‘Tutti I Francesi Erano Diventati Matti’: Bellini and the Duet for Two Basses

The evening of 24 January 1835 was quite well advanced by the time Jacques-François Gallay, the first horn at the Théâtre Italien, picked up his instrument and launched himself into the solo at the beginning of the duet ‘Il rival salvar tu dêi’ in Bellini's I Puritani. ¹ It would not have occurred to him at that moment that 13 minutes later the history of music would have changed for ever. ² As is well known, this duet was so enthusiastically received by the Parisian public that the opera, which was originally in two acts, was split into three in order to accommodate an entr'acte following the duet. ³ Bellini wrote to his friend Francesco Florimo that by the end of the duet ‘the French had all gone crazy’. ⁴ Nearly two centuries later, it is still easy to understand the audience's enthusiasm, and to share the excitement of those who were hearing the cabaletta ‘Suoni la tromba e intrepido’ for the first time. ⁵