Editing Vincenzo Bellini (section)

=== ''Il pirata'' for Milan ===
The collaboration with Romani on ''Il pirata'' began in May 1827 and, by August, the music was being written. By then, the composer was aware that he was to write music for his favourite tenor [[Giovanni Battista Rubini]] and the soprano was to be [[Henriette Méric-Lalande]]. Both singers had starred in ''Bianca'' in the original 1826 production. The strong cast also included [[Antonio Tamburini]], a major bass-baritone of the time. But rehearsals did not progress without some difficulties, as both Weinstock and Galatopoulos recount: it appears that Bellini found Rubini, while singing beautifully, to be lacking expressiveness: he was urged to "throw yourself with all your soul into the character you are representing" and to use [your] body, "to accompany your singing with gestures", as well as to act with [your] voice.{{sfn|Galatopoulos|2002|p=64}} It appears that Bellini's exhortations bore fruit, based on his own account of the audience's reactions to the first performance,<ref name=WEIN40>{{harvnb|Weinstock|1971|pp=40–41}}</ref> as well as the reaction of the ''[[Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano]]'' of 2 December which noted that this opera "introduced us to Rubini's dual personality as a singer and actor". The reviewer continued to declare that this duality had never been expressed in other operas in which he had performed.<ref>''Gazzetta privilegiata'' review, in {{harvnb|Galatopoulos|2002|pp=67–68}}</ref>

The premiere, given on 17 October 1827, was "an immediate and then an increasing, success. By Sunday, December 2, when the season ended, it had been sung to fifteen full houses".<ref name=WEIN40 /> For Rubini, "it marked the defining performance for the tenor",<ref name=EIS/> and the newspaper reviews which followed all agreed with the composer's own assessment.{{sfn|Weinstock|1971|p=42}}

After its Milanese debut, the opera received very successful performances in Vienna in February 1828 and also in Naples three months later. Both productions starred Rubini, Tamburini, and—in the role of Imogene—Rubini's wife, Adelaide Comelli-Rubini, about whom Bellini had initial misgivings, although it appears that she acquitted herself very well. By this time, Bellini had begun to achieve international fame.{{sfn|Weinstock|1971|pp=43–44}}