Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer of the early Romantic era, best known for his over 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the bel canto opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione, which may never have been performed during his lifetime.

An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to Naples and his residency there until production of Caterina Cornaro in January 1844. In all, 51 of Donizetti's operas were presented in Naples. His first notable success came with an opera seria, Zoraida di Granata, which was presented in 1822 in Rome. In 1830, when Anna Bolena was first performed, Donizetti made a major impact on the Italian and international opera scene shifting the balance of success away from primarily comedic operas, and he was able to persuade the authorities that the young boy's talents were worthy of keeping him in the school. He remained there for nine years, until 1815.

However, as Donizetti scholar William Ashbrook notes, in 1809 he was threatened with having to leave because his voice was changing. In 1810 he applied for and was accepted by the local art school, the Academia Carrara, but it is not known whether he attended classes. Then, in 1811, Mayr once again intervened. Having written both libretto and music for a "pasticcio-farsa", Il piccolo compositore di musica, as the final concert of the academic year, Mayr cast five young students, among them his young pupil Donizetti as "the little composer". As Ashbrook states, this "was nothing less than Mayr's argument that Donizetti be allowed to continue his musical studies".

thumb|upright|Donizetti as a schoolboy

The piece was performed on 13 September 1811 and included the composer character stating the following:

In reply to the chiding which comes from the other four characters in the piece after the "little composer" 's boasts, in the drama the "composer" responds with:

Donizetti moves to Naples

Soon after 19 February, Donizetti left Rome for Naples, where he was to settle for a large part of his life. It appears that he had asked Mayr for a letter of introduction, but his fame had preceded him for, on 28th, the announcement of the summer season at the Teatro Nuovo in the Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie stated that it would include a Donizetti opera, describing the composer as:

thumb|upright|Domenico Barbaja in Naples in the 1820s

thumb|Teatro di San Carlo,

News of this work impressed Domenico Barbaja, the prominent intendant of the Teatro San Carlo and other royal houses in the city such as the smaller Teatro Nuovo and the Teatro del Fondo. By late March Donizetti had been offered a contract not only to compose new operas, but also to be responsible for preparing performances of new productions by other composers whose work had been given elsewhere. On 12 May the first new opera, La zingara, was given at the Nuovo "with hot enthusiasm", as scholar Herbert Weinstock states.

The second new work, which appeared six weeks later on 29 June, was a one-act farsa, La lettera anonima. Ashbrook's comments—which reinforce those of the Giornali critic who reviewed the work on 1 July—recognize an important aspect of Donizetti's burgeoning musical style: [he shows that] "his concern with the dramatic essence of opera rather than the mechanical working out of musical formulas was, even at this early stage, was already present and active".

Late July 1822 to February 1824: assignments in Milan and Rome

On 3 August for what would become Chiara e Serafina, ossia I pirati, Donizetti entered into a contract with librettist Felice Romani, but he was over-committed and unable to deliver anything until 3 October. The premiere had been scheduled for only about three weeks away and, due to the delays and illnesses among the cast members, it did not receive good reviews, although it did receive a respectable 12 performances.

thumb|left|upright|Librettist Felice Romani

Returning north via Rome, Donizetti signed a contract for performances of Zoraida by the Teatro Argentina which included the requirement that the libretto to be revised by Ferretti, given Donizetti's low opinion of the work of the original Neapolitan librettist, Andrea Leone Tottola: he referred to it as "a great barking". In addition to the revision, he committed to write another new opera for the Rome's Teatro Valle which would also be set to a libretto written by Ferretti. Donizetti finally returned to Naples by late March.

Immediately busy in the spring months of 1823 with a cantata, an opera seria for the San Carlo, and an opera buffa for the Nuovo, Donizetti also had to work on the revised Zoraide for Rome. Unfortunately however, the music set for the San Carlo premiere of Alfredo il grande on 2 July was described in the Giornali as "...one could not recognize the composer of La zingara". It received only one performance, while his two-act farsa, Il fortunato inganno, given in September at the Teatro del Fondo, received only three performances.

In October and for the remainder of the year, he was back in Rome, where he spent time adding five new pieces to Zoraida, which was performed at the Teatro Argentina on 7 January 1824. However, this version was less successful than the original. The second opera for Rome's Teatro Valle also had a libretto by Ferretti, one which has since been regarded as one of his best. It was the opera buffa L'ajo nell'imbarazzo (The Tutor Embarrassed), the premiere of which took place on 4 February 1824 and "was greeted with wild enthusiasm [and] it was with this opera that [...] Donizetti had his first really lasting success". Allitt notes that with a good libretto to hand, "Donizetti never failed its dramatic content" and he adds that "Donizetti had a far better sense of what would succeed on the stage than his librettists". with the opera semiseria, Emilia di Liverpool, which was given only seven performances in July 1824 at the Nuovo. The critical reaction in the Giornali some months later focused on the weaknesses of the semiseria genre itself, although it did describe Donizetti's music for Emilia as "pretty". The composer's activities in Naples became limited because 1825 was a Holy Year in Rome and the death of Ferdinand I in Naples caused little or no opera to be produced in either city for a considerable time.

thumb|left|upright|Giovanni Battista Rubini

However, he did obtain a year-long position for the 1825/26 season at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo, where he became musical director (as well teaching at the Palermo Conservatory). There, he staged his 1824 version of L'ajo nell'imbarazzo as well as his new opera Alahor in Granata. But overall, his experience in Palermo does not appear to have been pleasant, mainly because of the poorly managed theatre, the continual indisposition of singers, or their failure to appear on time. These issues caused a delay until January 1827 for the premiere of Alahor, after which he went back in Naples in February, but with no specific commitments until midsummer.

That summer was to see the successful presentations at the Teatro Nuovo of the adapted version of L'ajo nell'imbarazzo given as Don Gregorio and, a month later, a one-act melodramma or opera, Elvida, a pièce d'occasion for the birthday of Queen Maria of the Two Sicilies, which contained some florid music for the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini; but it only received three performances.

Writer John Stewart Allitt observes that, by 1827/28, three important elements in Donizetti's professional and personal life came together: Firstly, he met and began to work with the librettist Domenico Gilardoni, who wrote eleven librettos for him, beginning with Otto mesi in due ore in 1827 and continuing until 1833. Gilardoni shared with the composer a very good sense of what would work on stage. Next, the Naples impresario Barbaja engaged him to write twelve new operas during the following three years. thus reaffirming the growing dramatic skills displayed by the young composer.

1830–1838: international fame

thumb|upright|Giuditta Pasta

thumb|upright|Gaetano Donizetti<br>(posthumous portrait by [[Ponziano Loverini)]]

In 1830, Donizetti scored his most acclaimed and his first international success with Anna Bolena, given at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 26 December 1830 with Giuditta Pasta in the title role. Also, the acclaimed tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini appeared in the role of Percy. With this opera, Donizetti achieved instant fame throughout Europe. Performances were staged "up and down the Italian peninsula" between 1830 and 1834 and then throughout Europe's capitals well into the 1840s, with revivals being presented up to about 1881. London was the first European capital to see the work; it was given at the King's Theatre on 8 July 1831.

In regard to which operatic form Donizetti was to have the greater success, when the semi-seria work of 1828, Gianni di Calais, was given in Rome very soon after Anna Bolena had appeared, the Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano described the relationship between the two forms of opera and concluded that "in two classes—tragic and comic—very close together...the former wins incomparably over the latter". and it was to become his most famous opera, one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, the opera reaching a stature similar to that achieved by Bellini's Norma.

thumb|upright|Donizetti,

This dramma tragico appeared at a time when several factors were moving Donizetti's reputation as a composer of opera to greater heights: Gioachino Rossini had recently retired and Vincenzo Bellini had died shortly before the premiere of Lucia leaving Donizetti as "the sole reigning genius of Italian opera". Not only were conditions ripe for Donizetti to achieve greater fame as a composer, but there was also an interest across the continent of Europe in the history and culture of Scotland. The perceived romance of its violent wars and feuds, as well as its folklore and mythology, intrigued 19th century readers and audiences, the first Italian to obtain a commission to write a real grand opera.

1838–1840: Donizetti abandons Naples for Paris

In October 1838, Donizetti moved to Paris vowing never to have dealings with the San Carlo again after the King of Naples banned the production of Poliuto on the grounds that such a sacred subject was inappropriate for the stage. In Paris, he offered Poliuto to the Opéra and it was set to a new and expanded four-act French-language libretto by Eugène Scribe with the title, Les Martyrs. Performed in April 1840, it was his first grand opera in the French tradition and was quite successful. Before leaving that city in June 1840, he had time to oversee the translation of Lucia di Lammermoor into Lucie de Lammermoor as well as to write La fille du régiment, his first opera written specifically to a French libretto. This became another success.

1840–1843: back and forth between Paris, Milan, Vienna, and Naples

thumb|300px|Deleidi's Donizetti and His Friends: (from left) , Gaetano Donizetti, , [[Simon Mayr, and the artist Luigi Deleidi, in Bergamo, 1840]]

After leaving Paris in June 1840, Donizetti was to write ten new operas, although not all were performed in his lifetime. Before arriving in Milan by August 1840, he visited Switzerland and then his hometown of Bergamo, eventually reaching Milan where he was to prepare an Italian version of La fille du régiment. No sooner was that accomplished than he was back in Paris to adapt the never-performed 1839 libretto L'Ange de Nisida as the French-language La favorite, the premiere of which took place on 2 December 1840. Then he rushed back to Milan for Christmas, but returned almost immediately and by late February 1841 was preparing a new opera, Rita, ou Deux hommes et une femme. However, it was not staged until 1860.

Donizetti returned once more to Milan where he stayed with the accommodating Giuseppina Appiano Stringeli with whom he had a pleasant time. Unwilling to leave Milan, but encouraged to return to Paris by Michele Accursi (with whom the composer was to be involved in Paris in 1843), he oversaw the December production of Maria Padilla at La Scala, and began writing Linda di Chamounix in preparation for March 1842 travels to Vienna, in which city he had been engaged by the royal court.

During this time and prior to leaving for Vienna, he was persuaded to conduct the premiere of Rossini's Stabat Mater in Bologna in March 1842. Friends—including his brother-in-law, Antonio Vasselli (known as Totò)—continually attempted to persuade him to take up an academic position in Bologna rather than the Vienna court engagement, if for no other reason that it would give the composer a base from which to work and teach and not be continually exhausting himself with travel between cities. But in a letter to Vasselli, he adamantly refused.

thumb|upright|left|Gaetano Donizetti, from a lithography by [[Josef Kriehuber (1842)]]

When Donizetti went to Bologna for the Stabat Mater, Rossini attended the third performance, and the two men—each former students of the Bologna Conservatory—met for the first time, with Rossini declaring that Donizetti was "the only maestro in Italy capable of conducting my Stabat as I would have it".

Arriving in Vienna in the Spring of 1842 with a letter of recommendation from Rossini, Donizetti became involved in rehearsals for Linda di Chamounix, which was given its premiere in May and which was a huge success. In addition, he was appointed kapellmeister to the chapel of the royal court, the same post which had been held by Mozart.

He left Vienna on 1 July 1842 after the Spring Italian season, travelling to Milan, Bergamo (in order to see the now-aging Mayr, but where the deterioration of his own health became more apparent), and then on to Naples in August, a city he had not visited since 1838. A contract with the San Carlo remained unresolved. Also, it appears that he wished to sell his Naples house, but could not bring himself to go through with it, such was the sorrow which remained after his wife's death in 1837.

However, on 6 September he was on his way back to Genoa from where he would leave for a three-month planned stay in Paris to be followed by time in Vienna once again. He wrote that he would work on translations of Maria Padilla and Linda di Chamounix and "God knows what else I'll do". During the time in Naples, his poor health was again a problem causing him to remain in bed for days at a time.

thumb|upright|Delécluze by Ingres

Arriving once again in Paris in late September 1842, he accomplished the revisions to the two Italian operas and he received a suggestion from Jules Janin, the newly appointed director of the Théâtre-Italien, that he might compose a new opera for that house. Janin's idea was that it should be a new opera buffa and tailored to the talents of some major singers including Giulia Grisi, Antonio Tamburini, and Luigi Lablache who had been hired.

1843–1845: Paris to Vienna to Italy; final return to Paris

By 1843, Donizetti was exhibiting symptoms of syphilis and probable bipolar disorder: "the inner man was broken, sad, and incurably sick", states Allitt. Ashbrook observes that the preoccupation with work which obsessed Donizetti in the last months of 1842 and throughout 1843 "suggests that he recognised what was wrong with him and that he wanted to compose as much as he could while he was still able". But, in the body of the letter, he lays out what he will be aiming to accomplish in 1843: in Vienna, a French drama; in Naples, a planned Ruy-Blas [but it was never composed]; in Paris for the Opéra-Comique, "a Flemish subject", and for the Opéra, "I am using a Portuguese subject in five acts" (which was to be Dom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal, and actually given on 13 November.) Finally, he adds "and first I am remounting Les Martyrs which is creating a furor in the provinces".

Work in Vienna

thumb|left|275px|The [[Vienna State Opera|Imperial and Royal Court Opera, Vienna, 1830]]

Donizetti's obligations in Vienna included overseeing the annual Italian season at the Theater am Kärntnertor which began in May. Verdi's Nabucco (which Donizetti had seen in Milan at its premiere in March 1842 and with which he had been impressed) was featured as part of that season. However, his main preoccupation was to complete the orchestration of Maria di Rohan, which was accomplished by 13 February for planned performances in June. The season began with a very successful revival of Linda di Chamounix. Nabucco followed, the first production of a Verdi opera in Vienna. The season also included Don Pasquale in addition to The Barber of Seville. Finally, Maria di Rohan was given on 5 June. In reporting the reaction to this opera in a teasing letter to Antonio Vasselli in Rome, he tried to build suspense, stating that "With the utmost sorrow, I must announce to you that last evening I have given my Maria di Rohan [and he names the singers]. All their talent was not enough to save me from "a sea of [pause, space] – applause....Everything went well. Everything." It is his longest opera as well as the one on which he spent the most time.

With rehearsals in progress at the Opéra for Dom Sébastien, the first performance being planned for 13 November, the composer was also working on readying Maria di Rohan for the Théâtre-Italien on the following evening, 14 November. Both were successful, although author Herbert Weinstock states that "the older opera was an immediate, unquestioned success with both audience and critics". However, Maria di Rohan continued for 33 performances in all, whereas Dom Sébastien remained in the repertory until 1845 with a total of 32 performances.

1844: in Vienna

On 30 December 1843, Donizetti was back in Vienna, having delayed leaving until the 20th because of illness. Ashbrook comments on how he was viewed in that city, with "friends notic[ing] an alarming change in his physical condition", and with his ability to concentrate and simply to remaining standing often being impaired.

Having entered into a contract with Léon Pillet of the Opéra for a new work for the coming year, he found nothing to be suitable and immediately wrote to Pillet proposing that another composer take his place. While waiting to see if he could be relieved from writing a large-scale work if Giacomo Meyerbeer would allow Le Prophète to be staged instead that autumn, he looked forward to the arrival of his brother from Turkey in May and to the prospect of their traveling to Italy together that summer. Eventually, it was agreed that his commitment to the Opéra could be postponed until November 1845.

While taking care of some of his obligations to the Viennese court, for the remainder of the month he awaited news on the outcome of the 12 January premiere of Caterina Cornaro in Naples. By the 31st (or 1 February), he learned the truth: it had been a failure. What was worse were the rumours that it was not in fact Donizetti's work, although a report from Guido Zavadini suggested that it was probably a combination of elements which caused the failure, including the singers' difficulty in finding the right tone in the absence of the maestro, plus the heavily censored libretto. Primarily, however, the opera's failure appears to have been due to the maestro's absence, because he was unable to be present to oversee and control the staging, normally one of Donizetti's strengths.

The Italian season in Vienna, which included Bellini's Norma and revivals of Linda di Chamounix and of Don Pasquale, also included the first production there of Verdi's Ernani. Donizetti had made a promise to Giacomo Pedroni of the publishing house Casa Ricordi to oversee the production of the opera, which was given on 30 May with Donizetti conducting. The result was a very warm letter from Giuseppe Verdi entrusting the production to his care; it concluded: "With the most profound esteem, your most devoted servant, G. Verdi."

Summer/Autumn 1844: travel to and within Italy

thumb|upright=0.8|Antonio Dolci, Bergamo friend of Donizetti

thumb|upright|Gaetano Donizetti's brother [[Giuseppe Donizetti|Giuseppe]]

Gaetano's brother Giuseppe, on leave from Constantinople, arrived in Vienna in early June. He had intended to leave by about 22nd, but Gaetano's bout of illness delayed his departure, and the brothers traveled together to Bergamo on about 12 or 13 July proceeding slowly but arriving around the 21st.

William Ashbrook describes the second half of 1844 as a period of "pathetic restlessness". He continues: "Donizetti went to Bergamo, Lovere on Lake Iseo [about 26 miles from Bergamo], back to Bergamo, to Milan [31 July], to Genoa [with his friend Antonio Dolci, on 3 August, where they stayed until 10 August because of illness], to Naples [by steamer, from which he wrote to Vasselli in Rome explaining that the upcoming visit may be last time he would see his brother], [then] to Rome [on 14 September to see Vasselli], back to Naples [on 2 October after being invited back to Naples for the first San Carlo performances of Maria di Rohan on 11 November, which was immensely successful], to Genoa [on 14 November by boat; arrived on the 19th] and on to Milan again [for two days]" before reaching Bergamo on 23 November, where his found his old friend Mayr to be very ill. He delayed his departure for as long as possible, but Mayr died on 2 December, shortly after Donizetti had left Bergamo.

December 1844 – July 1845: last visit to Vienna

thumb|left|upright|Guglielmo Cottrau (1797–1847)

By 5 December he was in Vienna writing a letter to his friend Guglielmo Cottrau on 6th and again on 12th, stating "I am not well. I am in the hands of a doctor." While there were periods of relative calm, his health continued to fail him periodically and then there were relapses into depression, as expressed in a letter: "I am half-destroyed, it's a miracle that I'm still on my feet." he grumbles about the reactions of the Parisian audiences and continues with a brief report on his health which, he says, "if it is no better and this continues, I'll find myself forced to go to spend some months resting in Bergamo."

As his condition worsened, the composer's brother Giuseppe dispatched his son Andrea to Paris from Constantinople. Arriving there on 25 December, Andrea lodged at the Hôtel Manchester with his uncle, but immediately consulted Dr. Ricord on his uncle's condition. Ricord recorded his opinion in mid-January that, while it ultimately might be better for the composer's health for him to be in Italy, it was not advisable for him to travel until the spring. Consulting two additional doctors as well as Dr. Ricord, Andrea received their written opinion after an examination on 28 January 1846. In summary, it stated that the doctors "believe that M. Donizetti no longer is capable of calculating sanely the significance of his decisions".

Institutionalization

In February 1846, reluctant to consider going further towards institutionalization, he relied on the further advice of two of the doctors who had examined his uncle in late January. They stated:

thumb|upright|Dr. Philippe Ricord

Therefore, Andrea agreed to allow his uncle to be taken to a facility which has been described as "resemb[ling] that of a health spa.... with a central hospital more-or-less in the guise of a country house" and Donizetti left Paris by coach with Andrea, believing that they were travelling to Vienna, where he was due by 12 February to fulfill his contract. Following behind in another coach was Dr. Ricord. After three hours they arrived at the Maison Esquirol in Ivry-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, where an explanation involving an accident was concocted to explain the need to spend the night at a "comfortable inn". But, as Andrea began to make plans for his uncle's journey to and upkeep in Bergamo, he was forced by the Paris Prefect of Police to have his uncle undergo another examination by other physicians appointed by the Prefect. Their conclusion was the opposite of that of the previous doctors: "we are of the opinion that the trip should be forbidden formally as offering very real dangers and being far from allowing hope of any useful result." With that, the Prefect informed Andrea that Donizetti could not be moved from Ivry. Andrea saw little use in remaining in Paris. He sought a final opinion from the three doctors practising at the clinic, and on 30 August, they provided a lengthy report outlining step-by-step the complete physical condition of their declining patient, concluding that the rigours of travel—the jolting of the carriage, for example—could bring on new symptoms or complications impossible to treat on such a journey. Andrea left for Bergamo on 7 (or 8) September 1846, taking with him a partial score of Le duc d'Albe, the completed score of Rita, and a variety of personal effects, including jewelry.

Attempts to move Donizetti back to Paris

thumb|upright|Baron Eduard von Lannoy, Lithography by Josef Kriehuber, 1837

thumb|275px|[[Daguerreotype taken on 3 August 1847: Donizetti with his nephew Andrea in Paris]]

In late December, early January 1847, visits from a friend from Vienna who lived in Paris—Baron Eduard von Lannoy—resulted in a letter from Lannoy to Giuseppe Donizetti in Constantinople outlining what he saw as a better solution: rather than have friends travel the five hours to see his brother, Lannoy recommended that Gaetano be moved to Paris where he could be taken care of by the same doctors. Giuseppe agreed and sent Andrea back to Paris, which he reached on 23 April. Visiting his uncle the following day, he found himself recognized. He was able to go on to convince the Paris Prefect, by threats of family action and general public concern, that the composer should be moved to an apartment in Paris. This took place on 23 June and, while there, he was able to take rides in his carriage and appeared to be much more aware of his surroundings. However, he was held under virtual house arrest by the police for several more months, although able to be visited by friends and even by Verdi while he was in Paris. Finally—on 16 August—in Constantinople, Giuseppe filed a formal complaint with the Austrian ambassador (given that the composer was an Austrian citizen).

In Paris, the police insisted on a further medical examination. Six doctors were called in and, of the six, only four approved of the travel. Then the police sent in their own doctor (who opposed the move), posted gendarmes outside the apartment, and forbade the daily carriage rides. Now desperate, Andrea then consulted three lawyers and sent detailed reports to his father in Constantinople. Finally, action taken by Count Sturmer of the Austrian Embassy in Turkey caused action to be taken from Vienna which, via the Embassy in Paris, sent a formal complaint to the French government. Within a few days, Donizetti was given permission to leave and he set out from Paris on what was to be a seventeen-day trip to Bergamo.

Final journey to Bergamo

thumb|upright|Donizetti's tomb in Bergamo

Arrangements had been made well ahead of time as to where Donizetti would live when he arrived in Bergamo. In fact, on his second visit to Paris, when it appeared that his uncle would return to Italy, Andrea had an agreement from the noble Scotti family for his uncle to be able to stay in their palace. The accompanying party of four consisted of Andrea, the composer's younger brother Francesco who had come specially from Bergamo for this purpose, Dr. Rendu, and nurse-custodian Antoine Pourcelot. They traveled by train to Amiens, then on to Brussels, after which they traveled in two coaches (one of which was Donizetti's, sent ahead to await the party). They crossed Belgium and Germany to Switzerland, crossing the Alps via the St Gotthard Pass, and came down into Italy arriving in Bergamo on the evening of 6 October, where they were welcomed by friends as well as the mayor.

thumb|left|Portrait of Gaetano Donizetti by Giuseppe Rillosi, 1848

Based on the report of the accompanying doctor, Donizetti did not appear to have suffered from the journey. He was settled comfortably in a large chair, speaking very rarely or only in occasional monosyllables, and mostly remaining detached from everyone around him. However, when Giovannina Basoni (who eventually became Baroness Scotti) played and sang arias from the composer's operas, he did appear to pay some attention. On the other hand, when the tenor Rubini visited and, together with Giovannina, sang music from Lucia di Lammermoor, Antonio Vasselli reported that there was no sign of recognition at all. His reputation fluctuated, but since the 1940s and 1950s his work has been increasingly performed. His best known operas today are Lucia di Lammermoor, La fille du régiment, L'elisir d'amore and Don Pasquale. Giuseppe Mazzini praised Donizetti's operas for embodying the spirit of the Risorgimento, viewing them as expressions of Italian identity and cultural pride.

Donizetti's compositions

Donizetti, a prolific composer, is best known for his operatic works, but he also wrote music in a number of other forms, including some church music, a number of string quartets, and some orchestral pieces. Altogether, he composed about 75 operas, 16 symphonies, 19 string quartets, 193 songs, 45 duets, 3 oratorios, 28 cantatas, instrumental concertos, sonatas, and other chamber pieces.

{|class="wikitable"

!colspan="8"|Operas (see List of operas by Gaetano Donizetti)

!colspan="8"|Choral works

|Ave Maria||Grande Offertorio||Il sospiro||Messa da Requiem||Messa di Gloria e Credo||Miserere (Psalm 50)|| || |

!colspan="8"|Orchestral works

|Allegro for Strings in C major||Larghetto, tema e variazioni in E flat major||Sinfonia Concertante in D major (1817)||Sinfonia in A major||Sinfonia in C major||Sinfonia in D major (1818)||Sinfonia in D minor||

!colspan="8"|Concertos

|Concertino for Clarinet in B flat major||Concertino for English Horn in G major (1816)||Concertino in C minor for flute and chamber orchestra (1819)||Concertino for Flute and Orchestra in C major||Concertino for Flute and Orchestra in D major||Concertino for Oboe in F major||Concertino for Violin and Cello in D minor||Concerto for Violin and Cello in D minor

|Concerto for 2 Clarinets "Maria Padilla"|| || || || || || ||

!colspan="8"|Chamber works

|Andante sostenuto for Oboe and Harp in F minor||Introduction for Strings in D major||Larghetto and Allegro for Violin and Harp in G minor||Largo/Moderato for Cello and Piano in G minor||Nocturnes (4) for Winds and Strings||Sonata for Flute and Harp||Sonata for Flute and Piano in C major||Sonata for Oboe and Piano in F major|

|Sinfonia for Winds in G minor (1817)||Quintet for Guitar and Strings no 2 in C major||Study for Clarinet no 1 in B flat major||Trio for Flute, Bassoon and Piano in F major|| || || || |

!colspan=8|Quartets for strings

|String Quartet in D major||No. 3 in C minor: 2nd movement, Adagio ma non troppo||No. 4 in D major||No. 5 in E minor||No. 5 in E minor: Larghetto||No. 6 in G minor||No. 7 in F minor||No. 8 in B flat major

|No. 9 in D minor||No. 10 in G minor|No. 11 in C major||No. 12 in C major||No. 13 in A major||No. 14 in D major||No. 15 in F major||No. 16 in B minor||No 17 in D major

|No. 18 in E minor||No. 18 in E minor: Allegro|| || || || || ||

!colspan="8"|Piano works

|Adagio and Allegro in G major||Allegro in C major||Allegro in F minor||Fugue in G minor||Grand Waltz in A major||Larghetto in A minor "Una furtiva lagrima"||Larghetto in C major||Pastorale in E major

|Presto in F minor||Sinfonia in A major||Sinfonia No. 1 in C major||Sinfonia No. 1 in D major||Sinfonia No. 2 in C major||Sinfonia No. 2 in D major||Sonata in C major||Sonata in F major

|Sonata in G major||Variations in E major||Variations in G major||Waltz in A major||Waltz in C major||Waltz in C major "The Invitation"|| ||

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

Also see Allitt's website.

External links

Donizetti Society (London) for further research. Online at donizettisociety.com
Dotto, Gabriele; Roger Parker, (general editors), "The Critical Edition of the Operas of Gaetano Donizetti published by Casa Ricordi, Milan, with the collaboration and contribution of Fondazione Donizetti, Bergamo" online at ricordi.com.
List of Donizetti operas compiled by Stanford University on opera.stanford.edu
"About the Composer: Gaetano Maria Donizetti" on the Manitoba Opera's website
Donizetti biography on Arizona Opera website
Libretti: source for a large number of Donizetti's operas
Gaetano Donizetti cylinder recordings, from the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Library.