Vincenzo Bellini: Norma – Marina Rebeka

New critical edition by Roger Parker for Casa Ricordi includes a musicological essay and the full libretto in Italian and English.

In June 2025, Marina Rebeka will perform NORMA at Teatro Alla Scala, Milano, where the opera has not been performed since 1977, with Montserrat Caballe in the title role.

Notes on the new edition:

“In the autograph, Norma’s famous preghiera is written in G major, a key that would make extreme demands on most sopranos who sing the role. In this recording Marina Rebeka sings the aria in G major.

The final part of the Act One finale clearly underwent significant change, probably after the first performance; the first Ricordi vocal score and various manuscript sources have a different version of the last part of the number, with an altered disposition of the vocal parts, some variations in the melodic material and no choral intervention. This recording features the version with chorus.

[there is also the] alternative ending to the coro ‘Guerra, Guerra’ in Act Two. Although, again, the version in the autograph is likely to be Bellini’s last thought on the matter, the alternative ending, with the return of music from the Sinfonia, opens up a vital new colour in the opera’s final number, and this is the version used in the present recording.” –Roger Parker

Reviews

Presto Music 2nd November 2024

“Come for the scholarship, stay for the singing…Using a new critical edition by Roger Parker, this studio recording incorporates many of Bellini’s original ideas, but Rebeka’s multi-faceted, white-hot Norma is reason enough to invest in this new set. If you’re after a recording that finds the sweet spot between old-school grandeur and the stripped-back, hyper-historically-informed approach which Bartoli and Antonini gave us a decade ago, this is your answer. – Katherine Cooper

“In the autograph, Norma’s famous Preghiera is in G major, a key that makes extreme demands on most sopranos singing this role. In this recording, Marina Rebeka sings the aria in G major The last part of the finale of the first act was obviously heavily altered, probably after the first performance; the first Ricordi vocal score and various manuscript sources have a different version of the last part of the number, with a different arrangement of the vocal parts, some variations in the melodic material and without the use of the chorus. This recording contains the version with choir. There is also an alternative ending for the coro ‘Guerra, Guerra’ in the second act. Although the version in the autograph is probably Bellini’s final thought on this subject, the alternative ending with the return of the music from the Sinfonia opens up a new, important color in the finale of the opera, and this is the version used in the present recording.” (Roger Parker)