 During his years in Italy Meyerbeer became acquainted with , and impressed by , the works of his contemporary <unk> Rossini , who by 1816 , at the age of 24 , was already director of both major opera houses in Naples and in the same year premiered his operas The <unk> of Seville and <unk> . Meyerbeer wrote a series of Italian operas on <unk> models , including <unk> e <unk> ( Padua , 1817 ) , <unk> <unk> ( Turin , 1819 ) , Emma di <unk> ( Venice , 1819 ) , <unk> d <unk> ( Milan 1820 ) and L <unk> di <unk> ( Milan 1821 ) . All but the last two of these had libretti by Gaetano Rossi , whom Meyerbeer continued to support until the latter 's death in 1855 , although not commissioning any further libretti from him after Il crociato in Egitto ( 1824 ) . During a visit to Sicily in 1816 , Meyerbeer noted down a number of <unk> , and these in fact constitute the earliest collection of folk music of the region . In a birthday <unk> from Rossi 's wife in 1817 occurs the earliest use discovered of Meyerbeer 's adopted <unk> ' Giacomo ' . 
