Talk:Norma (opera)

Comments

Synopsis from Melitz, 1921 (http://www.intac.com/~rfrone/operas/Books/Melitz_Complete/OGCG-06.htm#Norma) -- Dreamword 23:43 Feb 4, 2003 (UTC)

Should a link or something to Pasta alla Norma be added or is it too far off topic? I found some explanation at http://pow.neomedia.it/gpg/cucina/ix-8-it.html and http://www.eat-online.net/art/english/music/pasta_norma.htm buon appetito --Evanovka 21:39, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)

"Norma, his daughter": WHOSE daughter? Adam Cuerden 20:22, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

This doesn't make sense

From the article:

"The title role is generally considered one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire. German soprano Lilli Lehmann once famously remarked on how the singing of three Götterdämmerung Brünnhildes was more stressful than the singing of one Norma. [1]"

I think its kind of obvious what that should say, but I don't want to touch it because I don't have access to the source info

71.172.121.7 (talk) 08:48, 21 November 2007 (UTC)anon

Infobox

Is the infobox completed? Dare I ask how it functions here? I am not how useful it is to duplicate the basic info in the first sentences. I hope i am not offending anyone but personally I don't think it is an asset to the page. Sorry about that. - Kleinzach 13:39, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Adalgisa is a Soprano, not a Mezzo

You can verify this on the score, on the libretto, on the cast of the first performance. I know that in the past some Mezzo-Soprano were casted in this role (modifying the music) but this is just a wrong "tradition". --Al Pereira(talk) 19:21, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

The score really describes Adalgisa as a soprano, but the score of La Favorite presents Leonore as a soprano as well (a role sang only by mezzos). I think that mezzo-soprano wasn't a distinguished voice-type at that time, and mezzos were included either in the soprano category or in the alto (like Rosina and Angelina). Moreover, the only modified music, as far as I know, is the duet Mira o Norma which is transposed a tone down, but not all the mezzos do that. Actually, Cossotto sang it in the original key next to Callas ('65) and in the studio next to Caballe ('72), and more recently Zajick gave a performance singing as written. It fine to describe Adalgisa as a soprano, but it will not be totally wrong to put mezzo-soprano. AdamChapman 16:21, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

The role was written for Giulia Grisi, who was a soprano. --Al Pereira(talk) 10:20, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Adalgisa was originally sung by a soprano, but is generally performed by a mezzo today, like Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte. LM103 (talk) 14:12, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

Trivia removed and put where it belongs (if anywhere)

This stuff has no place in this article, so one goes to (i) Norma (disambiguation) and (ii) Simpsons. Viva-Verdi 03:20, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Libonati

I didn't know him but see this link. However, the quote doesn't work at that point of the article. --Al Pereira(talk) 00:15, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

19th Century Examples of Sopranos who performed Norma

I wondered why there was not any past examples of sopranos who had performed the role of Norma listed? Since there is already a list of modern examples. Would it hurt the article to include them as well? --EmilyGreene1984 (talk) 10:00, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

The eclipse of Norma ca 1920s-ca 1950s should be touched on. --Wetman (talk) 18:45, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Awkward phrasing

It's too bad that Wikipedia's POV rules require tortured phrasing such as "it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the Bel canto tradition." 'Norma' IS the supreme height of the Bel canto tradition. CharlesTheBold (talk) 04:31, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Casta Diva is not adequetly covered.

The fact that this page redirects from that of Casta Diva is strange because there is very little information on the aria itself. I have the beginning of an article on the piece in my sandbox, but I am not sure its notable enough. An alternative would be to include a section on the aria in this article, in which case my stuff would have to be edited. LM103 (talk) 16:10, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

There's no reason why you shouldn't convert the redirect into an article, provided that you can include some refs which assert its notability. Maybe you could improve Norma, too, while you're at it. Have a look at what's in Category:arias and Category:opera excerpts to see what others have done. (Hmm, there seems to be a bit of overlap there, but anyway...) --GuillaumeTell 21:43, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

"Standard repertory"

The article mentions that Norma is not part of the "standard repertory" and supports that with a footnote that one would expect would be to an article discussing what the "standard repertory" and that Norma isn't part of it, but instead the footnote just mentions how many times it has been performed since 2012 "and going forward to 2016". I have no idea if the number of performances is a lot or a little. Anyway, I have suggested elsewhere that an article about the "standard repertory" might be a good thing. I am not an expert on this topic whatsoever. :-) Thomas144 (talk) 15:29, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

You raise an interesting point, and it is possible that many of us regard the term somewhat differently, although, generally, in my opinion it consists of operas which are performed virtually everywhere by every opera company from time to time.

One way of describing them might be as "bread and butter operas": i.e. those performed as general audience-pleasers (the A-B-Cs of opera: Aida / Boheme / Carmen) which have remained in the repertoire for many years and re-appear frequently. Now, that does not mean that the standard rep. cannot change and that certain opera can achieve a degree of popularity which causes them to continue to re-appear throughout the opera world......

When the WP:Opera group created List of important operas#References and developed some firm criteria for inclusion, they were addressing the issue of "Important" operas which, of course, is somewhat different. Norma appears on that list, but it is certainly not performed as often as (say) La traviata. Therefore, I've done a search for Trav and added the following to the reference: "in contrast, the same database reveals the following over the same time period in regard to La traviata: "2282 performances of 431 productions, in 266 cities".

However, there still may be a point in someone creating an article on the standard rep. Viva-Verdi (talk) 20:14, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Yes, Thomas144, you raise an interesting point. In the mid-20th century when there were divas who could sing this, e.g. Maria Callas and Montserrat Caballé, it was performed much more often. However, Callas was such a legend in the role that many modern sopranos confess they are reluctant to take it on. In the 20 years I've been going to the Royal Opera House, I think they've only put it one once, and that was a (very)semi-staged performance. And of course, it was hugely popular in its day. So standard repertory can be a shifting term. I think Viva-Verdi's edits in response to your query are a big improvement. Voceditenore (talk) 16:59, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Added info box for this opera

Any comments? Viva-Verdi (talk) 15:00, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

Errors in Modern Times chapter of Norma (opera)

It has come to my attention that in the chapter "Modern Times" of the above entry, the first three performances of this opera with Maria Callas in the lead role are listed as 1)Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1952), Lyric Opera of Chicago(1954) and Metropolitan Opera of New York(1956). However, the correct listing of the three first performances with Callas is as follows: 1)Teatro Comunale in Florence (1948), Teatro Cólon, Buenos Aires (1949) and 3)La Fenice, Venice (1950). The first two were with maestro Tullio Serafin and the third with Antonino Votto of La Scala of Milan.

I would like to correct these errors for the improvement of the entry and would appreciate it if any wikipedians would like to differ. Of course, I will add all the necessary bibliography of reliable sources. --Bastias (talk) 17:24, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

mis-copied

I can only think that the following is mis-copied from the unnamed source. Oh yeah that means "after rehearing the entire second on the day of the premiere" 108.18.136.147 (talk) 17:33, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

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