Composer and Librettists

Gaetano Donizetti

Composer

Gaetano Donizetti was an Italian composer of the bel canto style. During the span of his life he wrote about 70 operas. His two most popular operas today are L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor.

Donizetti didn’t come from a musical family, but started taking music lessons at an early age. In 1822, after his ninth opera, the impresario of Teatro di San Carlo in Naples offered him a residency. For the next 22 years he wrote 51 operas that were performed at the theatre.

Donizetti married Virginia Vasselli in 1828. She gave birth to three children but none of them survived. In 1837 Virgina died, and within a year of her death, both of Donizetti’s parents also died. He never completely recovered from his grief. At the end of his life he lived at an institution for the mentally ill and just before his death he was moved back to Bergamo where he was born. Although mainly an opera composer, Donizetti also wrote symphonies, songs, sacred music, string quartets and other chamber music. Together with Rossini and Bellini he shaped the bel canto style during the first part of the 19th century. After Bellini’s death, Donizetti was the major Italian composer until Verdi.

Librettists

The libretto was written by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.

Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges was a French playwright who was born and died in Paris. He was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, often working in collaboration with others.

Jean-François Alfred Bayard was a French playwright and librettist. He was the nephew of fellow playwright Eugène Scribe.