In 1833, the year of Beatrice di Tenda , Bellini was a conscious, highly paid artist, who wrote far less than his colleagues. His favourite librettist, Felice Romani , was a conscious and well-regarded poet, but he was ill paid and wrote some 90 librettos in just 20 years. John Roselli asks what it was about the Italian opera business that caused the two to fall out.
8.15 Act 2