Col sorriso d'innocenza (Il pirata)

Il pirata, first given at La Scala on 27 October 1827, was Bellini's first work for a major theatre and the start of his collaboration with Felice Romani, who adapted it from a French melodrama descended in turn from Maturin's tragedy Bertram. The composer wrote the leading tenor part for Giovanni Battista Rubini and worked with him on the delivery of the words, insisting that the vocal line follow their sense rather than a fixed pattern. Imogene's closing scene, a mad scene in all but name, established a type Bellini would return to repeatedly.