“You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labors; you took him under your protection, you neglected nothing that could increase his glory and his welfare.  After my son’s death, what have you not done to honor my son’s name and render it dear to posterity?  I learned this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude for your excessive kindness as well as for that of a number of distinguished artists, which also I shall never forget.  Pray, sir, be my interpreter, and tell these artists that the father and family of Bellini, as well as of our compatriots of Catania, will cherish an imperishable recollection of this generous conduct.  I shall never cease to remember how much you did for my son.  I shall make known everywhere, in the midst of my tears, what an affectionate heart belongs to the great Rossini, and how kind, hospitable, and full of feeling are the artists of France.”

Bellini was affable, sincere, honest, and affectionate.  Nature gave him a beautiful and ingenuous face, noble features, large, clear blue eyes, and abundant light hair.  His countenance instantly won on the regards of all that met him.  His disposition was melancholy; a secret depression often crept over his most cheerful hours.  We are told there was a tender romance in his earlier life.  The father of the lady he loved, a Neapolitan judge, refused his suit on account of his inferior social position.  When Bellini became famous the judge wished to make amends, but Bellini’s pride interfered.  Soon after the young lady, who loved him unalterably, died, and it was said the composer never recovered from the shock.

IV.

Donizetti and Bellini were peculiarly moulded by the great genius of Rossini, but in their best works they show individuality, color, and special creative activity.  The former composer, one of the most affluent in the annals of music, seemed to become more fresh in his fancies with increased production.  He is an example of how little the skill and touch, belonging to unceasing work, should be despised in comparison with what is called inspiration.  Donizetti arrived at his freshest creations at a time when there seemed but little left for him except the trite and threadbare.  There are no melodies so rich and well fancied as those to be found in his later works; and in sense of dramatic form and effective instrumentation (always a faulty point with Donizetti) he displayed great progress at the last.  It is, however, a noteworthy fact, that the latest Italian composers have shown themselves quite weak in composing expressly for the orchestra.  No operatic overture since “William Tell” has been produced by this school of music, worthy to be rendered in a concert-room.

Donizetti lacked the dramatic instinct in conceiving his music.  In attempting it he became hollow and theatric; and beautiful as are the melodies and concerted pieces in “Lucia,” where the subject ought to inspire a vivid dramatic nature with such telling effects, it is in the latter sense one of the most disappointing of operas.