of the opera to do" and that "I hope to go onstage here on 6 March if I am able to finish the opera and prepare it." As it turned out, Bellini was only able to prepare the opera for rehearsals by deleting sections of the libretto as well as some of the music for the finale. To create more time for Bellini to finish, at La Fenice Lanari padded the programme with older works or revivals, but that allowed only eight days for Beatrice before the scheduled end of the season. Not surprisingly, the audience greeted the opening night on 16 March with little enthusiasm, especially after Romani's plea for "the reader's full indulgence" appeared in the libretto, but at the following two performances there was a large crowd. For Bellini, his opera "was not unworthy of her sisters". The break with Romani There then began what Herbert Weinstock describes in over twelve pages of text, which include the long letters written by both sides in the dispute: The journalistic storm over Beatrice di Tenda was about to evolve into the bitterest, most convoluted, and—at our distance from it—most amusing polemic in the annals of early nineteenth-century Italian opera. Three days before the premiere, the Venetian daily, the Gazzetta privilegiata di Venezia, had published a letter purportedly written to its editor by 'A.B.' of Fonzaso, in Weinstein's view most certainly fabricated by Tommaso Locatelli, the musically sophisticated man who edited the paper. In the letter, he complained about the delay in the production of Beatrice as the end of the season became closer. Weinstock assumes that it is Locatelli who replied to "A.B.", asserting that Bellini and Romani were trying to achieve perfection before taking the opera to London. Then a torrent of anti-Beatrice letters appeared after the first performance, followed by a pro-Bellini reply, signed "A friend of M. Bellini". This letter removes the blame from Bellini and lays it at the feet of Romani, outlining the timetable for the delivery of the libretto, which was contracted to be due in two parts: one in October and then the second in November. The author states that, except for a limited amount of text, nothing had been received by mid-January and the piece continues by describing the legal proceedings taken by Bellini and the various setbacks which occurred even after Romani arrived in Venice. On 2 April, this provoked