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
La chute de la maison Usher (opera) as Lady Madeline, the baritone Barry McDaniel as the doctor, and the bass Walter Grönroos as Roderick's friend. Blin's reconstruction was later recorded by EMI — the music has a running time of approximately 22 minutes. In 2004, Robert Orledge completed and orchestrated the work using Debussy's draft. His reconstruction has been performed several times. It has also been recorded on DVD (Capriccio 93517) (see "Recordings" below). Notes Sources La chute de la maison Usher (opera) La chute de la maison Usher ("The Fall of the House of Usher") is an unfinished opera in one act (divided into two scenes)