that house as well as La Fenice, was negotiating with a triumvirate consisting of Count Pompeo Litta and two businessmen, their immediate concern being the engagement of singers and composers for La Scala. In order to contract with Bellini, he had to be released from his obligation to Venice; this was achieved by Litta buying out the Venice contract. When Bellini laid out his terms for writing for Milan, Litta gave him a very favourable response: "I shall earn almost twice as much as if I had composed for Crivelli [then the Venetian impresario]" he noted in a letter to his uncle. However, the group led by Duke Litta failed to come to terms with the Crivelli-Lanari-Barbaja group which continued to manage both La Scala and La Fenice. As a result, in the April–May 1830 period, Bellini was able to negotiate a contract with both the Litta group—which was planning performances in a smaller Milan house, the Teatro Carcano—and with the Crivelli group to obtain a contract for an opera for the autumn of 1831 and another for the 1832 Carnival season. These were to become Norma for La Scala and Beatrice di Tenda for La Fenice. Bellini then experienced the re-occurrence of an illness which had emerged in Venice due to pressure of work and the bad weather, but which consistently recurred after each opera and which would eventually cause his death. The gastro-enteric condition—which he describes as "a tremendous inflammatory gastric bilious fever"— resulted in his being cared for by Francesco Pollini and his wife at their home because, as Bellini wrote, "he loves me more than a son". Having recovered from his illness by the summer, Bellini went to stay near Lake Como. The need to decide on the subject for the following winter's opera became pressing, although it had already been agreed that Giuditta Pasta, who had achieved success in the Teatro Carcano in 1829 and 1830 with in several major operas, would be the principal artist. That she owned a house near Como and would be staying there over the summer was the reason that Romani traveled to meet her and Bellini. Attempts to create Ernani By 15 July they had decided on an adaptation of Victor Hugo's play, Hernani, although Weinstock speculates as to how this decision could have come about. The play's political subject matter would have been known to the group and