed, he accepted a fresh order from La Fenice Theatre at Venice, for which he composed in forty days the opera I Capuleti e Montecchi (1830), which was hailed as a masterwork. After a severe illness, he brought out La Sonnambula at the Teatro Carcano, Milan (1831); with this work, and Norma, which was given at La Scala on Dec. 26, 1831, B. rose to the height of his powers and the zenith of his fame—yet Norma, which B. himself considered his greatest work, and in which Giuditta Pasta created the title-rôle, was coldly received that first evening! But in brief space its beauties were recognized, and the warmth of its reception in other cities, notably in Paris (1835), amply justified its author's verdict. His Beatrice di Tenda (Venice, 1833) shows a distinct falling-off, and failed of popular appreciation. In 1834 he was invited to write an opera for the Théâtre Italien at Paris; this was I Puritani, libretto by Count Pepoli; its triumphant production was the composer's last great success, for, although commissioned immediately to write two more operas for the San Carlo Th., he died at the village of Puteaux, whither he had retired to work on the new scores. Forty years later, his remains were removed to Catania, where a monument was erected to his memory; another monument, due to the exertions of his bosom friend, Francesco Florimo, was dedicated at Naples in 1886.
9Bellini's genius is exhibited in the grace, tenderness, pathos and fervor of his melodies, fashioned with a consummate knowledge of vocal resource and effect. On the other hand, his scores show the worst defects of the old Italian school—monotony in harmony, and amateurish instrumentation; for these his imperfect training is doubtless largely responsible. In his best moments he sur-
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