Autograph letter signed by the prolific Italian composer. 1 page, no place, no date ("Martedi"), probably Naples, ca. 1827. Donizetti writes to fellow composer Giacomo Cordella (translated in part): "Barbaja promised the bearer of this of wanting to hear when you are in...He doesn't know me at all, but he wanted a ticket..." Executed in brown fountain pen ink, usual folds, letter measuring 5 x 7 inches (12 x 18 cm), matted with a printed portrait and the envelope address sheet addressed to "Al Sign. Mr. Cordella." Overall 14.25 x 17.75 inches (37 x 45 cm). 

Giacomo Cordella studied in Naples with Fedele Fenaroli and Giovanni Paisiello, who assisted in arranging the production of his first opera, Il ciarlatano, in Venice in 1805 which was appreciated for its comic verve and then performed in other cities in northern Italy, including Milan, Turin and Padua. He continued his activity mainly in Naples, where he was appreciated for his opere buffe, while his few opere serie met with failures. His greatest success was Una follia, first performed in 1813, an opera buffa featuring "a vivacious plot and a melody that flows agreeably". Cordella composed also sacred music.

Domenico Barbaja (1778 - 1841) was an influential Italian impresario, manager of the royal opera houses of Naples, the Viennese Kärntnertortheater and Theater an der Wien, and of La Scala and the Cannobiana in Milan.  "The most famous impresario of his day, Barbaia played an important role in early 19th-century opera...His operatic tastes ranged widely. He introduced Spontini’s La vestale (1811) and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide (1812), so inaugurating the new tradition of Italian opera seria in which all recitative was orchestrally accompanied (early examples include Mayr’s Medea in Corinto in 1813 and the Rossinian canon beginning with Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra in 1815). He was among the first to recognize Rossini’s genius and in 1815 engaged him at Naples with a six-year contract with the obligation to compose two operas a year and to direct revivals of older works, all for the yearly sum of 12,000 francs and part of the proceeds of the gambling tables. It was to Rossini that Barbaia lost his mistress, Isabella Colbran (later Colbran-Rossini), though relations between the two men remained cordial...Throughout his life he showed a flair for discovering young talent. Mercadante, Pacini, Carafa and Generali all owed to him many of their earliest opportunities. Through him Bellini first gained a footing at the S Carlo and La Scala. In 1827 Barbaia signed Donizetti to a three-year contract that obliged him to write four operas a year for Naples.