Giulia Grisi in her, she was the first to play the part of Adalgisa in Bellini's "Norma" in Milan, in which the dramatic soprano Giuditta Pasta took the title role. Grisi appeared in Paris in 1832 in the title role of Semiramide in Rossini's opera and was a great success; in 1834 she made her debut in London as Ninetta in "La gazza ladra"; and, again in Paris, in 1835 she created the role of Elvira in the premiere of Bellini's final opera, "I puritani" at the Théâtre-Italien. In 1842, Donizetti wrote the parts of Norina and Ernesto in "Don Pasquale" for
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