FROM MYTH TO OPERA
It was common practice for composers and librettists to be inspired by myths, plays and poems, both historical and contemporary. Norma’s roots can be traced as far back as the Greek myth of Medea—a story Bellini’s librettist, Felice Romani, had already adapted into opera for another composer. Medea was a moon goddess who bore two sons for the enemy of the Greeks, Jason, and then murdered them after he fell in love with another woman. Romani wrote many libretti based on tragic and melodramatic French plays that were inspired by ancient religious stories. In fact, Romani was an antiquities scholar prior to being a librettist. He published a six volume dictionary on mythologies across the globe, including ancient Celtic lure. In it, he describes Druids and their rituals. For composer Giovanni Pacini, Romani adapted La Sacerdotessa di’Irminsul (The Priestess of Irminsul) in 1821. This version of the “Norma story” was set in 8th century Saxony, Germany, when King Charlemagne destroyed all remaining Druidic structures. In this version, a pagan priestess falls for an enemy soldier in Charlemagne’s army. However, the priestess converts to Christianity and marries the general.
Painting of Medea and her children she murdered, Hernandez Amores, 1887.
The French composer, Chateaubriand, drew upon the possible historical figure Velleda, for his 1809 opera Les Martyrs. The Roman historian, Tacitus, described Velleda as a “hermit prophetess” who supported the opposition against the Romans. Chateaubriand’s opera opens with a chorus of Druid commonfolk cutting mistletoe and waiting for Velleda. Even with these versions in his mind, Felice Romani attributes his inspiration to the French epic poem Norma, ou L’infanticide by Alexandre Soumet. Keeping most of Soumet’s original story and characters, Romani removed any references to
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FROM MYTH TO OPERA
Depiction of Norma telling Adalgisa to go to Pollione and demand he return to her, Victrola Book of Opera, 1917.
