Editing Vincenzo Bellini (section)

=== ''Adelson e Salvini'' ===
[[File:Adelson e Salvini autograph.jpg|thumb|''Adelson e Salvini'': autograph of the score]]
The impetus to write this opera came about in late summer of 1824, when his ''primo maestrino'' status at the conservatory resulted in an assignment to compose an opera for presentation in the institute's ''teatrino''.<ref name=WEIN-ED/> This became ''[[Adelson e Salvini]]'', an ''opera semi-seria'' (half-serious) to a libretto by the Neapolitan [[Andrea Leone Tottola]], who had written the one for Donizetti's ''La zingara''. ''Adelson'' was first given sometime between mid-January and mid-March 1825,<ref>{{harvnb|Weinstock|1971|pp=37–38}}: Weinstock explains that the reason for the uncertainty over the exact date is due to a series of deaths of prominent people (including Bourbon King Ferdinand I) which caused all public entertainment to stop during periods of mourning.</ref> and featured an all-male cast of fellow students. It proved to be so popular among the student body that it was performed every Sunday for a year.

With that achievement behind him, it is believed that the young Bellini, who had been away from home for six years, set out for Catania to visit his family. However, some sources attribute the visit to 1824, others to 1825. However, it is known that he was back in Naples by the summer or early autumn of 1825 in order to fulfill a contract to write an opera for the San Carlo or one of the other royal theatres, the Teatro Fondo.{{sfn|Weinstock|1971|p=30}}