In 1822, the young Donizetti was engaged by La Scala to compose an opera. Chiara e Serafina was the outcome and the librettist was Felice Romani, a refined scholar but a notoriously slow and touchy worker. Consequently, Donizetti had barely twelve days to compose the whole work. Because of the incoherent plot, which concerns Don Meschino and his daughter Chiara who are kidnapped by Algerians, and the villainous Don Fernando who schemes to marry the nobleman’s younger daughter Serafina, the result was a fiasco. Donizetti’s music, however, is characterful and profuse with delightful duets, trios and ensembles.