Gaetano Donizetti

Jeremy Tambling (University of Hong Kong)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 29 Nov 1797
Died 8 Apr 1848
Activity 1817-1848

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Composer

Resources

Donizetti's Works

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Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (1797-1848), composer of over sixty-five operas, (on average, four a year for his working life of twenty-five years, not including the non-operatic works not discussed here), was born and died in Bergamo, Italy. His career overlapped those of both Rossini and Verdi. He was taught music by the Bavarian-born opera composer Simon Mayr (1763-1845),

maestro di cappella

at S. Maria Maggiore, and by Padre Stanislao Mattei (1750-1825), Rossini’s teacher at Bologna. His first success was an

opera seria

Zoraida di Granata

at the Teatro Argentina in 1822. He was taken on by the impresario Domenico Barbaia to work in Naples (1822-1838), with a period at Palermo (1825-26) and visits to Rome, where he married Virginia Vasselli (1808-37) in 1828. She died of cholera,…

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2071 words

Citation: Tambling, Jeremy. "Gaetano Donizetti". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 September 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1285, accessed 26 November 2024.]