Fanny Eckerlin has speculated on this last point that Eckerlin may have been chafing at the restrictions of her contract, as by this time she had already appeared with some success at La Scala, where she had debuted in "La gazza ladra" during the 1817–18 season. During Eckerlin's career she spent several seasons at the Teatro Italiano in Barcelona, where a claque in her honor was created, and where she won many favorable notices for her work before accepting a contract with the Salle Favart in Paris. She was a noted interpreter of Rossini, and during his tenure at the helm of
La fille du régiment beautiful and worthy for the cordial hospitality which France offers him in all her theatres, subsidized or not." Despite its bumpy start, the opera soon became hugely popular at the Opéra-Comique. During its first 80 years, it reached its 500th performance at the theatre in 1871 and its 1,000th in 1908. The opera was first performed in Italy at La Scala, Milan, on 3 October 1840, in Italian with recitatives by Donizetti replacing the spoken dialogue. It was thought "worthless" and received only six performances. It was not until 1928 when Toti Dal Monte sang Marie that the opera began