The Maid of Artois-Finale

According to Heyward John St. Leger in his Reminiscences of Balfe Malibran was not satisfied with Balfe's original finale, so she had him rewrite it and gave such a rousing performance of that aria opening night that she received a double encore.  The song is "The Rapture Swelling Through My Breast."

Michael Balfe-The Maid of Artois

Michael Balfe (1808-1870) was a Victorian Irish composer who studied under Rossini in Italy, where he met the soprano Maria Malibran.  She would later play the lead role of Isoline in his 1836 opera The Maid of Artois, which describes two lovers that nearly die trying to be together.