Bellini's Norma, first performed at La Scala in 1831 and at the Théâtre-Italien in 1835, has been used as the source of a number of fantasias and variations by composers such as Gallay’s contemporary, the cornettist, Jean-Baptiste Arban (Theme et variations sur Norma). Its themes, in particularly ‘Casta Diva’, remain popular to this day. Gallay’s work, published in 1837, opens with a rhapsodic prelude which includes the suggestion of orchestral motives from the Act II orchestral scena. This leads into the main theme taken from Norma and Adalgisa's Act II duet ‘Deh! Con Te, Con Te Li Prendi’. This theme also appears in Gallay’s Melodies Gracieuses Op. 33. After two sets of variations on this theme Gallay incorporates the theme from the Act I trio ‘Vanne, Sì, mi lascia, indegno’. An additional, as yet untraced, theme features before Gallay returns to ‘Deh! Con Te, Con Te Li Prendi’ for the finale.