I Puritani

England in the civil war between royalist cavaliers and puritans under Cromwell. Elvira dreams out of the walls of the Puritan Fortress, besieged by royalty, her father orders. Against her will, she is to be married to the Puritan Riccardo. Escaping compulsory marriage, Elvira clings to her “second father,” Uncle Giorgio. It allows her to do what the Puritans have forbidden: the pleasure of dressing up, the love of the theater, and the love of music. Since her celebrated premiere in Paris in 1835, Vincenzo Bellini’s last opera ambassador is the melodic-harmonic delimitation of an ecstatic bel canto.