Gaetano Donizetti
29 November 1797 — 8 April 1848
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore (1832), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), and Don Pasquale (1843), all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment (both from 1840). Along with Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini, he was a leading composer of bel canto opera.
Operas
| Opera | Premiere or date of written | Libretti available |
|---|---|---|
| Anna Bolena | 1830, December 26 | italian, english |
| Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali | 1831, April 20 | italian, english |
| L'elisir d'amore | 1832, May 12 | italian, english, russian |
| Lucia di Lammermoor | 1835, September 26 | italian, german, english, french |
| Maria Stuarda | 1835, December 30 | italian, english |
History
| October 1, 1816 | Gaetano Donizetti completed "Il Pigmalione", his first opera, at almost two in the morning; the work remained unperformed until 1960. |
| June 29, 1822 | Donizetti’s one-act farsa "La lettera anonima" was first performed at the Teatro del Fondo in Naples. |
| February 4, 1824 | First performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera "Emilia di Liverpool" at Teatro Valle (Rome). |
| December 26, 1830 | Gaetano Donizetti’s opera "Anna Bolena" premiered at Teatro Carcano in Milan. |
| March 13, 1832 | World premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera "Ugo, conte di Parigi" at La Scala (Milan). |
| May 12, 1832 | Premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera 'L'elisir d'amore' at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan, Italy. |
| March 17, 1833 | World premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera "Parisina d'Este" at the Teatro della Pergola (Florence). |
| April 30, 1833 | The premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Lucrezia Borgia" took place at La Scala in Milan. |
| December 26, 1833 | Donizetti’s opera "Lucrezia Borgia" premiered at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. |
| October 18, 1834 | Gaetano Donizetti’s "Buondelmonte", created by adapting music from the suppressed "Maria Stuarda" to a different plot with new recitatives and other changes, received its first performance in Naples. |
| September 26, 1835 | Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor", with a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano after Walter Scott's "The Bride of Lammermoor", received its world premiere at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. |
| April 19, 1836 | The premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Il campanello" took place at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples. |
| August 21, 1836 | Gaetano Donizetti's one-act comic opera "Betly, o La capanna svizzera", for which the composer wrote both the music and libretto, received its world premiere at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples. |
| November 12, 1839 | First U.S. performance (in French, as "Anne de Boulen") of Donizetti’s "Anna Bolena" at the Théâtre d’Orléans, New Orleans. |
| May 1, 1840 | The premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera "La fille du régiment" took place at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. |
| October 3, 1840 | Gaetano Donizetti's revised Italian version of "La fille du régiment", titled "La figlia del reggimento", received its premiere at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. |
| May 5, 1842 | The premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Maria Padilla" took place at La Scala in Milan. |
| November 13, 1843 | Gaetano Donizetti's five-act grand opera "Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal", with a libretto by Eugène Scribe, received its world premiere at the Paris Opéra. |
| April 8, 1848 | Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti died in Bergamo. |
| October 13, 1960 | Gaetano Donizetti’s early opera "Il Pigmalione", composed in 1816, received its first performance at Bergamo’s Teatro Donizetti. |
| September 4, 2024 | Gaetano Donizetti's rediscovered opera "Dalinda", composed in 1838 but never fully staged during the composer's lifetime, received its world-premiere full staging by Opera UCT at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town. |
