I puritani (The Puritans) is an opera by Vincenzo Bellini. It was originally written in two acts and later changed to three acts on the advice of Gioachino Rossini, with whom the young composer had become friends. The music was set to a libretto by Count Carlo Pepoli, an Italian émigré poet whom Bellini had met at a salon run by the exile Princess Belgiojoso, which became a meeting place for many Italian revolutionaries.
The subject was Têtes Rondes et Cavalieres (Roundheads and Cavaliers), a historical play written by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which some sources state was based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality, while others state that there is no connection.
I puritani and premiered it on January 24th, 1835 at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, France.
Bellini’s I puritans takes place in England during the English Civil War in the 1640s. As a result, the country was divided by those who support the crown (the Royalists) and those who support the Parliament (the Puritans).
Cast:
Elvira - Joan Sutherland
Arturo - Luciano Pavarotti
Riccardo - Piero Cappuccilli
Giorgio - Nicolai Ghiaurov
Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus
London Symphony
Richard Bonynge - conductor
DECCA - 1975