• Vincenzo Bellini. Opera semiseria in three acts.
• Libretto by Andre Leone Tottola, after the novella Adelson et Salvini: Anecdote anglaise by François-Thomas de Baculard d’Arnaud.
• First performance at the Conservatorio di S Sebastiano, Naples, c. 12th February 1825.

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CHARACTERS

Lord Adelson	baritone
Salvini, his friend, an Italian painter	tenor
Nelly, an orphan, betrothed to Lord Adelson	soprano
Fanny, a young dependant of Lord Adelson	mezzo-soprano
Madama Rivers, governess in Lord Adelson’s house	mezzo-soprano
Struley, a proscribed nobleman, enemy of Lord Adelson	bass
Bonifacio, servant of Salvini	comic bass
Geronio, confidant of Struley	bass

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Set in Ireland in the 17th century, the plot revolves around the love of Salvini for Nelly, who rejects him, to his despair. Struley, however, plans, with Salvini’s help, to abduct Nelly, resulting in her apparent death. In the third act Salvini is on trial for the murder of Nelly, which he admits, but when she turns out to be alive after all, Salvini finds himself no longer under her spell, allowing her to marry Lord Adelson.

Bellini later revised Adelson e Salvini, his first opera, written during his days as a student, but it never earned a professional performance. The libretto has obvious improbabilities, not least the revival of orphan Nelly in the third act, later largely to be cut for Bellini’s revised two-act version of the work.