Definition of
puritanical
Puritan is an adjective that derives from puritans, a term from the English language. It is used to qualify that individual who defends and spreads his attachment to moral rules considered as virtuous and accepted by the majority of society. Said attachment can be real or exaggerated by the subject in question.
For example: “Some puritanical authorities did not accept that the singer appeared in that costume”, “I hate people who pretend to be puritanical but who, indoors, give themselves up to any vice”, “Please don’t repeat that in front of my parents: they are elderly and puritanical people”.
- a religious congregation
- The Puritans of Scotland
- A challenge for Bellini
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a religious congregation
Another use of the concept is used to name the member of a certain religious congregation which developed in the United Kingdom during the century XVI: he Puritanism. The Puritans, in this sense, were reformers who called for the Church Anglican to break with Roman Catholicism.
The Puritans held that God was the highest authority on any subject in the world. human being. Only divine grace had the ability to change people. peoplewho had to live according to God’s precepts as thanks to his mercy.
Puritan values included constant reading and analysis of the Bible and the consecration of all Sundays to God. The highest objective of the Puritan community was to maintain the purity of morality in all areas of life: in this way, they thought they were fulfilling what God wanted from the human being and, therefore, they would access the Paradise.
It can serve you: Paradise
The Puritans of Scotland
It is an opera by the Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, with a libretto by Carlo Pepoli and based on the work «Roundheads and Knights«, by Jacques-François Ancelot and X. Boniface Saintine (it should be mentioned that the expression round heads refers to the Puritans). The premiere of this magnificent work took place in Paris in 1835, at the Théâtre Italien, and it was the last of the great Bellini, who lost his life shortly after the premiere.
Regarding the script, which for many lacks solidity, The Puritans of Scotland tells the love story between Arturo and Elvira in the midst of the civil war that pitted the Puritan community against the royalists, who supported Oliver Cromwell and the house of the Stuarts, respectively.
The music of this opera is among the best accomplished and most polished Bellini has ever achieved, and contains many notable moments, especially from the leading soprano and tenor roles, to which he demanded a vocal dexterity unlike few others. composers. One of these demands on a technical level, probably the greatest of the entire work, is found a few minutes from the end: the tenor must play a high FA in his last piece, something that very few singers can do; instead, most opt for a lower note (a D flat).
See also: Scotland
A challenge for Bellini
It is said that Bellini felt a lot of pressure while composing The Puritans (short name by which this work is known), since it was the first time that he would present his work in front of the public in Paris, and that Rossini gave him his support given the success which he had enjoyed in France for some time.
In fact, the composer took nine months to complete its creation, much longer than was customary at the time, and the structure of the opera underwent more than one drastic change, such as the division into three acts shortly after the premiere, instead of the initial two. Among the obstacles that Bellini had to face while working on The Puritans of Scotland was the inexperience of the librettist, although this did not prevent this opera from transcending and becoming a treasure of Italian music.
Follow on: Drastic