225 Journal of Music Theory 56:2, Fall 2012 DOI 10.1215/00222909-1650415 © 2012 by Yale University Tonal Structures in Bellini William Rothstein Abstract The operas of Vincenzo Bellini (1801–35) exhibit compositional traits that, in North American scholarship, have generally been associated with German composers, especially Wagner. Close analysis of passages from Norma, La straniera, and other operas establishes the prevalence in Bellini of tonal pairing, usually (but not always) involving relative keys. The sonorità or focal melodic pitch, long associated with Verdi’s operas, is found to play a unifying role in the second-act finale of Norma. Issues of reception history, text criticism, and analytical methodology are also discussed. the operas of vincenzo bellini (1801–35) deserve close musical analysis, using the most sophisticated methods available. Despite the large and grow- ing literature on the composer, little analysis has been done that answers this description. The extended analyses offered here, and in a previous study by the present author (Rothstein 2008), are the first of their kind. In the present essay, these large-scale analyses are preceded by analyses of shorter passages. Bellini is not the only Italian composer to be neglected. North American theorists have rarely concerned themselves with opera by Italians, especially Italians who fall within the quarter-millenium that separates Monteverdi from Giuseppe Verdi. Italian opera of the early nineteenth century—Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and their contemporaries—has received special scorn, echo- ing that meted out by nineteenth-century German critics. This is no coinci- dence. As many observers have argued, North American music theory was founded on German Romantic aesthetics and its early twentieth-century Viennese prolongations. It continues to reflect that heritage, as a recent sur- vey by Joseph Straus confirms (Straus 2011). 1 Why analyze Bellini? To those to whom the answer is not self-evident, I would say: Bellini was an important musical innovator, comparable to Schubert (1797–1828). Techniques that became common later in the century, 1 Of Society of Music Theory papers that examined a specific repertoire, 31 percent focused on Austro-German music, 23 percent on American music, and 13 percent on music by composers from Eastern Europe, including Rus- sia; the rest of the world accounted for the remaining 33 percent. Straus comments, “Whatever diversity our field can claim, it is not apparent geographically” (2011). I wish to thank Daniil Zavlunov for help locating early editions and for his comments on an early draft of this article.