The first opera that Rossini wrote was in fact Demetrio e Polibio, on a commission from the tenor Domenico Mombelli, but the work was not staged until 1812. The Cambiale, on the other hand, had its premiere at the Teatro San Moise in Venice on 1810. Rossi based the subject of this one-act comic farce on the comedy Il matrimonio per lettera di cambio by Camillo Federici (1749-1802); previously Carlo Cocci (1782-1873) had already made his first appearance with the same subject (Il matrimonio per lettera, Rome 1807).