A Flower Fades Too Soon

Vincenzo Bellini died tragically young, at the age of just 33. His funeral was attended by the musicians and artists of Paris, 350 singers performed a mass, a quartet of the greatest opera singers of the day performed one of Bellini's arias, and composers Rossini and Cherubini were pallbearers.

We hear the final scene of the opera Beatrice di Tenda with the great 20th Century exponent of Bellini heroines, Joan Sutherland singing the title role, the duet Suoni le tromba from Bellini's final opera I Puritani, and the aria Ah! non credea mirarti / Sì presto estinto, o fiore from La Sonnambula sung by Maria Callas, which is the inscription on Bellini's tomb in Catania: 'Oh, flower, I did not believe you would fade so soon'. Presented by Donald Macleod.