This play was itself based upon a French translation of the five-act verse tragedy Bertram, or The Castle of St. Aldobrand by Charles Maturin which appeared in London in 1816.

[1] The original play has been compared with Bellini's opera and the influence of Il pirata on Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor has been noted.

[3] In addition, 19th-century commentary refers to the musical influence of Il pirata on the early Richard Wagner opera Das Liebesverbot.

[4] Bellini spent 1827 to 1833 mostly in Milan, never holding any official position within an opera company and living solely from the income produced from his compositions, for which he was able to ask higher than usual fees.

Upon his arrival, he met Antonio Villa of La Scala and composer Saverio Mercadante whose new opera, Il Montanaro was in rehearsal.

The latter introduced him to Francesco and Marianna Pollini (an older couple, the husband a retired professor of piano, the wife a better-than-amateur musician) who immediately took the young man under their wing.

In addition, Bellini was introduced to the librettist Felice Romani, who proposed the subject of the composer's first project, Il pirata, to which the young man willingly agreed, especially after he realised that the story "provided several passionate and dramatic situations.. [and]..that such Romantic characters were then an innovation on the operatic stage.

[7] For his part, Bellini admired "the sonorous and elegance of the poet's verses"[6] The collaboration began in May 1827 and, by August, the music was being written.

By then, the composer was aware that he was to write music for his favourite tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini and the soprano was to be Henriette Méric-Lalande.

Both productions starred Rubini, Tamburini, and—in the role of Imogene—Rubini's wife, Adelaide Comelli-Rubini, about whom Bellini had initial misgivings, although it appears that she acquitted herself very well.

[14] The soprano continued to appear in the role in December 1970 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and recorded it in Rome that year.

[17] A planned revival and HD broadcast of the Met's production scheduled for the spring of 2021, intended to star Javier Camarena and Diana Damrau, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[19] The work was performed in Naples for the first time since 1834 at the Teatro di San Carlo in January, 2021, with Sondra Radvanovsky as Imogene.

[20] Scene 1: The seashore near Caldora Castle[21] On a stormy sea-shore, fishermen watch a ship foundering in a huge storm.

(Cavatina: Nel furor delle tempeste / "In the fury of the storm / in the slaughter of a pirate's life / that adored image appears in my thoughts").

When Imogene's ladies bring her son into the room, he is angry and almost removes his dagger from his belt, before handing the boy back.

He continues to press Itulbo on the whereabouts of Gualtiero, knowing that pirates have come from Ligurian shores; he is reluctant to accept the group until they can provide greater proof of who they are.

Ernesto is inclined to take her word for it, but, when a message is delivered in which he is told that Gualtiero is being sheltered in his own castle, he is consumed by rage, demands to know where his enemy is, and then storms out.

Their acceptance of the situation alternates with passionate declarations of love, and Ernesto, arriving, conceals himself and overhears the end of their duet.

Gualtiero, to the amazement of Ernesto's retainers, gives himself up to the knights and, as he is taken away, he prays that Imogene may forgive him (Tu vedrai la sventurata / "You will see the unhappy lady / whom I caused so many tears / and tell her if I wronged her / I also knew how to avenge her").

She appears in a state of anguish and sees visions of her dead husband and her son (Col sorriso d'innocenza ... Oh sole, ti vela di tenebre oscure / "With the smile of innocence / with the glance of love / pray speak to your father of clemency and pardon").