An opera does not have to apologise for not being a Shakespearean tragedy. Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi shares its protagonists and tragic ending with the English playwright’s drama, but belongs to an earlier Italian tradition that had already shaped the story of the two lovers. It is not an adaptation of Shakespeare that should be judged by its fidelity to the original, but another way of telling a story that has taken many forms. To compare the two as though...

The dramatic intensity at the heart of Romeo and Juliet’s theme is such that not only can it travel in the Western culture from Shakespeare to Bernstein being reborn in each generation, but it also survives, almost intact, the heavy bel canto rhetoric.  Build upon Felice Romani’s inflamed verses up to a cliché, which at no point come from the Shakespearian referent (we only wish they did), I Capuleti e i Montecchi is still an imperfect Bellini that, although...

It is starting soft and intimate, transparent, and the melodic intonation is kept in chamber music alike. There is no oversteering of volume or emotional outflow in the conducting of Fabio Luisi, musical director of the Zurich Opera House. Everything is said about the tragedy and melancholic fate of the plot, the heroic fight for love and the sweet moments of hope and confidence. The scenic interpretation of the overture seems to be a three dimensional overflow on the fast turning...