Il pirata

Full Vocal score of Vincenzo Bellini's complete opera Il Pirata. With Italian lyrics and synopsis in Italian, English, French and German.

The story reflects the conflict between Guelfs and Ghibellines, mainly between Manfred, the illegitimate son of Frederick II of Swabia, and Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX, the king of France.

The story, set in the period immediately after the death of Manfred, concerns the clash between two men: on the one hand, Gualtiero, one of Manfred’s followers and Imogene’s former lover, now outlawed and forced to be a pirate; on the other, Ernesto, a duke loyal to the new Angevin king, who withperverse guile has succeeded in marrying Imogene.