Dear Christian in Lübeck,

I have just had a thought about Bellini, who I think about much of the time, and listen to all I can.

His most neglected opera, and the one in scale most perfectly suited to your house, is Zaira. It is neglected, not because it flopped – like so many wonderful and successful operas – on its first night, but because Bellini seems to have taken it with nonchalance and promptly recycled some of its music into the formally and dramatically inferior Capuleti i Montecchi.

Zaira, with the usual good libretto by Romani, after Voltaire, is an Entführung aus dem Serail with an unhappy ending, but it has roughly the same ingredients, including a benevolent Muslim Pasha – Orosmane – in love with Zaira, a Christian woman (but without the boorish Osmin; instead there is an almost Iago-like strict Muslim, Corasmino). It could be subtitled ‘Der Tod in dem Serail’. It is a tragedy, and one comes away feeling equally sorry for the Christian woman and her beloved Pasha.

Of course there are nine other Bellini operas. Some are too dramatically limited (La straniera, Bianca i Fernando, La pirata), some are very demanding (Norma, Puritani), some are just very pretty (Somnambula) and some are not so good (Capuleti). His first, Adelson and Salvini, though sometimes a delightful combination of Rossini and Mozart, is too uneven. The only other one that would suit your house perfectly is Beatrice di Tenda, which is gruesome to a degree, with more grandeur, but less charm than Zaira.

With Zaira you would make a breakthrough. You would rescue a moving and wonderful work from undeserved oblivion. Opera lovers from all over would flock to Lübeck once more!

Very best – and tell me if I’m completely crazy! In which case, blame Bellini.