© 2001 by Oxford University Press
Théophile Gautier on Bellini: "Notice sur Norma"
The following synopsis-critique of Bellini's Norma comes from the pen of the nineteenth-century French poet, novelist, and journalist Théophile Gautier (1811–1872). The text originally figured as part of an illustrated book edited by Gautier, Jules Janin, and Philarète Chasles, titled Les beautés de l'Opéra, ou Chefs-d'oeuvre lyriques (Paris: Soulié, 1845), a collection of similar essays on popular ballets and operas seen in Paris theaters. Such commercial souvenir albums typically offered plot summaries, portraits of famous singers and dancers, and lithographs of scenes from favorite works.1 (The Norma illustrations are credited to an E. Corbould.)
The detailed descriptive passages, elaborate imagery, and evocative tone of the "Notice" reflect the drama critic Gautier's fascination with theatrical décor and pre-occupation with the aesthetic principles that formed the basis of the doctrine known as l'art pour l'art For Gautier, writing some ten years after the premiere of Bellini's opera, the Norma par excellence was Giulia ("Julia") Grisi, the writer's exact contemporary and the first Adalgisa, and who, since 1835, had been a frequent interpreter of the title role at the Paris Théêtre Italien. The writer's high opinion of her performance was perhaps not unbiased; in the early 1840s, during the preparations and run of Giselle (a ballet for which he provided the scenario), Gautier fell in love with the dancer of the title role, Carlotta Grisi (1819–1899), a cousin of the soprano, but he was unable to convince her to marry him.2 By 1844 Gautier had focused his affection on Carlotta's sister, the contralto Ernesta Grisi, who remained his domestic partner over the next twenty years.3