Filippo Galli (bass) 26 September 1812. His performance in the "Sigillara" aria was the hit of the immensely successful opera. His collaboration with Rossini increased: on 22 May 1813 he sang Mustafà in the premiere of "L'italiana in Algeri" at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice. Rossini then composed numerous other bass parts specifically for Galli. On 14 August 1814 he appeared in "Il turco in Italia" at La Scala; on 31 May 1817 (again at La Scala), in the very difficult role of Fernando in "La gazza ladra". The title role in "Maometto II" followed on 3 December 1820 at the Teatro
La Scala into a costume. As with most of the theatres at that time, La Scala was also a casino, with gamblers sitting in the foyer. Conditions in the auditorium, too, could be frustrating for the opera lover, as Mary Shelley discovered in September 1840: At the Opera they were giving Otto Nicolai's "Templario". Unfortunately, as is well known, the theatre of La Scala serves, not only as the universal drawing-room for all the society of Milan, but every sort of trading transaction, from horse-dealing to stock-jobbing, is carried on in the pit; so that brief and far between are the snatches