remind him that he should bring the first act of the opera with him the following day "so that we can finish discussing the first act, which ... will be interesting, magnificent, and proper poetry for music in spite of you and all your absurd rules ..." At the same time, he lays out one basic rule for the librettist to follow: Carve into your head in adamantine letters: The opera must draw tears, terrify people, make them die through singing By late June, there had been considerable progress and, in a letter copied into one written to Florimo on 25 July, Bellini writes in reply to Alesandro Lanari, now the director of the Royal Theatres of Naples. Because Lanari had written to him on 10 April 1834 regarding an opera for Naples, Bellini tells him that the first act of Puritani is finished and that he expects to complete the opera by September, in order that he may then have time to write for Naples. In this letter to Lanari, the composer lays down some very strict terms, some of which received counter-offers in August, but none of which were accepted by the composer. Finally, Bellini stated that he did not want "to negotiate with anybody until I see what success my opera will have". This included a proposal from the Opéra-Comique for a new opera for them.) By September he was writing to Florimo of being able to "polish and re-polish" in the three remaining months before rehearsals and he expresses happiness with Pepoli's verses ("a very beautiful trio for the two basses and La Grisi")and by around mid-December he had submitted the score for Rossini's approval, with rehearsals planned for late December/early January. The dress rehearsal on 20 January 1835 was attended by many people—"All of high society, all the great artists, and everyone most distinguished in Paris were in the theatre, enthusiastic."—and the premiere, postponed by two days, took place on 24 January 1835. Bellini's ecstatic letter to Florimo which followed recounts the enthusiastic reception of many of the numbers throughout the performance, most especially the second act stretta so that, by its end: The French had all gone mad; there were such noise and such shouts that they themselves were astonished at being so carried away. ... In a word, my dear Florimo, it was an unheard of thing, and since Saturday, Paris has spoken