Composers Datebook

“We are NOT amused,” is the dour statement often attributed to the matronly Queen Victoria in her later years, although some historians dispute she ever really said it. But as a young woman, in her diary Queen Victoria’s did write, “I was VERY MUCH amused indeed!” after seeing the Italian opera singer Giulia Grisi on stage. The young Queen was something of a fan, and even made a drawing of the then-famous singer in a role she created: that of Elvira in Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “I Puritani,” or “The Puritans,” which debuted in Paris on today’s date in 1835. When Bellini’s brand-new opera came to London later that same year, with Grisi in the cast, the young Queen Victoria attended several performances, and the opera she called “Dear Puritani” became a life-long favorite, perhaps because it was the first she attended with her husband-to-be, the young Prince Albert. The opera is set in 17th century England during the Civil War between Royalist supporters of the deposed King Charles I and Puritan rebels led by Oliver Cromwell, and its plot involves a Romeo and Juliet-like love story between a delicate Puritan soprano and a dashing Royalist tenor. Unlike Shakespeare’s tragedy, however, Bellini’s opera provides a happy ending for the politics-crossed young lovers.