Sull'effetto struggente della Norma. L'intreccio, l'espressione, l'"instrumentazione"

Vincenzo Bellini’s lyric theatre has a special character that cannot be explained by a discussion of melodrama alone and/or an analysis of his musical style. In particular, one of his major operas, Norma, is hailed as the highest expression of the tragic in opera theatre. What makes this opera unique? Where lies the secret of its perpetual success through the ages and generations? Using the perspective of a Ricoeurian critical hermeneutics, the author analyses this work by reconsidering Aristotle’s theory of tragedy and thematising the way opera was performed in Italy in the first half of the 19th century.