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
Norma (opera) engaged by La Scala for her debut during the following season. Bellini and Romani then began to consider the subject of the coming autumn's opera. By the summer, they had decided to base it on Alexandre Soumet's play which was being performed in Paris at around that time and which Pasta would have seen. For the forthcoming autumn/winter season, La Scala had engaged Giulia Grisi (the sister of Giuditta Grisi) and the well-known tenor Domenico Donzelli, who had made a name for himself with Rossini roles, especially that of Otello. They would fill the roles of Adalgisa and Pollione. Donzelli