About the work
Opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to a libretto by Felice Romani, first performed on 27 October 1827 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. It was based on the French melodrama 'Bertram, ou le Pirate' by Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor, itself derived from Charles Robert Maturin's tragedy 'Bertram' (1816).
Plot
The exiled count Gualtiero, now a pirate, is shipwrecked on the coast of Sicily, close to the castle of his rival Ernesto, who has forced Gualtiero's former betrothed Imogene into marriage. When Gualtiero and Imogene meet again, their old conflict flares up: Gualtiero kills Ernesto in a duel and surrenders himself to justice, while the despairing Imogene loses her mind.
Cultural significance
Il pirata was Bellini's first major success. He wrote the title role for the star tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, with whom he later also worked on 'La sonnambula' and 'I puritani', helping to establish the high-lying, emotionally exposed bel canto tenor.