Gaetano Donizetti
Composer

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Born is 1797 in Bergamo Italy, Donizetti along with Bellini and Rossini is known as one of the great masters of the bel canto style of opera.

Donizetti's talent was visible at an early age, winning him a fully paid scholarship to the Lezioni Caritatevoli school when he was just nine years old. His first staged opera was Enrico di Borgogna in 1818. But it was not until 1830, following performances of Anna Bolena in Milan, that Donizetti achieved international fame.

Truly a prolific composer, Donizetti wrote both comic and serious operas. Two of his most popular comedies L'elisir d'amore or The Elixir of Love (1832) and Don Pasquale   (1843) are still widely performed today around the world. His most popular tragedy, Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) is also still widely staged. Many of his more than 85 operas were crafted specifically for the most gifted opera singers of his time, crafted to showcase their specific vocal talents. Although considered a master of operatic composition during his life time, by the 20 th Century his works were overshadowed by the popularity of grand opera masterpieces by composers such as Wagner, Puccini and Verdi.

Despite his success in opera houses around the world, Donizetti's personal life was riddled with tragedy. Married in 1828 to Virginia Vasselli, the couple had three children, all of whom died in infancy. Within a year in the 1830's his parents and his wife died during a cholera epidemic. Donizetti was also not well, suffering from cerebro-spinal syphilis. By 1843 the effects of the illness had become apparent, with his condition deteriorating until he was hospitalized for more than a year. The composer's closest friends had him moved from the hospital to Paris toward the end of his life. Just before he succumbed to the ravages of syphilis he returned to his home town, were he died in 1848.