La donna del lago to Naples in early June with no projects in the offing, except to become involved with overseeing a new production of his "La gazza ladra" there. Also, a commission from Milan's La Scala for an opera, which would become "Bianca e Falliero", had been offered and was planned for December of that year. Suddenly, the Italian composer Gaspare Spontini withdrew from a commitment to write two operas for the Naples house that season, thus leaving a huge gap. Rossini was quickly asked to write an opera for a September premiere; rather than use an existing libretto, the house insisted upon
The Taming of the Shrew late to save him. Starring Aureliano Pertile and Mercedes Llopart, it was first performed at La Scala in Milan. Rudolf Karel's "The Taming of the Shrew" is an unfinished opera upon which he worked between 1942 and 1944. Philip Greeley Clapp's "The Taming of the Shrew" (1948) was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera. Vittorio Giannini's "The Taming of the Shrew" (1953) is an opera buffa, with libretto by Giannini and Dorothy Fee. It was first performed at the Cincinnati Music Hall, starring Dorothy Short and Robert Kircher. Vissarion Shebalin's "Ukroshchenye stroptivoy" (1957), with libretto by Abram Akimovich Gozenpud, was