Libretto by Felice Romani, based on the work Bertram, Ou le Pirate (1822) by Justin Séverin Taylor, translated to French by Charles Maturin

It is the story of a daring young man, revolting against oppression and injustice, but doomed to suffer a misadventure in love; of his beloved, married by obligation to his enemy, with whom she also has a child. 

 Bellini deliberately sought an innovative compositional style and strove for an intimate correspondence between music and text. The Pirate would be the trampoline from which Bellini would achieve international success and become Maestro of Bel Canto.