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Donizetti

Gaetano Donizetti
Dates
1797–1848
Era
Early Romantic (1820–1860)
Recognition
essential
Wikipedia

Where to start with Donizetti

Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles
  1. Stage
    L'elisir d'amore — Opera
  2. Vocal
    A mezzanotte
  3. Orchestral
    Allegro for Strings in C
  4. Chamber
    Andante sostenuto, pour hautbois et harpe
  5. Stage
    Lucia di Lammermoor — Opera
  6. Stage
    La fille du régiment — Opera
  7. Vocal
    Addio brunetta, son già lontano
  8. Vocal
    Ah, rammenta, o bella Irene
  9. Vocal
    Aimer ma rose est la sorte de ma vie
  10. Stage
    Alahor in Granata — Opera
  11. Stage
    Alfredo il Grande — Opera
  12. Stage
    Alina, regina di Golconda — Opera
  13. Vocal
    Amor marinaro
  14. Vocal
    Amor, voce del cielo, for 2 voices and piano
  15. Vocal
    Amore e morte

Listening guide

Hand-curated paths into Donizetti's catalogue
  1. Lucia di Lammermoor
  2. L\’elisir d’amore
  3. Don Pasquale
  4. La fille du régiment
  5. Sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor

Most Acclaimed

  1. Lucia di Lammermoor
  2. Maria Stuarda
    confrontation between Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I
  3. Anna Bolena
  4. Don Pasquale
  5. Lucrezia Borgia

Most Weird

  1. Maria Stuarda
    the two queens meet in Act II — historically impossible; the confrontation is operatic invention
  2. Lucrezia Borgia
    gothic melodrama — poisoned wine at a party kills all her son’s friends
  3. String Quartet No. 13 in A major
    he wrote 18 string quartets — nobody performs them
  4. Il castello di Kenilworth
    early opera after Walter Scott
  5. Dom Sébastien
    grand opera — his last major work, written while already suffering mental decline

Similar composers

Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinity

Works 157