 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|||||
|
 |
 |
Biography of Gaetano DonizettiName: Gaetano DonizettiBirth Date: November 29, 1797 Death Date: 1848 Place of Birth: Bergamo, Italy Nationality: Italian Gender: Male Occupations: composer Gaetano Donizetti The Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) was one of the first composers of the romantic movement in Italy.Gaetano Donizetti was born in Bergamo on Nov. 29, 1797. He received his first instruction in music from an uncle, but the beginning of his formation as a composer came in 1806, when he was accepted as a free student in the Lezione Caritatevoli, a school supported by the church of S. Maria Maggiore for the training of musicians and choristers for its services. The director was Simon Mayr, a German who had settled in Bergamo in 1805. Although not known today, his music was held in high esteem in his lifetime. Mayr's influence seems to have been decisive. He kept young Donizetti in the school although his voice was not of the necessary quality, even writing works for student performances in which these vocal defects could be avoided.Following this training, Donizetti went to Bologna …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…for their composer.Although now known primarily for his operas, Donizetti produced a large number of compositions in other genres. In addition to 71 operas, he composed cantatas, sacred works, symphonies, string quartets and quintets, and numerous works for piano solo, voice and piano, and piano and other instruments.Donizetti's fame quickly spread throughout Italy; he went to Paris, where he wrote five operas, and to Vienna, where he became principal court conductor in 1842. His last years, 1844-1848, were spent in rather severe circumstances because of the progressive deterioration of his health, both physical and mental. Further Reading Two biographies of Donizetti are Herbert Weinstock, Donizetti and the World of Opera (1963), and William Ashbrook, Donizetti (1965), both containing numerous documents, lists of works, and librettos. Donizetti's place in early-19th-century music is discussed in Alfred Einstein, Music in the Romantic Era (1947), and Donald J. Grout, A Short History of Opera (2 vols., 1947; 2d ed. 1965). |