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Gaetano Donizetti

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 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. Before 1830, success came primarily with his comic operas, the serious ones failing to attract significant audiences. 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, although even after that date, his best-known works included comedies such as L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843). Significant historical dramas did succeed; they included Lucia di Lammermoor (the first to have a libretto written by Salvadore Cammarano) given in Naples in 1835, and one of the most successful Neapolitan operas, Roberto Devereux in 1837. Up to that point, all of his operas had been set to Italian libretti.

Donizetti found himself increasingly chafing against the censorship limitations in Italy (and especially in Naples). From about 1836, he became interested in working in Paris, where he saw greater freedom to choose subject matter, in addition to receiving larger fees and greater prestige. From 1838, beginning with an offer from the Paris Opéra for two new works, he spent much of the following 10 years in that city, and set several operas to French texts as well as overseeing staging of his Italian works. The first opera was a French version of the then-unperformed Poliuto which, in April 1840, was revised to become Les martyrs. Two new operas were also given in Paris at that time. Throughout the 1840s Donizetti moved between Naples, Rome, Paris, and Vienna, continuing to compose and stage his own operas as well as those of other composers. From around 1843, severe illness began to limit his activities. By early 1846 he was obliged to be confined to an institution for the mentally ill and, by late 1847, friends had him moved back to Bergamo, where he died in April 1848 in a state of mental derangement due to neurosyphilis.

Birth and Death Data: Born November 29, 1797 (Bergamo), Died April 8, 1848 (Bergamo)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1898 - 1941

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, arranger

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 1-25 of 617 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Berliner 923 7-in. 5/23/1898 Fra poco Ferruccio Giannini Tenor vocal solo composer  
Berliner 1117 7-in. Before Oct. 1898 Vieni! la mia vendetta Alberto Del Campo Baritone vocal solo composer  
Berliner 1741 7-in. Nov. 1898 Mi toglieste a un sole ardente Ferruccio Giannini Tenor vocal solo composer  
Berliner 01177 7-in. Apr. 1900 Sextette Sousa's Band Band composer  
Berliner 01273 7-in. 4/28/1900 Léonore, viens, j'abandonne E. Francisco Baritone vocal solo composer  
Victor [Pre-matrix B-]334 10-in. 4/2/1901 Lucia di Lammermoor : Sextette Sousa's Band Band, with brass sextet composer  
Victor [Pre-matrix A-]334 7-in. 10/2/1900 Sextette Sousa's Band Band, with brass sextet composer  
Victor [Pre-matrix B-]1344 10-in. 3/25/1902 Vien, Leonora Sig. Carlos Francisco Baritone vocal solo composer  
Victor [Pre-matrix A-]1344 7-in. 3/25/1902 Vien, Leonora Sig. Carlos Francisco Baritone vocal solo composer  
Victor [Pre-matrix C-]2201 12-in. between 1901 and 1903 Sextette Victor Grand Concert Band Band composer  
Victor [Pre-matrix B-]3230 10-in. 4/3/1901 Sextette from Lucia Sousa's Band Band, with brass sextet composer  
Victor C-141 [Old series] 12-in. 2/9/1903 or 5/26/1903 Sextette from Lucia Victor Grand Concert Band Band composer  
Victor B-157 10-in. 6/29/1903 Sextette Royal Italian Marine Band Band composer  
Victor B-167 10-in. 6/30/1903 Sextette from Lucia Royal Italian Marine Band Band composer  
Victor B-340 10-in. 8/25/1903 Sextette Sousa's Band Band, with brass sextet composer  
Victor A-340 7-in. 8/25/1903 Sextette Sousa's Band Band, with brass sextet composer  
Victor C-996 12-in. 2/1/1904 Una furtiva lagrima Enrico Caruso Tenor vocal solo, with piano (take 1); orchestra (take 1[a]) composer  
Victor B-996 10-in. 2/1/1904 Una furtiva lagrima Enrico Caruso Tenor vocal solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-1092 10-in. 3/10/1904 Bella siccome un angelo Antonio Scotti Baritone vocal solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-1457 10-in. 6/9/1904 Vien, Leonora Sig. Carlos Francisco Baritone vocal solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-1693 10-in. 9/19/1904 Sextette from Lucia Royal Italian Marine Band Band composer  
Victor C-1693 12-in. 9/19/1904 Sextette from Lucia Royal Italian Marine Band Band composer  
Victor C-2014 12-in. 12/5/1904 Sextette from Lucia Arthur Pryor's Band Band composer  
Victor C-2340 12-in. 2/27/1905 Serenata - Com'è gentil Enrico Caruso Tenor vocal solo, with piano composer  
Victor C-2361 12-in. 3/2/1905 Come Paride vezzoso Antonio Scotti Baritone vocal solo, with piano composer  
(Results 1-25 of 617 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Donizetti, Gaetano," accessed October 7, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102598.

Donizetti, Gaetano. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 7, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102598.

"Donizetti, Gaetano." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 7 October 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102598

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