On 25 May 1849 Vincenzo Bellini's opera Norma was premiered at the Teatro de la Victoria in Buenos Aires. It was performed four years before the downfall of Juan Manuel de Rosas, Governor of Buenos Aires for more than 20 years, in what it has been considered in Argentine historiography as a ‘terror regime’. The success of the opera combined with the political situation enables the understanding of Norma in political terms. A year prior to the premiere of the opera, the story of the elopement of a young, aristocratic, federal girl, Camila O'Gorman with the priest Uladislao Gutiérrez, had shocked local society. It was followed by another shocking event when, once the couple was found, Rosas decided to have them executed. I argue that the inadvertent similarity between the plot of Norma and the events in relation to Camila O'Gorman's death led to possible interpretations of the opera performance as a justification of Rosas's decision to execute Camila and her lover, whilst also providing a moral lesson to young aristocratic women. In this article, I therefore explore the plausible political overtones hidden in the performance of Norma by comparing librettos and analysing the opera's reception between 1849 and 1851 in the periodicals of the time. In this way, I cast light on a heretofore overlooked, but undeniably rich, period of operatic life in Buenos Aires.

1849 年 5 月 25 日，Vincenzo Bellini 的歌剧《诺玛》在布宜诺斯艾利斯的维多利亚剧院首演。它是在担任布宜诺斯艾利斯总督 20 多年的胡安·曼努埃尔·德·罗萨斯倒台前四年举行的，在阿根廷史学中，它被认为是一个“恐怖政权”。歌剧的成功与政治形势相结合，使人们能够从政治角度理解诺玛。歌剧首演前一年，年轻的贵族联邦少女卡米拉·奥戈曼 (Camila O'Gorman) 与牧师乌拉迪斯劳·古铁雷斯 (Uladislao Gutiérrez) 私奔的故事震惊了当地社会。紧随其后的是另一起令人震惊的事件，当这对夫妇被发现后，罗萨斯决定处决他们。我认为情节之间的无意相似性诺玛和与卡米拉·奥戈曼之死有关的事件导致人们可能将歌剧表演解释为罗萨斯决定处决卡米拉和她的情人的理由，同时也为年轻的贵族女性上了一堂道德课。因此，在这篇文章中，我通过比较剧本和分析 1849 年至 1851 年间当时期刊对这部歌剧的接受情况，探讨了诺玛表演中隐藏的似是而非的政治色彩。通过这种方式，我了解了布宜诺斯艾利斯一段迄今被忽视但不可否认丰富的歌剧生活。