Vincenzo Bellini

Born into a musical family in Sicily in 1801, Bellini earned a scholarship to Naples' Real Collegio di Musica, where he studied the Neapolitan School and watched Rossini and Donizetti operas ignite the stage. His first opera, Adelson e Salvini, was written for the conservatory in 1825; the next year came Bianca e Fernando, commissioned for promising students. Milan's La Scala came calling, and Il pirata in 1827 launched a career that would burn bright and brief. I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La sonnambula, and Norma followed in quick succession between 1830 and 1831, the last ascending only gradually to its place in the repertoire. After a trip to London, he composed I puritani, which premiered triumphantly at Paris' Théâtre-Italien in 1835. He died weeks later in Puteaux, France, on 23 September 1835, leaving ten operas and a model of lyric expression that composers still study.