Norma is an opera with a reputation. For nearly two centuries it has been admired as the finest of Bellini’s ten operas and the greatest opera composed during the bel canto era. So much so that other significant composers of Bellini’s time and afterwards have paid tribute. Liszt created a pugilistic fantasy for solo piano on themes from Norma. Chopin appropriated a piercing melody from the opera for the most poignant of his piano Etudes. (The Polish composer also wanted to be buried next to Bellini in a Paris cemetery, and he was.) Wagner conducted a production of Norma in [...]