Donizetti’s Belisario was premiered at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, in 1836 and only eventually performed at the Théâtre Italien in Paris in 1843, four years after Gallay’s setting was published. The material chosen by Gallay for his Fantaisie comes from the opening scene of Act II (subtitled “Exile”) in which Alamiro vows to avenge Belisaro in the extended arias ‘A Si Tremendo Annunzio’ and ‘Trema, Bisanzio!’