Italian Bellini Stamps of 1935

This article features the set of Italian Bellini stamps of 1935 that honor the centennial of Vincenzo Bellini’s death. As regular readers of this blog know, composers are a popular theme on postage stamps. As political documents, governments like to lift up composers as examples of the great achievements of the people of the country. In western music, the composer also has a special place of admiration and appreciation. For this reason, countries celebrate their own composers and take great pride in their music. This makes them perfect figures to depict on postage stamps.

The first composer stamps are from a century ago, when Austria made a set of composer stamps in 1922. Slowly, other countries also began to celebrate famous composers. Another early set was a trio of German stamps from 1935. There were a few other stamps in the intervening years and from around that time. The set of Italian Bellini stamps of 1935 is also among those very early stamps honoring composers. What is astonishing about this set is that there are eleven stamps that all honor Bellini! It is an incredibly large group of stamps devoted to a single person and especially a composer. This post will explore those stamps and the composer they honor.

For those unfamiliar with the music of Bellini, perhaps it would be nice to start with some music. Here is a fantastic performance by Maria Callas singing the aria “Casta Diva” from Bellini’s Norma.

Vincenzo Bellini

The Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1801. Both his father and grandfather were musicians, serving as organists and teachers. Vincenzo was a child prodigy, who, legend says was singing an aria at eighteen-months old, was studying music theory at two, piano at three, and was composing by six. By the age of fifteen, he was living with his grandfather and it is then that his mature musical compositions really began.

Among these early works include two settings of the Mass as well as songs and orchestral works. The city fathers of Catani, acknowledging his prodigious talent, gave him funds to study in Naples for four years, beginning in 1819.

The focus of his study as a composer at that time was to train by learning the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart, and the opera and choral works of the Italian classical era, namely Pergolesi and Paisiello. While taking his studies seriously, Bellini also was able to meet the composer Gaetano Donizetti. In addition, he was able to hear works by the composer then taking Italy and Europe by storm, Gioachino Rossini. Seeing the latter’s opera Semiramide was especially impactful on the young Bellini

Opera

After leaving the conservatory, it was in 1825 that Bellini began work on what was to be his first professionally produced opera. He chose to work with the young writer Domenico Gilardoni to write the libretto for what would become Bianca e Gernando. The premiere performance was very successful. The King was in attendance and broke royal protocol by applauding the work. Donizetti was also there and thought very highly of the opera.

The success of his first opera led to a commission in 1827 for a new work for La Scala in Milan. It was there that he met the librettist Felice Romani who was to be his primary collaborator. Their first joint project was the opera Il pirata, which premiered in 1827. Il pirata was another success and went on to have performances in 1828 in both Vienna and Naples. His next work was a complete reworking of his earlier work, Bianca, for a theater in Genoa in 1828.

His works after this came fast, there was La straniera, which had its premiere on February 14, 1829 in Milan, followed closely by Zaira, which opened three months later on May 29th in Parma. In 1830, he wrote I Capuleti e i Montecchi for a theater in Venice. Then, in 1831, he wrote probably his two greatest works, La sonnambula for the Teatro Carcano in Milan and Norma for La Scalla. In 1833, he wrote Beatrice di Tenda once again for a Venetian audience.

Paris

Following trips to London and Paris, Bellini received a commission for an opera for a Parisian theater. However, up until then, his collaborator was the librettist Felice Romani who had written the plays for all of Bellini’s previous works. The two had a falling out and their last joint work together was Beatrice. In order to write for the Parisian theater, Bellini needed a new work.

The writer he chose to work with was Count Carlo Pepoli, except that this Italian author living in Paris had never written for the opera stage. This was to cause delays and consternation for Bellini. It was only in January of 1835 that the work I puritani was finally presented.

Then, tragedy befell. Bellini was struck with what was later determined to by dysentery and after thirteen days in bed died on September 25th of 1835. He was not yet thirty-four years old.

Bellini’s death was a huge loss for the music world. Composers such as Rossini and Donizetti, as well as the libretist Felice Romani, were all a part of the memorializing the great composer. In his works, Bellini became known for his ability to write beautiful melodies. It is why his operas are still performed two centuries later and are still audience favorites.

The Stamps

The 1935 set of Bellini stamps constitutes an enormous set dedicated to a single person, with eleven separate stamps. At the time of their creation, Italy was under the control of the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. Bellini’s compositions were uncontroversial and beloved by opera fans. The choice of Bellini for such a large set of stamps seems to have been a celebration of Italian culture and the high art of opera. Perhaps, for a nationalist like Mussolini, this was part of an ideology of Italian superiority.

The designer for the set was Giuseppe Rondini. His designs start rather simple and straight forward, but grow more abstract and idealistic through the set. The first four stamps in the set are rather boring. They merely feature a portrait of Bellini. All four are exactly the same, except that they are of different denominations and printed in different colors. In the portrait, the composer is a young man with short curly hair. It is not clear that the image comes from an actual portrait, or if Rondini drew it himself based on available images. The style very much reminds me of the set of four stamps from 1924 that honors Rossini

Bellini Museum in Catania

The next two stamps are much more interesting visually and honor Bellini’s roots in Catania. The first of these is a red stamp that shows Bellini’s piano, which is from the Bellini Museum in the house where Bellini grew up. The second stamp, in gray, shows the entrance to that house. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find images of this museum or its contents on the internet and I cannot verify that the instrument is currently housed in this building.

Airmail Stamps

I find the next three stamps even more interesting. The three stamps have identical imagery, but they are airmail stamps of different denominations and each printed a different color. They feature a woman playing a harp, perhaps of a type meant to evoke the ancient world. She sits alongside a very calm sea. I interpret the ocean as referring to Bellini’s roots on the island of Catania. I have found other descriptions that identify the figure as a muse. While I do not fully understand how it specifically relates to Bellini, I interpret the stamp as a rather abstract notion of musical inspiration. It associates Bellini with the classical arts and elevates him and his music to a heroic stature.

Finally, the last two stamps are again a bit abstract. One, printed in purple, shows two angels playing instruments. Its a little like the previous stamp with the muse. Are the angels playing Bellini’s music? Are they playing a dirge to mourn his loss? A song to welcome him to heaven? It is a little difficult to understand, except that once again it elevates his music and stature to a higher plane. The final stamp is perhaps a bit more mundane, it features a scene from Bellini’s opera La sonnambula with a village and a mountainous landscape behind.

A Cover

Finally, I am very pleased to have a cover with eight of the Bellini stamps, including four of the airmail stamps. According to the cancellations, the piece began on the island of Capri near Sorrento, Italy on the 28th of November, 1935. It was sent to Cape Town, South Africa via the Italian port city of Brindisi. Unfortunately, there are no cancels on the back revealing its arrival. It is a great piece to add to my collection of these 1935 Italian Bellini stamps!