Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania".

Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before'."A large amount of what is known about Bellini's life and his activities comes from surviving letters—except for a short period—which were written over his lifetime to his friend Francesco Florimo, whom he had met as a fellow student in Naples and with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. Other sources of information come from correspondence saved by other friends and business acquaintances.