ADALGISA Mme. GRISI.
POLLIONE Sig. DONZELLI.

It was first heard in London in 1833, and in Paris in 1855, and
Planché's English version of it was produced at Drury Lane in 1837.
The scene of the opera is laid among the Druids, in Gaul, after its
occupation by the Roman legions. In the first scene the Druids enter
with Oroveso, their priest, to the impressive strains of a religious
march which is almost as familiar as a household word. The priest
announces that Norma, the high priestess, will come and cut the sacred
branch and give the signal for the expulsion of the Romans. The next
scene introduces Pollione, the Roman proconsul, to whom Norma, in
defiance of her faith and traditions, has bound herself in secret
marriage, and by whom she has had two children. In a charmingly
melodious scena ("Meco all' altar di Venere") he reveals his
faithlessness and guilty love for Adalgisa, a young virgin of the
temple, who has consented to abandon her religion and fly with him to
Rome. In the fourth scene Norma enters attended by her priestesses,
and denounces the Druids for their warlike disposition, declaring that
the time has not yet come for shaking off the yoke of Rome, and that
when it does she will give the signal from the altar of the Druids.
After cutting the sacred mistletoe, she comes forward and invokes
peace from the moon in that exquisite prayer, "Casta Diva," which
electrified the world with its beauty and tenderness, and still holds
its place in popular favor, not alone by the grace of its
embellishments, but by the pathos of its melody. It is followed by
another cavatina of almost equal beauty and tenderness ("Ah! bello a
me ritorna"). In the next scene Adalgisa, retiring from the sacred
rites, sings of her love for Pollione, and as she closes is met by the
proconsul, who once more urges her to fly to Rome with him. The duet