Giovanni Pacini: Observations on the style of his operas

The principal influence on both the formal aspects and the melody of Pacini’s operas up to ca. 1835 was Rossini. About 1840 Pacini entered a ‘seconda epoca’ [second phase], as he himself called it, in which the operas of Bellini exerted the main influence upon his works. Particularly in the use of lyric climaxes is Pacini’s imitation of Bellini evident; Pacini, however, was not able to achieve the economy of his model. In his second phase Pacini was apt to employ the hackneyed devices of a ‘maestro delle cabalette’.