La gazza ladra Bellini's "I Puritani" starts with exactly the same words) are two examples of Rossini's brilliant vocal writing. Notes Sources La gazza ladra La gazza ladra (, The Thieving Magpie) is a "melodramma" or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini based on "La pie voleuse" by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez. The composer Giaochino Rossini wrote quickly, and "La gazza ladra" was no exception. According to legend, before the first performance of the opera, the producer assured the composition of the overture by locking Rossini in a room, from the window of
Academy of Music (New York City) role and Giuseppe Mario as Pollione headlining the performance under Max Maretzek's baton. The first season's repertoire was ambitious, and included "Semiramide" and "The Barber of Seville" by Rossini; "Norma" and "La Sonnambula" by Bellini; and "Don Pasquale", "Lucrezia Borgia", "La Favorita" and "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Donizetti. Maretzek's company performed an annual season at the Academy through 1878. His company was not the only group active at the opera house as the theater during this time. Musicologist George Whitney Martin writes: New York's Academy of Music, from 1854 to 1883 the city's leading house for opera, did not offer