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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 176-200 of 617 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Columbia 1362 10-in. ca. 1903 Spirto gentil Roberto Vanni Tenor vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 1379 10-in. approximately 1903 Drinking song Ernestine Schumann-Heink Soprano vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 1439 7-in. ca. 1903 Tantum ergo Alberto De Bassini Baritone vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 1439 10-in. ca. 1903-1908 Tantum ergo Alberto De Bassini Baritone vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 1526 10-in. ca. 1903 Ah! l'altro ardor Alberto De Bassini ; Jeanne Ferenczy Vocal duet (soprano and baritone), with piano composer  
Columbia 1728 10-in. ca. 1903-1904 Una barchetta Alberto De Bassini Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 3119 10-in. ca. 1905 Udite, o rustici Arcangelo Rossi Bass vocal solo, with piano composer  
Columbia 4035 10-in. ca. Jan.-June 1909 Mad scene Camille Borello ; Marshall P. Lufsky Soprano vocal solo and flute obbligato, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 4053 10-in. between January and June 1909 Una vergine un angiol di Dio Florencio Constantino Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 4058 10-in. ca. Jan.-June 1909 Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali Florencio Constantino Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 4196 10-in. approximately 1909 Sogno soave e casto Isidoro Agnoletto Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 4199 10-in. approximately 1909 Cercheró lontana terra Isidoro Agnoletto Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 4893 10-in. between 8/30/1910 and 9/2/1910 Sextette J. J. McClellan Organ solo, unaccompanied composer  
Columbia 19836 10-in. 3/30/1912 Ciascum lo dice Alice Zeppilli Female vocal solo, with vocal chorus and orchestra composer  
Columbia 19837 10-in. 3/30/1912 Covien partir Alice Zeppilli Female vocal solo, with vocal chorus and orchestra composer  
Columbia 19923 10-in. 6/7/1912 Splendon piu belle in ciel Cesare Alessandroni ; New York Grand Opera Chorus Male vocal solo and male vocal chorus, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 38441 10-in. 11/25/1912 Il segreto per esser felice Rosa Olitzka Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 38561 10-in. 1/17/1913 Una vergine, un angiol di Dio Alessandro Bonci Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 38586 10-in. 1/22/1913 Quanto è bella Alessandro Bonci Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 47486 10-in. 4/13/1917 Sextette Organist (unidentified; Columbia Records) Organ solo composer  
Columbia 77345 10-in. 9/14/1917 An aesthetic wrangle Harry Thomas Piano solo composer  
Columbia 80499 10-in. 8/4/1922 Sextette from Lucia di Lammermoor Paul Specht Hotel Astor Orchestra [i.e., Paul Specht Orchestra] Jazz/dance band composer  
Columbia 30042 12-in. 1906 Sextette Prince's Military Band Band composer  
Columbia 30065 12-in. ca. 1906-1910 Una furtiva lagrima Edouardo Castellano Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Columbia 30225 12-in. ca. Jan.-July 1909 Spirto gentil Florencio Constantino Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
(Results 176-200 of 617 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Donizetti, Gaetano," accessed October 9, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102598.

Donizetti, Gaetano. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 9, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102598.

"Donizetti, Gaetano." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 9 October 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

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

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