A te, o cara (I puritani)

Bellini's last opera was written in Paris for the Théâtre-Italien, to a libretto by Count Carlo Pepoli, a political exile with no experience of writing for the stage; their correspondence shows Bellini teaching him the trade line by line. The premiere on 24 January 1835 was sung by the four artists known afterwards as the Puritani quartet — Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini and Lablache. Bellini wrote to their particular capacities, and the tenor part sits notoriously high. He died in September of the same year, at thirty-three, with the Paris success still fresh.