William Ashbrook (January 28, 1922 – March 31, 2009) was an American musicologist , writer, journalist, and academic. He was perhaps best noted as a historian, researcher and popularizer of the works of Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti .
140-525: 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
280-589: A Master's degree in musicology from Harvard University in 1947. Ashbrook began an academic career by teaching humanities and then, for nearly twenty years, was a member of the English Department at Indiana State University at Terre Haute . He retired in 1974 as Distinguished Professor Emeritus. From 1974 to 1984 he was professor of opera at the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (now
420-470: A Donizetti opera, describing the composer as: a young pupil of one of the most valued Maestros of the century, Mayer ( sic ), a large part of whose glory might be called ours, he having modeled his style on that of the great luminaries of the musical art sprung up among us. [His opera in Rome] was accepted with the most flattering applause. News of this work impressed Domenico Barbaja , the prominent intendant of
560-553: A Reims caused problems for his librettists, who had to adapt their original plot and write French words to fit existing Italian numbers, but the opera was a success, and was seen in London within six months of the Paris premiere, and in New York in 1831. The following year Rossini wrote his long-awaited French grand opera, Guillaume Tell , based on Friedrich Schiller 's 1804 play which drew on
700-696: A certain amount of self-borrowing. During this period he produced his most popular works, including the comic operas L'italiana in Algeri , Il barbiere di Siviglia (known in English as The Barber of Seville ) and La Cenerentola , which brought to a peak the opera buffa tradition he inherited from masters such as Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Paisiello . He also composed opera seria works such as Tancredi , Otello and Semiramide . All of these attracted admiration for their innovation in melody, harmonic and instrumental colour, and dramatic form. In 1824 he
840-851: A composer of successful serious opera, although other comedies were to appear quite quickly. With his commissions, the years from 1830 to 1835 saw a huge outpouring of work; L'elisir d'amore , a comedy produced in 1832, came soon after Anna Bolena ' s success and is deemed to be one of the masterpieces of 19th-century opera buffa . Then came a rapid series of operas from Naples including Francesca di Foix (May 1831); La romanziera e l'uomo nero (June 1831); and Fausta (January 1832). Two new operas were presented in Milan: Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali (April 1831) and Ugo, conte di Parigi (March 1832). Rome presented Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo (January 1833) and Torquato Tasso (September 1833). Otto mesi in due ore (1833)
980-514: A composer, but there was also an interest across the continent of Europe in the history and culture of Scotland. The perceived romance of its violent wars and feuds, as well as its folklore and mythology, intrigued 19th century readers and audiences, and Scott made use of these stereotypes in his novel. At the same time, continental audiences of that time seemed to be fascinated by the Tudor period of 16th century English history, revolving as it does around
1120-450: A halt as the requisite repeats of the da capo aria were undertaken). For example, they could be punctuated by comments from other characters (a convention known as "pertichini" ), or the chorus could intervene between the cantabile and the cabaletta so as to fire up the soloist. If such developments were not necessarily Rossini's own invention, he nevertheless made them his own by his expert handling of them. A landmark in this context
1260-790: A hero's welcome; his biographers describe it as "unprecedentedly feverish enthusiasm", "Rossini fever", and "near hysteria". The authoritarian chancellor of the Austrian Empire , Metternich , liked Rossini's music, and thought it free of all potential revolutionary or republican associations. He was therefore happy to permit the San Carlo company to perform the composer's operas. In a three-month season they played six of them, to audiences so enthusiastic that Beethoven 's assistant, Anton Schindler , described it as "an idolatrous orgy". While in Vienna Rossini heard Beethoven's Eroica symphony, and
1400-697: 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
1540-519: A little over a decade was a considerable success in cities including Trieste and Bologna , before her untrained voice began to fail. In 1802 the family moved to Lugo , near Ravenna , where Rossini received a good basic education in Italian, Latin and arithmetic as well as music. He studied the horn with his father and other music with a priest, Giuseppe Malerbe, whose extensive library contained works by Haydn and Mozart , both little known in Italy at
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#17328837307841680-593: A long time ago." The period after 1835 saw Rossini's formal separation from his wife, who remained at Castenaso (1837), and the death of his father at the age of eighty (1839). In 1845 Colbran became seriously ill, and in September Rossini travelled to visit her; a month later she died. The following year Rossini and Pélissier were married in Bologna. The events of the Year of Revolution in 1848 led Rossini to move away from
1820-490: A major impression at the first performance (otherwise there would be no others), and to emulate the preferred musical style of the day, that of Rossini whose music "was the public's yardstick when they were assessing new scores". Remaining in Bergamo until October 1821, the composer busied himself with a variety of instrumental and choral pieces, but during that year, he had been in negotiation with Giovanni Paterni, intendant of
1960-544: A month later, a one-act melodramma or opera, Elvida , a pièce d'occasion for the birthday of Queen Maria of the Two Sicilies , which contained some florid music for the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini ; but it only received three performances. Writer John Stewart Allitt observes that, by 1827/28, three important elements in Donizetti's professional and personal life came together: Firstly, he met and began to work with
2100-455: A new Rossini opera. But although Othello could at least claim to be genuine, canonic Rossini, the historian Mark Everist notes that detractors argued that Robert was simply "fake goods, and from a bygone era at that"; he cites Théophile Gautier regretting that "the lack of unity could have been masked by a superior performance; unfortunately the tradition of Rossini's music was lost at the Opéra
2240-528: A new home in Naples. Within two months he had written another opera semiseria , Gianni di Calais , from a libretto by Gilardoni. It was their fourth collaboration, and became a success not only in Naples but also in Rome over the 1830/31 season. Writing about the Naples premiere, the correspondent of the Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano stated: "The situations that the libretto offers are truly ingenious and do honour to
2380-487: A review in the Nuovo osservatore veneziano of 17 November in which the reviewer notes some of these performance issues which faced the composer, but he adds: "one cannot but recognize a regular handling and expressive quality in his style. For these the public wanted to salute Signor Donizetti on stage at the end of the opera." For Donizetti, the result was a further commission and, using another of Merelli's librettos, this became
2520-463: A rush to meet deadlines. Between 1815 and 1822 he composed eighteen more operas: nine for Naples and nine for opera houses in other cities. In 1816, for the Teatro Argentina in Rome, he composed the opera that was to become his best-known: Il barbiere di Siviglia ( The Barber of Seville ). There was already a popular opera of that title by Paisiello , and Rossini's version was originally given
2660-459: A singer and worked in theatres as a répétiteur and keyboard soloist. In 1810 at the request of the popular tenor Domenico Mombelli he wrote his first operatic score, a two-act operatic dramma serio , Demetrio e Polibio , to a libretto by Mombelli's wife. It was publicly staged in 1812, after the composer's first successes. Rossini and his parents concluded that his future lay in composing operas. The main operatic centre in northeastern Italy
2800-586: A singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of twelve and was educated at music school in Bologna . His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823, he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara , Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and
2940-475: A sizeable annuity from the French government, and having written thirty-nine operas, he simply planned to retire and kept to that plan. In a 1934 study of the composer, the critic Francis Toye coined the phrase "The Great Renunciation", and called Rossini's retirement a "phenomenon unique in the history of music and difficult to parallel in the whole history of art": Is there any other artist who thus deliberately, in
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#17328837307843080-451: A stature similar to that achieved by Bellini 's Norma . This dramma tragico appeared at a time when several factors were moving Donizetti's reputation as a composer of opera to greater heights: Gioachino Rossini had recently retired and Vincenzo Bellini had died shortly before the premiere of Lucia leaving Donizetti as "the sole reigning genius of Italian opera". Not only were conditions ripe for Donizetti to achieve greater fame as
3220-455: A student, including a mass and a cantata, and after two years he was invited to continue his studies. He declined the offer: the strict academic regime of the Liceo had given him a solid compositional technique, but as his biographer Richard Osborne puts it, "his instinct to continue his education in the real world finally asserted itself". While still at the Liceo, Rossini had performed in public as
3360-497: A success directing Haydn's The Seasons , and a failure with his first full-length opera, L'equivoco stravagante . He also worked for opera houses in Ferrara and Rome. In mid-1812 he received a commission from La Scala , Milan, where his two-act comedy La pietra del paragone ran for fifty-three performances, a considerable run for the time, which brought him not only financial benefits, but exemption from military service and
3500-458: A succession of important roles for her in opere serie . By the early 1820s, Rossini was beginning to tire of Naples. The failure of his operatic tragedy Ermione the previous year convinced him that he and the Neapolitan audiences had had enough of each other. An insurrection in Naples against the monarchy, though quickly crushed , unsettled Rossini; when Barbaia signed a contract to take
3640-411: A trumpeter and horn player, and his wife Anna, née Guidarini, a seamstress by trade, daughter of a baker. Giuseppe Rossini was charming but impetuous and feckless; the burden of supporting the family and raising the child fell mainly on Anna, with some help from her mother and mother-in-law. Stendhal , who published a colourful biography of Rossini in 1824, wrote: Rossini's portion from his father,
3780-424: A woodwind solo, whose "catchiness" "etch[es] a distinct profile in the aural memory", and that the richness and inventiveness of his handling of the orchestra, even in these early works, marks the start of "[t]he great nineteenth-century flowering of orchestration ." Rossini's handling of arias (and duets) in cavatina style marked a development from the eighteenth-century commonplace of recitative and aria. In
3920-515: Is "no exaggeration to say that, in Paris, Rossini returned to life". He recovered his health and joie de vivre . Once settled in Paris he maintained two homes: a flat in the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin , a smart central area, and a neo-classical villa built for him in Passy , a commune now absorbed into the city, but then semi-rural. He and his wife established a salon that became internationally famous. The first of their Saturday evening gatherings –
4060-457: Is not known whether he attended classes. Then, in 1811, Mayr once again intervened. Having written both libretto and music for a "pasticcio-farsa", Il piccolo compositore di musica , as the final concert of the academic year, Mayr cast five young students, among them his young pupil Donizetti as "the little composer". As Ashbrook states, this "was nothing less than Mayr's argument that Donizetti be allowed to continue his musical studies". The piece
4200-404: Is the cavatina "Di tanti palpiti" from Tancredi , which both Taruskin and Gossett (amongst others) single out as transformative, "the most famous aria Rossini ever wrote", with a "melody that seems to capture the melodic beauty and innocence characteristic of Italian opera." Both writers point out the typical Rossinian touch of avoiding an "expected" cadence in the aria by a sudden shift from
4340-404: Is today known as) the overture to the comedy Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) . He also liberally re-employed arias and other sequences in later works. Spike Hughes notes that of the twenty-six numbers of Eduardo e Cristina , produced in Venice in 1817, nineteen were lifted from previous works. "The audience ... were remarkably good-humoured ... and asked slyly why
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4480-808: The Code Napoléon , the legal system established by the French Emperor. Rossini's overall style may indeed have been influenced more directly by the French: the historian John Rosselli suggests that French rule in Italy at the start of the 19th century meant that "music had taken on new military qualities of attack, noise and speed – to be heard in Rossini." Rossini's approach to opera was inevitably tempered by changing tastes and audience demands. The formal "classicist" libretti of Metastasio which had underpinned late 18th century opera seria were replaced by subjects more to
4620-502: The Giornale . One of the later performances became the occasion for Donizetti to meet the then-21-year-old music student, Vincenzo Bellini , an event recounted by Francesco Florimo some sixty years later. The second new work, which appeared six weeks later on 29 June, was a one-act farsa , La lettera anonima . Ashbrook's comments—which reinforce those of the Giornali critic who reviewed
4760-593: The Teatro Argentina in Rome, and by 17 June had received a contract to compose another opera from a libretto being prepared by Merelli. It is unclear as to how this connection came about: whether it had been at Merelli's suggestion or whether, as William Ashbrook speculates, it had been Mayr who had initially been approached by Paterni to write the opera but who, due to advancing age, had recommended his prize pupil. This new opera seria became Donizetti's Zoraida di Granata , his ninth work. The libretto had been started by August and, between then and 1 October, when Donizetti
4900-756: The Teatro San Carlo and other royal houses in the city such as the smaller Teatro Nuovo and the Teatro del Fondo . By late March Donizetti had been offered a contract not only to compose new operas, but also to be responsible for preparing performances of new productions by other composers whose work had been given elsewhere. On 12 May the first new opera, La zingara , was given at the Nuovo "with hot enthusiasm", as scholar Herbert Weinstock states. It ran for 28 consecutive evenings, followed by 20 more in July, receiving high praise in
5040-481: The William Tell legend. Guillaume Tell was well received. The orchestra and singers gathered outside Rossini's house after the premiere and performed the rousing finale to the second act in his honour. The newspaper Le Globe commented that a new era of music had begun. Gaetano Donizetti remarked that the first and last acts of the opera were written by Rossini, but the middle act was written by God. The work
5180-528: The opera semiseria La gazza ladra (1817), and for Rome his version of the Cinderella story, La Cenerentola (1817). In 1817 came the first performance of one of his operas ( L'Italiana ) at the Theâtre-Italien in Paris; its success led to others of his operas being staged there, and eventually to his contract in Paris from 1824 to 1830. Rossini kept his personal life as private as possible, but he
5320-451: The samedi soirs – was held in December 1858, and the last, two months before he died in 1868. Rossini began composing again. His music from his final decade was not generally intended for public performance, and he did not usually put dates of composition on the manuscripts. Consequently, musicologists have found it difficult to give definite dates for his late works, but the first, or among
5460-414: The Bologna area, where he felt threatened by insurrection, and to make Florence his base, which it remained until 1855. By the early 1850s Rossini's mental and physical health had deteriorated to the point where his wife and friends feared for his sanity or his life. By the middle of the decade, it was clear that he needed to return to Paris for the most advanced medical care then available. In April 1855
5600-498: The Papal village. Giuseppe was imprisoned at least twice: first in 1790 for insubordination to local authorities in a dispute about his employment as town trumpeter; and in 1799 and 1800 for republican activism and support of the troops of Napoleon against the Pope's Austrian backers. In 1798, when Rossini was aged six, his mother began a career as a professional singer in comic opera, and for
5740-714: 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
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5880-559: The Rossinis set off for their final journey from Italy to France. Rossini returned to Paris aged sixty-three and made it his home for the rest of his life. I offer these modest songs to my dear wife Olympe as a simple testimony of gratitude for the affectionate, intelligent care which she lavished on me during my overlong and terrible illness. Dedication of Musique anodine , 1857 Gossett observes that although an account of Rossini's life between 1830 and 1855 makes depressing reading, it
6020-580: The Royal Theatres of Naples beginning in 1829, a job that the composer accepted and held until 1838. Like Rossini, who had occupied this position before him, Donizetti was free to compose for other opera houses. Finally, in May 1827 he announced his engagement to Virginia Vasselli, the then 18-year-old daughter of the Roman family who had befriended him there. The couple were married in July 1828 and immediately settled in
6160-454: The San Carlo again after the King of Naples banned the production of Poliuto on the grounds that such a sacred subject was inappropriate for the stage. In Paris, he offered Poliuto to the Opéra and it was set to a new and expanded four-act French-language libretto by Eugène Scribe with the title, Les Martyrs . Performed in April 1840, it was his first grand opera in the French tradition and
6300-614: The San Moisè as an ideal theatre for a young composer learning his craft – "everything tended to facilitate the début of a novice composer": it had no chorus, and a small company of principals; its main repertoire consisted of one-act comic operas ( farse ), staged with modest scenery and minimal rehearsal. Rossini followed the success of his first piece with three more farse for the house: L'inganno felice (1812), La scala di seta (1812), and Il signor Bruschino (1813). Rossini maintained his links with Bologna, where in 1811 he had
6440-544: The Teatro del Fondo, received only three performances. In October and for the remainder of the year, he was back in Rome, where he spent time adding five new pieces to Zoraida , which was performed at the Teatro Argentina on 7 January 1824. However, this version was less successful than the original. The second opera for Rome's Teatro Valle also had a libretto by Ferretti, one which has since been regarded as one of his best. It
6580-541: The Théâtre-Italien. He was also to help run the latter theatre and revise one of his earlier works for revival there. The death of the king and the accession of Charles X changed Rossini's plans, and his first new work for Paris was Il viaggio a Reims , an operatic entertainment given in June 1825 to celebrate Charles's coronation. It was Rossini's last opera with an Italian libretto. He permitted only four performances of
6720-622: The University of the Arts). Ashbrook died in Denver, Colorado at the age of 87. Although Ashbrook trained to be an English professor, he had a lifelong interest in Italian opera. In reference to his pioneering work in opera scholarship, musicologist Philip Gossett described him as "the father of us all" and his scholarly publications in the field of music far overshadowed his contributions in other areas. Opera studies were his lifelong passions, especially
6860-502: The Vienna season Rossini returned to Castenaso to work with his librettist, Gaetano Rossi , on Semiramide , commissioned by La Fenice. It was premiered in February 1823, his last work for the Italian theatre. Colbran starred, but it was clear to everyone that her voice was in serious decline, and Semiramide ended her career in Italy. The work survived that one major disadvantage, and entered
7000-559: The age of seventy-six. He left Olympe a life interest in his estate, which after her death, ten years later, passed to the Commune of Pesaro for the establishment of a Liceo Musicale, and funded a home for retired opera singers in Paris. After a funeral service attended by more than four thousand people at the church of Sainte-Trinité , Paris, Rossini's body was interred at the Père Lachaise Cemetery . In 1887 his remains were moved to
7140-454: The basilica of Santa Croce , Florence. "Tous les genres sont bons, hors le genre ennuyeux". Rossini, in a letter of 1868 (citing Voltaire ) The writer Julian Budden , noting the formulas adopted early on by Rossini in his career and consistently followed by him thereafter as regards overtures, arias , structures and ensembles, has called them "the Code Rossini" in a reference to
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#17328837307847280-426: The best music from operas unlikely to be revived in Naples." The new opera was received with tremendous enthusiasm, as was the Neapolitan premiere of L'italiana in Algeri , and Rossini's position in Naples was assured. For the first time, Rossini was able to write regularly for a resident company of first-rate singers and a fine orchestra, with adequate rehearsals, and schedules that made it unnecessary to compose in
7420-551: The caretaker of the town pawnshop. Simone Mayr, a German composer of internationally successful operas, had become maestro di cappella at Bergamo's principal church in 1802. He founded the Lezioni Caritatevoli school in Bergamo (now the Conservatorio Gaetano Donizetti ) in 1805 for the purpose of providing musical training, including classes in literature, beyond what choirboys ordinarily received up until
7560-513: The company to Vienna, Rossini was glad to join them, but did not reveal to Barbaia that he had no intention of returning to Naples afterwards. He travelled with Colbran, in March 1822, breaking their journey at Bologna, where they were married in the presence of his parents in a small church in Castenaso a few miles from the city. The bride was thirty-seven, the groom thirty. In Vienna, Rossini received
7700-698: The composer a base from which to work and teach and not be continually exhausting himself with travel between cities. But in a letter to Vasselli, he adamantly refused. When Donizetti went to Bologna for the Stabat Mater , Rossini attended the third performance, and the two men—each former students of the Bologna Conservatory —met for the first time, with Rossini declaring that Donizetti was "the only maestro in Italy capable of conducting my Stabat as I would have it". Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868)
7840-450: The composer's earlier operas. It is unclear to what extent – if at all – Rossini was involved with this production, which was in the event poorly received. More controversial was the pasticcio opera of Robert Bruce (1846), in which Rossini, by then returned to Bologna, closely cooperated by selecting music from his past operas which had not yet been performed in Paris, notably La donna del lago . The Opéra sought to present Robert as
7980-564: The composer, but this was not known to the London press and public, who blamed Rossini. In a 2003 biography of the composer, Gaia Servadio comments that Rossini and England were not made for each other. He was prostrated by the Channel crossing and was unlikely to be enthused by the English weather or English cooking. Although his stay in London was financially rewarding – the British press reported disapprovingly that he had earned over £30,000 – he
8120-538: The composers who attended the salons, and sometimes performed, were Auber , Gounod , Liszt , Rubinstein , Meyerbeer, and Verdi . Rossini liked to call himself a fourth-class pianist, but the many famous pianists who attended the samedi soirs were dazzled by his playing. Violinists such as Pablo Sarasate and Joseph Joachim and the leading singers of the day were regular guests. In 1860, Wagner visited Rossini via an introduction from Rossini's friend Edmond Michotte who some forty-five years later wrote his account of
8260-582: The cuts was Rossini's lifetime annuity, won after hard negotiation with the previous regime. Attempting to restore the annuity was one of Rossini's reasons for returning. The other was to be with his new mistress, Olympe Pélissier . He left Colbran in Castenaso; she never returned to Paris and they never lived together again. The reasons for Rossini's withdrawal from opera have been continually discussed during and since his lifetime. Some have supposed that aged thirty-seven and in variable health, having negotiated
8400-539: The effort of composing it left him exhausted. Although within a year he was planning an operatic treatment of the Faust story, events and ill health overtook him. After the opening of Guillaume Tell the Rossinis had left Paris and were staying in Castenaso. Within a year events in Paris had Rossini hurrying back. Charles X was overthrown in a revolution in July 1830, and the new administration, headed by Louis Philippe I , announced radical cutbacks in government spending. Among
8540-562: The entertaining pieces Péchés de vieillesse . Guests included Franz Liszt , Anton Rubinstein , Giuseppe Verdi , Meyerbeer, and Joseph Joachim . Rossini's last major composition was his Petite messe solennelle (1863). Rossini was born on 29 February in 1792 in Pesaro , a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy that was then part of the Papal States . He was the only child of Giuseppe Rossini,
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#17328837307848680-424: The fact that the score has totally disappeared. After these minor compositions under the commission of Paolo Zancla, Donizetti retreated to Bergamo once again to examine how he could make his career move along. From the point of view of Donizetti's evolving style, Ashbrook states that, in order to please the opera-going public in the first quarter of the 19th century, it was necessary to cater to their tastes, to make
8820-458: The first, was the song cycle Musique anodine , dedicated to his wife and presented to her in April 1857. For their weekly salons he produced more than 150 pieces, including songs, solo piano pieces, and chamber works for many different combinations of instruments. He referred to them as his Péchés de vieillesse – "sins of old age". The salons were held both at Beau Séjour – the Passy villa – and, in
8960-476: The four operas Rossini wrote to French librettos were Le siège de Corinthe (1826) and Moïse et Pharaon (1827). Both were substantial reworkings of pieces written for Naples: Maometto II and Mosè in Egitto . Rossini took great care before beginning work on the first, learning to speak French and familiarising himself with traditional French operatic ways of declaiming the language. As well as dropping some of
9100-452: The genial conversation between the two composers. One of Rossini's few late works intended to be given in public was his Petite messe solennelle , first performed in 1864. In the same year Rossini was made a grand officer of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon III. After a short illness, and an unsuccessful operation to treat colorectal cancer , Rossini died at Passy on 13 November 1868 at
9240-407: The government over his annuity in 1835 Rossini left Paris and settled in Bologna. His return to Paris in 1843 for medical treatment by Jean Civiale sparked hopes that he might produce a new grand opera – it was rumoured that Eugène Scribe was preparing a libretto for him about Joan of Arc . The Opéra was moved to present a French version of Otello in 1844 which also included material from some of
9380-458: The home key of F to that of A flat (see example); Taruskin notes the implicit pun, as the words talk of returning, but the music moves in a new direction. The influence was lasting; Gossett notes how the Rossinian cabaletta style continued to inform Italian opera as late as Giuseppe Verdi 's Aida (1871). Such structural integration of the forms of vocal music with the dramatic development of
9520-570: 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
9660-590: The international operatic repertory, remaining popular throughout the 19th century; in Richard Osborne's words, it brought "[Rossini's] Italian career to a spectacular close." In November 1823 Rossini and Colbran set off for London, where a lucrative contract had been offered. They stopped for four weeks en route in Paris. Although he was not as feverishly acclaimed by the Parisians as he had been in Vienna, he nevertheless had an exceptionally welcoming reception from
9800-546: The king, George IV , although the composer was by now unimpressed by royalty and aristocracy. Rossini and Colbran had signed contracts for an opera season at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket . Her vocal shortcomings were a serious liability, and she reluctantly retired from performing. Public opinion was not improved by Rossini's failure to provide a new opera, as promised. The impresario Vincenzo Benelli defaulted on his contract with
9940-526: The latter described by Gossett as "for any serious study of a Donizetti opera today, it is with (this book) that one must begin". Ashbrook was also a regular contributor to several classical music journals, magazines, and other publications, including Opera News , Opera , Donizetti Society Journal and the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . He was editor of Opera Quarterly from 1993 to 1997. This biographical article related to opera
10080-543: The latter part of the year when he wrote Il falegname di Livonia from a libretto by Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini. The opera was given first at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice in December. Other work included expansion of Le nozze in villa , a project which he had started in mid-1819, but the opera was not presented until the carnival season of 1820/21 in Mantua . Little is known about it except its lack of success and
10220-405: The librettist Domenico Gilardoni , who wrote eleven librettos for him, beginning with Otto mesi in due ore in 1827 and continuing until 1833. Gilardoni shared with the composer a very good sense of what would work on stage. Next, the Naples impresario Barbaja engaged him to write twelve new operas during the following three years. In addition, he was to be appointed to the position of Director of
10360-484: The libretto had been changed since the last performance". Rossini expressed his disgust when the publisher Giovanni Ricordi issued a complete edition of his works in the 1850s: "The same pieces will be found several times, for I thought I had the right to remove from my fiascos those pieces which seemed best, to rescue them from shipwreck ... A fiasco seemed to be good and dead, and now look they've resuscitated them all!" Philip Gossett notes that Rossini "was from
10500-411: The life and operas of 19th-century Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti . One result was that "the town of Bergamo , inspired by the local Donizetti Foundation, did itself proud by proclaiming him an honorary citizen of Donizetti's birthplace." He is best remembered for his 1965 biographical work on Donizetti and for the books The Operas of Puccini (1968; rev. 1985) and Donizetti and His Operas (1982),
10640-554: The lives of King Henry VIII (and his six wives), Mary I of England ("Bloody Mary"), Queen Elizabeth I , as well as the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots . Many of these historical characters appear in Donizetti's dramas, operas which both preceded and followed Anna Bolena . They were Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth , based on Scribe 's Leicester and Hugo 's Amy Robsart (given in Naples in July 1829 and revised in 1830). Then came Maria Stuarda ( Mary Stuart ), based on Schiller 's play and given at La Scala in December 1835. It
10780-547: The music before the première. Such pressures led to a further significant element of Rossini's compositional procedures, not included in Budden's "Code", namely, recycling. The composer often transferred a successful overture to subsequent operas: thus the overture to La pietra del paragone was later used for the opera seria Tancredi (1813), and (in the other direction) the overture to Aureliano in Palmira (1813) ended as (and
10920-427: The musical establishment and the public. When he attended a performance of Il barbiere at the Théâtre-Italien he was applauded, dragged onto the stage, and serenaded by the musicians. A banquet was given for him and his wife, attended by leading French composers and artists, and he found the cultural climate of Paris congenial. At the end of the year Rossini arrived in London, where he was received and made much of by
11060-461: The next twenty-five years following Guillaume Tell Rossini composed little, although Gossett comments that his comparatively few compositions from the 1830s and 1840s show no falling off in musical inspiration. They include the Soirées musicales (1830–1835: a set of twelve songs for solo or duet voices and piano) and his Stabat Mater (begun in 1831 and completed in 1841). After winning his fight with
11200-412: The one-act, Una follia which was presented a month later. However, with no other work forthcoming, the composer once again returned to Bergamo, where a cast of singers made up from the Venice production the month before, presented Enrico di Borgogna in his home town on 26 December. He spent the early months of 1819 working on some sacred and instrumental music, but little else came of his efforts until
11340-505: The opera Il pigmalione , as well as his composition of portions of Olympiade and L'ira d'Achille in 1817, as no more than "suggest[ing] the work of a student". Encouraged by Mayr to return to Bergamo in 1817, he began his "quartet years" as well as composing piano pieces and, most likely, being a performing member of quartets where he would have also heard music of other composers. In addition, he began seeking employment. After extending his time in Bologna for as long as he could, Donizetti
11480-598: The opera meant a sea-change from the Metastasian primacy of the aria; in Rossini's works, solo arias progressively take up a smaller proportion of the operas, in favour of duets (also typically in cantabile-caballetta format) and ensembles. William Ashbrook Ashbrook was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1946, and
11620-545: The original music that was in an ornate style unfashionable in Paris, Rossini accommodated local preferences by adding dances, hymn-like numbers and a greater role for the chorus. Rossini's mother, Anna, died in 1827; he had been devoted to her, and he felt her loss deeply. She and Colbran had never got on well, and Servadio suggests that after Anna died Rossini came to resent the surviving woman in his life. In 1828 Rossini wrote Le comte Ory , his only French-language comic opera. His determination to reuse music from Il viaggio
11760-482: The others in musical progress" and he was able to persuade the authorities that the young boy's talents were worthy of keeping him in the school. He remained there for nine years, until 1815. However, as Donizetti scholar William Ashbrook notes, in 1809 he was threatened with having to leave because his voice was changing. In 1810 he applied for and was accepted by the local art school, the Academia Carrara, but it
11900-418: The outset a consummate composer of overtures ". His basic formula for these remained constant throughout his career: Gossett characterises them as " sonata movements without development sections, usually preceded by a slow introduction" with "clear melodies, exuberant rhythms [and] simple harmonic structure" and a crescendo climax. Richard Taruskin also notes that the second theme is always announced in
12040-459: The piece after the "little composer" 's boasts, in the drama the "composer" responds with: I have a vast mind, swift talent, ready fantasy—and I'm a thunderbolt at composing. The performance also included a waltz which Donizetti played and for which he received credit in the libretto. In singing this piece, all five young men were given opportunities to show off their musical knowledge and talent. The following two years were somewhat precarious for
12180-542: The piece, intending to reuse the best of the music in a less ephemeral opera. About half the score of Le comte Ory (1828) is from the earlier work. Colbran's enforced retirement put a strain on the Rossinis' marriage, leaving her unoccupied while he continued to be the centre of musical attention and constantly in demand. She consoled herself with what Servadio describes as "a new pleasure in shopping"; for Rossini, Paris offered continual gourmet delights, as his increasingly rotund shape began to reflect. The first of
12320-532: The poet, Gilardoni. Maestro Donizetti has known how to take advantage of them...", thus reaffirming the growing dramatic skills displayed by the young composer. In 1830, Donizetti scored his most acclaimed and his first international success with Anna Bolena , given at the Teatro Carcano in Milan on 26 December 1830 with Giuditta Pasta in the title role. Also, the acclaimed tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini appeared in
12460-487: The poorly managed theatre, the continual indisposition of singers, or their failure to appear on time. These issues caused a delay until January 1827 for the premiere of Alahor , after which he went back in Naples in February, but with no specific commitments until midsummer. That summer was to see the successful presentations at the Teatro Nuovo of the adapted version of L'ajo nell'imbarazzo given as Don Gregorio and,
12600-406: The public and critics round. Rossini's first work for the San Carlo, Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra was a dramma per musica in two acts, in which he reused substantial sections of his earlier works, unfamiliar to the local public. The Rossini scholars Philip Gossett and Patricia Brauner write, "It is as if Rossini wished to present himself to the Neapolitan public by offering a selection of
12740-435: The requirement that the libretto to be revised by Ferretti, given Donizetti's low opinion of the work of the original Neapolitan librettist, Andrea Leone Tottola : he referred to it as "a great barking". In addition to the revision, he committed to write another new opera for the Rome's Teatro Valle which would also be set to a libretto written by Ferretti. Donizetti finally returned to Naples by late March. Immediately busy in
12880-440: The role had to be re-written for a musico , a mezzo-soprano singing a male role, a not uncommon feature of the era and of Rossini's operas. Opening night was a triumph for Donizetti; as reported in the weekly Notizie del giorno : A new and very happy hope is rising for the Italian musical theatre. The young Maestro Gaetano Donizetti...has launched himself strongly in his truly serious opera, Zoraida . Unanimous, sincere, universal
13020-427: The role of Percy. With this opera, Donizetti achieved instant fame throughout Europe. Performances were staged "up and down the Italian peninsula" between 1830 and 1834 and then throughout Europe's capitals well into the 1840s, with revivals being presented up to about 1881. London was the first European capital to see the work; it was given at the King's Theatre on 8 July 1831. In regard to which operatic form Donizetti
13160-402: The royal court. During this time and prior to leaving for Vienna, he was persuaded to conduct the premiere of Rossini's Stabat Mater in Bologna in March 1842. Friends—including his brother-in-law, Antonio Vasselli (known as Totò)—continually attempted to persuade him to take up an academic position in Bologna rather than the Vienna court engagement, if for no other reason that it would give
13300-407: The same time. Donizetti returned from Paris to oversee the staging of Lucia di Lammermoor on 26 September 1835. It was set to a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano , the first of eight for the composer. The opera was based on The Bride of Lammermoor , the novel by Sir Walter Scott , and it was to become his most famous opera, one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, the opera reaching
13440-646: The same title as its hero, Almaviva . Despite an unsuccessful opening night, with mishaps on stage and many pro-Paisiello and anti-Rossini audience members, the opera quickly became a success, and by the time of its first revival, in Bologna a few months later, it was billed by its present Italian title and it rapidly eclipsed Paisiello's setting. Rossini's operas for the Teatro San Carlo were substantial, mainly serious pieces. His Otello (1816) provoked Lord Byron to write, "They have been crucifying Othello into an opera: music good, but lugubrious – but as for
13580-527: The spring months of 1823 with a cantata, an opera seria for the San Carlo, and an opera buffa for the Nuovo, Donizetti also had to work on the revised Zoraide for Rome. Unfortunately however, the music set for the San Carlo premiere of Alfredo il grande on 2 July was described in the Giornali as "...one could not recognize the composer of La zingara ". It received only one performance, while his two-act farsa , Il fortunato inganno , given in September at
13720-482: The stage than his librettists". Back in Naples, he embarked upon his first venture into English Romanticism with the opera semiseria , Emilia di Liverpool , which was given only seven performances in July 1824 at the Nuovo. The critical reaction in the Giornali some months later focused on the weaknesses of the semiseria genre itself, although it did describe Donizetti's music for Emilia as "pretty". The composer's activities in Naples became limited because 1825
13860-598: The success of his Lucia at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris in December 1837, approaches came from the Paris Opéra . As musicologists Roger Parker and William Ashbrook have stated, "negotiations with Charles Duponchel, the director of the Opéra, took on a positive note for the first time" and "the road to Paris lay open for him", the first Italian to obtain a commission to write a real grand opera. In October 1838, Donizetti moved to Paris vowing never to have dealings with
14000-830: The successes of Giacomo Meyerbeer and Fromental Halévy in the genre of grand opéra. Modern Rossini scholarship has generally discounted such theories, maintaining that Rossini had no intention of renouncing operatic composition, and that circumstances rather than personal choice made Guillaume Tell his last opera. Gossett and Richard Osborne suggest that illness may have been a major factor in Rossini's retirement. From about this time, Rossini had intermittent bad health, both physical and mental. He had contracted gonorrhoea in earlier years, which later led to painful side-effects, from urethritis to arthritis ; he suffered from bouts of debilitating depression, which commentators have linked to several possible causes: cyclothymia , or bipolar disorder , or reaction to his mother's death. For
14140-467: The taste of the age of Romanticism , with stories demanding stronger characterisation and quicker action; a jobbing composer needed to meet these demands or fail. Rossini's strategies met this reality. A formulaic approach was logistically indispensable for Rossini's career, at least at the start: in the seven years 1812–1819, he wrote 27 operas, often at extremely short notice. For La Cenerentola (1817), for example, he had just over three weeks to write
14280-399: The time that their voices broke. In 1807, Andrea Donizetti attempted to enroll both his sons, but the elder, Giuseppe (then 18), was considered too old. Gaetano (then 9) was accepted. While not especially successful as a choirboy during the first three trial months of 1807 (there being some concern about a difetto di gola , a throat defect), Mayr was soon reporting that Gaetano "surpasses all
14420-450: The time, but inspirational to the young Rossini. He was a quick learner, and by the age of twelve, he had composed a set of six sonatas for four stringed instruments, which were performed under the aegis of a rich patron in 1804. Two years later he was admitted to the recently opened Liceo Musicale, Bologna , initially studying singing, cello and piano, and joining the composition class soon afterwards. He wrote some substantial works while
14560-575: The title of maestro di cartello – a composer whose name on advertising posters guaranteed a full house. The following year his first opera seria , Tancredi , did well at La Fenice in Venice, and even better at Ferrara, with a rewritten, tragic ending. The success of Tancredi made Rossini's name known internationally; productions of the opera followed in London (1820) and New York (1825). Within weeks of Tancredi , Rossini had another box-office success with his comedy L'italiana in Algeri , composed in great haste and premiered in May 1813. 1814
14700-399: The very prime of life, renounced that form of artistic production which had made him famous throughout the civilized world? The poet Heine compared Rossini's retirement with Shakespeare 's withdrawal from writing: two geniuses recognising when they had accomplished the unsurpassable and not seeking to follow it. Others, then and later, suggested that Rossini had retired because of pique at
14840-423: The wealth his success had brought him, and the rise of spectacular grand opera under composers such as Giacomo Meyerbeer . From the early 1830s to 1855, when he left Paris and was based in Bologna, Rossini wrote relatively little. On his return to Paris in 1855 he became renowned for his musical salons on Saturdays, regularly attended by musicians and the artistic and fashionable circles of Paris, for which he wrote
14980-505: The winter, at the Paris flat. Such gatherings were a regular feature of Parisian life – the writer James Penrose has observed that the well-connected could easily attend different salons almost every night of the week – but the Rossinis' samedi soirs quickly became the most sought after: "an invitation was the city's highest social prize." The music, carefully chosen by Rossini, was not only his own but included works by Pergolesi , Haydn and Mozart and modern pieces by some of his guests. Among
15120-400: The words of Rosselli, in Rossini's hands, "the aria became an engine for releasing emotion". Rossini's typical aria structure involved a lyrical introduction ( "cantabile" ) and a more intensive, brilliant, conclusion ( "cabaletta" ). This model could be adapted in various ways so as to forward the plot (as opposed to the typical eighteenth-century handling which resulted in the action coming to
15260-514: The words!" Nonetheless, the piece proved generally popular and held the stage in frequent revivals until it was overshadowed by Verdi's version , seven decades later. Among his other works for the house were Mosè in Egitto , based on the biblical story of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt (1818), and La donna del lago , from Sir Walter Scott 's poem The Lady of the Lake (1819). For La Scala he wrote
15400-425: The work on 1 July—recognize an important aspect of Donizetti's burgeoning musical style: [he shows that] "his concern with the dramatic essence of opera rather than the mechanical working out of musical formulas was, even at this early stage, was already present and active". On 3 August for what would become Chiara e Serafina , ossia I pirati , Donizetti entered into a contract with librettist Felice Romani , but he
15540-518: The young Donizetti: the 16-year-old created quite a reputation for what he did do—which is regularly to fail to attend classes—and also for what he did instead, which was to make something of a spectacle of himself in the town. However, in spite of all this, Mayr not only persuaded Gaetano's parents to allow him to continue studies, but also secured funding from the Congregazione di Carità in Bergamo for two years of scholarships. In addition, he provided
15680-603: The young musician with letters of recommendation to both the publisher Giovanni Ricordi as well as to the Marchese Francesco Sampieri in Bologna (who would find him suitable lodging) and where, at the Liceo Musicale, he was given the opportunity to study musical structure under the renowned Padre Stanislao Mattei . In Bologna, he would justify the faith which Mayr had placed in him. Author John Stewart Allitt describes his 1816 "initial exercises in operatic style",
15820-521: Was Venice ; under the tutelage of the composer Giovanni Morandi , a family friend, Rossini moved there in late 1810, when he was eighteen. Rossini's first opera to be staged was La cambiale di matrimonio , a one-act comedy, given at the small Teatro San Moisè in November 1810. The piece was a great success, and Rossini received what then seemed to him a considerable sum: "forty scudi – an amount I had never seen brought together". He later described
15960-756: Was a Holy Year in Rome and the death of Ferdinand I in Naples caused little or no opera to be produced in either city for a considerable time. However, he did obtain a year-long position for the 1825/26 season at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo, where he became musical director (as well teaching at the Palermo Conservatory ). There, he staged his 1824 version of L'ajo nell'imbarazzo as well as his new opera Alahor in Granata . But overall, his experience in Palermo does not appear to have been pleasant, mainly because of
16100-510: Was a less remarkable year for the rising composer, neither Il turco in Italia or Sigismondo pleasing the Milanese or Venetian public, respectively. 1815 marked an important stage in Rossini's career. In May he moved to Naples , to take up the post of director of music for the royal theatres. These included the Teatro di San Carlo , the city's leading opera house; its manager Domenico Barbaia
16240-409: Was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces and some sacred music . He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother
16380-406: Was an undoubted success, without being a smash hit; the public took some time in getting to grips with it, and some singers found it too demanding. It nonetheless was produced abroad within months of the premiere, and there was no suspicion that it would be the composer's last opera. Jointly with Semiramide , Guillaume Tell is Rossini's longest opera, at three hours and forty-five minutes, and
16520-533: Was contracted by the Opéra in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the coronation of Charles X , Il viaggio a Reims (later cannibalised for his first opera in French , Le comte Ory ), revisions of two of his Italian operas , Le siège de Corinthe and Moïse , and in 1829 his last opera, Guillaume Tell . Rossini's withdrawal from opera for the last 40 years of his life has never been fully explained; contributory factors may have been ill-health,
16660-624: Was followed by the third in the "Three Donizetti Queens" series, Roberto Devereux , which features the relationship between Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex. It was given at the San Carlo in Naples in October 1837. As Donizetti's fame grew, so did his engagements. He was offered commissions by both La Fenice in Venice—a house he had not visited for about seventeen years and to which he returned to present Belisario on 4 February 1836. Just as importantly, after
16800-427: Was forced to return to Bergamo since no other prospects appeared. Various small opportunities came his way and, at the same time, he made the acquaintance of several of the singers appearing during the 1817/18 Carnival season. Among them was the soprano Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis and her husband, the bass Giuseppe de Begnis . A coincidental meeting around April 1818 with an old school friend, Bartolomeo Merelli (who
16940-569: Was given in Livorno and Parisina (March 1833) was given in Florence. After the successful staging of Lucrezia Borgia in 1833, his reputation was further consolidated, and Donizetti followed the paths of both Rossini and Bellini by visiting Paris, where his Marin Faliero was given at the Théâtre-Italien in March 1835. However, it suffered by comparison to Bellini's I puritani which appeared at
17080-518: Was happy to sign a contract at the French embassy in London to return to Paris, where he had felt much more at home. Rossini's new, and highly remunerative, contract with the French government was negotiated under Louis XVIII , who died in September 1824, soon after Rossini's arrival in Paris. It had been agreed that the composer would produce one grand opera for the Académie Royale de Musique and either an opera buffa or an opera semiseria for
17220-470: Was known for his susceptibility to singers in the companies he worked with. Among his lovers in his early years were Ester Mombelli (Domenico's daughter) and Maria Marcolini of the Bologna company. By far the most important of these relationships – both personal and professional – was with Isabella Colbran , prima donna of the Teatro San Carlo (and former mistress of Barbaia). Rossini had heard her sing in Bologna in 1807, and when he moved to Naples he wrote
17360-507: Was not staged until 1860. Donizetti returned once more to Milan where he stayed with the accommodating Giuseppina Appiano Stringeli with whom he had a pleasant time. Unwilling to leave Milan, but encouraged to return to Paris by Michele Accursi (with whom the composer was to be involved in Paris in 1843), he oversaw the December production of Maria Padilla at La Scala, and began writing Linda di Chamounix in preparation for March 1842 travels to Vienna , in which city he had been engaged by
17500-421: 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 . The youngest of three sons, Donizetti was born in 1797 in Bergamo's Borgo Canale quarter , located just outside the city walls. His family was very poor and had no tradition of music, his father Andrea being
17640-404: Was over-committed and unable to deliver anything until 3 October. The premiere had been scheduled for only about three weeks away and, due to the delays and illnesses among the cast members, it did not receive good reviews, although it did receive a respectable 12 performances. Returning north via Rome, Donizetti signed a contract for performances of Zoraida by the Teatro Argentina which included
17780-418: Was performed on 13 September 1811 and included the composer character stating the following: Ah, by Bacchus, with this aria / I'll have universal applause. / They'll say to me, "Bravo, Maestro! / I, with a sufficiently modest air, / Will go around with my head bent... / I'll have eulogies in the newspaper / I know how to make myself immortal. In reply to the chiding which comes from the other four characters in
17920-507: 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
18060-401: Was presented on 14 November 1818, but with little success, the audience appearing to be more interested in the newly re-decorated opera house rather than the performances, which suffered from the last-minute withdrawal of the soprano Adelaide Catalani due to stage fright and the consequent omission of some her music. Musicologist and Donizetti scholar William Ashbrook provides a quotation from
18200-429: Was provided with a letter of introduction from Mayr to Jacopo Ferretti , the Roman poet and librettist who was later to feature in the young composer's career, much of the music had been composed. The twenty-four-year-old composer arrived in Rome on 21 October, but plans for staging the opera were plagued with a major problem: the tenor cast in the major role died a few days before the opening night on 28 January 1822 and
18340-546: Was quite successful. Before leaving that city in June 1840, he had time to oversee the translation of Lucia di Lammermoor into Lucie de Lammermoor as well as to write La fille du régiment , his first opera written specifically to a French libretto. This became another success. After leaving Paris in June 1840, Donizetti was to write ten new operas, although not all were performed in his lifetime. Before arriving in Milan by August 1840, he visited Switzerland and then his hometown of Bergamo, eventually reaching Milan where he
18480-465: Was so moved that he determined to meet the reclusive composer. He finally managed to do so, and later described the encounter to many people, including Eduard Hanslick and Richard Wagner . He recalled that although conversation was hampered by Beethoven's deafness and Rossini's ignorance of German, Beethoven made it plain that he thought Rossini's talents were not for serious opera, and that "above all" he should "do more Barbiere " (Barbers) . After
18620-476: 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 ,
18760-422: Was the opera buffa L'ajo nell'imbarazzo ( The Tutor Embarrassed ), the premiere of which took place on 4 February 1824 and "was greeted with wild enthusiasm [and] it was with this opera that [...] Donizetti had his first really lasting success". Allitt notes that with a good libretto to hand, "Donizetti never failed its dramatic content" and he adds that "Donizetti had a far better sense of what would succeed on
18900-418: Was the applause he justly collected from the capacity audience.... Soon after 19 February, Donizetti left Rome for Naples, where he was to settle for a large part of his life. It appears that he had asked Mayr for a letter of introduction, but his fame had preceded him for, on 28th, the announcement of the summer season at the Teatro Nuovo in the Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie stated that it would include
19040-434: Was the true native heirship of an Italian: a little music, a little religion, and a volume of Ariosto . The rest of his education was consigned to the legitimate school of southern youth, the society of his mother, the young singing girls of the company, those prima donnas in embryo, and the gossips of every village through which they passed. This was aided and refined by the musical barber and news-loving coffee-house keeper of
19180-429: Was to be an important influence on the composer's career there. The musical establishment of Naples was not immediately welcoming to Rossini, who was seen as an intruder into its cherished operatic traditions. The city had once been the operatic capital of Europe; the memory of Cimarosa was revered and Paisiello was still living, but there were no local composers of any stature to follow them, and Rossini quickly won
19320-567: Was to go on to a distinguished career), led to an offer to compose the music from a libretto which became Enrico di Borgogna . Without a commission from any opera house, Donizetti decided to write the music first and then try to find a company to accept it. He was able to do so when Paolo Zancla , the impresario of the Teatro San Luca (an early theatre built in 1629, which later became the Teatro Goldoni) in Venice accepted it. Thus Enrico
19460-473: Was to have the greater success, when the semi-seria work of 1828, Gianni di Calais , was given in Rome very soon after Anna Bolena had appeared, the Gazzetta privilegiata di Milano described the relationship between the two forms of opera and concluded that "in two classes—tragic and comic—very close together...the former wins incomparably over the latter". This appears to have solidified Donizetti's reputation as
19600-516: Was to prepare an Italian version of La fille du régiment . No sooner was that accomplished than he was back in Paris to adapt the never-performed 1839 libretto L'Ange de Nisida as the French-language La favorite , the premiere of which took place on 2 December 1840. Then he rushed back to Milan for Christmas, but returned almost immediately and by late February 1841 was preparing a new opera, Rita, ou Deux hommes et une femme . However, it
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