Opera in Two Acts. Music by Vincenzo Bellini
Libretto by Felice Romani, from the ballet-pantomime “La somnambule, ou L’arrivée d’un nouveau seigneur” by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer.

Second title of the 2019/20 opera season, Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) returns to the stage at the Teatro Sociale in Como for two performances, on Thursday 24th October and Saturday 26th October, in a co-production with the theatres of OperaLombardia and Ópera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, under the direction of Raúl Vázquez, with set design by Sergio Loro, costumes by Claudio Martín, lighting by Vincenzo Raponi, and Leonardo Sini as conductor.

The opera semiseria in two acts was composed in as little as two months (January – February 1831), mainly in Moltrasio, to debut at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 6th March 1831.
The subject, of pure romantic evanescence, with a completely innocent plot – therefore not susceptible to censorship – was taken from “La Somnambule, ou L’arrivée d’un nouveau seigneur”, a ballet-pantomime (1827) by the very same Scribe, reworked by Felice Romani, author of the libretto.
The first performer to take on the role of Anima was Giuditta Pasta, the soprano who found a home in Blevio since 1827, at Villa Roda, where she had the opportunity to frequently host Vincenzo Bellini, Felice Romani and his wife – the poet Emilia Branca -, Stendhal, Gioachino Rossini and influential intellectuals of the time. This milieu, which facilitated the happy association between composer, librettist, the first female performer, and the landscape inspiration (a bucolic place, a village at the foot of the Alps) makes La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) the most emblematic title linked to Lake Como, despite the fact that Lario had already provided inspiration for important operas (for example, “Tancredi” by Rossini in 1813, “La Straniera” by Bellini in 1829, and the last notes of Anna Bolena by Donizetti in 1830).