The Operas of Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti was a prolific composer, pouring his creative
energy into nearly 70 operas. His music demanded a level of
vocal agility and expressiveness that epitomised the essence
of bel canto singing. By pushing the boundaries of vocal technique
and exploring a wide range of emotions through his music,
Donizetti elevated bel canto to new heights, solidifying his
legacy as one of its foremost composers. Beyond technical
brilliance, Donizetti understood the power of drama. His operas
explored a range of emotions, from the heights of romantic
love to the depths of despair. He excelled at portraying complex
characters and used music to heighten the emotional impact
of the story. His talent was recognised during his lifetime,
and his operas enjoyed great popularity throughout Europe,
particularly in Italy and France. He was a commercially astute
composer, able to produce operas quickly and efficiently to
meet the demands of opera houses. Critical reception has shifted
over time. While still admired for their melodic beauty and
dramatic effectiveness, some of Donizetti's operas are considered
less innovative compared to the works of his contemporaries,
Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini. |
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# |
Original Title |
Genre |
Acts |
Yr Composed |
Librettist |
Libretto Source |
First Performance |
|
1 |
Il
Pigmalione |
Scena Lirica/scena drammatica |
1 |
1816 |
Unknown |
Possibly Antonio S. Sografi's text for Cimadoro's Pimmaglioner,
1790 |
Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo, 13 Oct. 1960 |
|
2 |
L'ira d'Achille |
|
1 |
1817 incompl. |
Possibly by Felice Romani |
Unknown |
Bologna? |
|
3 |
Enrico
di Borgogna |
Opera semiseria/
melodramma/opera eroica |
2 |
1818 |
Bartolomeo Merelli |
Aug. von Kotzebue's Der Graf von Burgund, 1795 |
Teatro San Luca, Venice, 14 Nov. 1818 |
|
4 |
Una
follia |
Farsa |
1 |
1818 |
Bartolomeo Merelli |
Probably Andrea Leone Tottola's libretto for Giacomo Cordelia's
Una follia, 1813 |
Teatro San Luca, Venice, 17 Dec. 1818 |
|
5 |
Le
nozze in villa, ossia I provinciali |
Opera buffa |
2 |
1819 |
Bartolomeo Merelli |
Aug. von Kotzebue's Die deutschen Kleinstddter,
1802 |
Teatro Vecchio, Mantua, 1820-21 |
|
6 |
II
falegname di Livonia, ossia Pietro il grande, Tsar delle Russie |
Opera buffa |
2 |
1819 |
Marchese Gherardo Bevilacqua-Aldobrandini |
Alexandre Duval's Le menuisier de Livonie, ou Les illustres
voyageurs, 1805 |
Teatro San Samuele, Venice, 26 Dec. 1819 |
|
7 |
Zoraida
di Granata |
Opera seria/
melodramma eroico |
2 |
1821-22
rev. 1824 |
Bartolomeo Merelli
rev. Jacopo Ferretti |
Jean-Pierre-Claris de Florian's Gonzalve de Cordove, ou
Grenade reconquise, 1793 |
Teatro Argentina, Rome, 28 Jan. 1822
rev. Teatro Argentina, Rome, 7 Jan. 1824 |
|
8 |
La
zingara |
Opera semiseria/dramma |
2 |
1822 |
Andrea Leone Tottola |
Louis-Charles Caigniez's La petite bohemienne, 1816 |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 12 May 1822 |
|
9 |
La
lettera anonima |
Farsa/dramma per musica |
1 |
1822 |
Giulio Genoino |
A farce by Giulio Genoino |
Teatro del Fondo, Naples, 29 June 1822 |
|
10 |
Chiara e Serafina, ossia I pirati |
Opera semiseria/
melodramma semiseria |
2 |
1822 |
Felice Romani |
Rene-Charles-Guilbert de Pixerecourt's La cisterne,
1809 |
La Scala, Milan, 26 Oct. 1822 |
|
11 |
Alfredo il grande |
Opera seria/dramma per musica |
2 |
1823 |
Andrea Leone Tottola |
Possibly Bartolomeo Merelli's libretto for Johann Simon Mayr's
Alfredo il grande, 1818 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 2 July 1823 |
|
12 |
II fortunato inganno |
Opera buffa/dramma giocoso
|
2 |
1823 |
Andrea Leone Tottola |
Unknown |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 3 Sept. 1823 |
|
13 |
L'ajo
nell'imbarazzo
rev. Don Gregorio |
Opera buffa/
melodramma giocoso
rev. Neapolitan farsa |
2 |
1824
rev. 1826 |
Jacopo Ferretti |
Giovanni Giraud's L'ajo nell'imbarazzo, 1807 |
Teatro Valle, Rome, 4 Feb. 1824
rev. Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 11 June 1826 |
|
14 |
Emilia di Liverpool |
Opera semiseria |
2 |
1824
rev. 1828 |
Unknown
rev. Giuseppe Checcherini |
Anonymous libretto for Vittorio Trento's opera Emilia
di Laverpaut, 1817 |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 28 July 1824
rev. Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 8 March 1828 |
|
15 |
Alahor in Granata |
Opera seria |
2 |
1825 |
Identified as M.A. |
Jean-Pierre-Claris de Florian's Gonzalve de Cordove, ou
Grenade reconquise, 1793 |
Teatro Carolino, Palermo, 7 Jan. 1826 |
|
16 |
Elvida |
Opera seria |
1 |
1826 |
Giovanni Schmidt |
Unknown |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 6 July 1826 |
|
17 |
Gabriella di Vergy |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
2 |
1826
rev. 1838 |
Andrea Leone Tottola, Gaetano Donizetti (?) |
Andrea Leone Tottola's libretto for Michele Enrico Carafa's
Gabriella di Vergy, 1816 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 29 Nov. 1869
rev. for recording, London, Aug. 1978, by Opera Rara |
|
18 |
Olivo e Pasquale |
Opera buffa/
melodramma |
2 |
1826
rev. 1827 |
Jacopo Ferretti |
Antonio Simone Sografi's Olivo e Pasquale, 1794 |
Teatro Valle, Rome, 7 Jan. 1827
rev. Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 1 Sept. 1827 |
|
19 |
Otto mesi in due ore, ossia Gli esiliati in Siberia |
Opera romantica |
3 |
1827
rev. 1833 |
Domenico Gilardoni
rev. Antonio Alcozer |
Luigi Marchionni's La figlia dell'esiliato, ossia Otto
mesi in due ore, 1820 |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 13 May 1827
rev. Livorno, 1833 |
|
20 |
Il borgomastro di Saardam |
Opera buffa/
melodramma giocoso |
2 |
1827 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Anne-Honoré-Joseph Melesville, J.-T. Merle and E.-C. de Boirie's
Le bourgmestre de Sardam, ou Les deux Pierre, 1818 |
Teatro del Fondo, Naples, 19 Aug. 1827 |
|
21 |
Le
convenienze teatrali
rev. Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali |
Farsa/melodramma comico/melodramma giocoso
revised as. dramma giocoso |
1;
rev. 2 |
1827
rev. 1831 |
Gaetano Donizetti
rev. also GD |
Antonio Simone Sografi's Le convenienze teatrali,
1794
rev. Antonio Simone Sografi's Le convenienze teatrali,
1800 |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 21 Nov. 1827
rev. Teatro Canobbiana, Milan, 20 Apr. 1831 |
|
22 |
L'esule
di Roma, ossia Il proscritto (aka Settimio il proscritto) |
Opera seria/
melodramma eroico |
2 |
1827 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Luigi Marchionni's II proscritto romano, ossia II leone
del Caucaso, 1820 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 1 Jan. 1828 |
|
23 |
Alina,
regina di Golconda |
Opera buffa/
melodramma |
2 |
1828
rev. 1829 |
Felice Romani |
Michel-Jean Sedaine's libretto for Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny's
Aline, reine de Golconde, 1766 |
Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, 12 May 1828
rev. Teatro Valle, Rome, 10 Oct. 1829 |
|
24 |
Gianni di Calais |
Opera semiseria/
melodramma semiseria |
3 |
1828 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Louis-Charles Caigniez's Jean de Calais, 1810 |
Teatro del Fondo, Naples, 2 Aug. 1828 |
|
25 |
Il paria |
Opera seria/
melodramma |
2 |
1828 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Casimir Delavigne's Le paria, 1821 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 12 Jan. 1829 |
|
26 |
II
giovedì grasso, ossia Il nuovo Pourceaugnac |
Farsa |
1 |
1828-29 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson's
Le nouveau Pourceaugnac, 1817 |
Teatro del Fondo, Naples, probably 26 Feb. 1829 |
|
27 |
II
castello di Kenilworth (aka Elisabetta al castello
di Kenilworth) |
Opera seria/
melodramma |
3 |
1829
rev. 1830 |
Andrea Leone Tottola |
Gaetano Barbieri's Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth,
1824 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 6 July 1829 |
|
28 |
I pazzi per progetto |
Farsa |
1 |
1829-30 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Giovanni Carlo di Cosenza's I pazzi per progetto, 1824 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 6 Feb. 1830 |
|
29 |
Il diluvio universale |
Azione tragica-sacra |
3 |
1829-30
rev. 1833-34 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Francesco Ringhini's Il diluvio, 1788; Lord Byron's
Heaven and Earth, 1822; Thomas Moore's Loves
of the Angels, 1823 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 28 Feb. 1830
rev. Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, 17 Jan. 1834 |
|
30 |
Imelda de' Lambertazzi |
Opera seria/
melodramma tragico |
2 |
1830 |
Andrea Leone Tottola |
Gabriele Sperduti's Imelda, 1825 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 5 Sept. 1830 |
|
31 |
Anna Bolena |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
2 |
1830 |
Felice Romani |
Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII, ossia Anna Bolena,
1816 |
Teatro Carcano, Milan, 26 Dec. 1830 |
|
32 |
Gianni di Parigi |
Opera buffa (opera comica)/melodramma |
2 |
1831 |
Felice Romani |
Godard d'Aucourt de Saint-Just's libretto for François-Adrien
Boieldieu's Jean de Paris, 1812 |
La Scala, Milan, 10 Sept. 1839 |
|
33 |
Francesca di Foix |
Opera semiseria/
melodramma |
1 |
1831 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Jean-Nicolas Bouilly's and Emanuel Mercier-Dupaty's libretto
for Henri-Montan Berton's Françoise de Foix,
1809 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 30 May 1831 |
|
34 |
La romanziera e l'uomo nero |
Farsa |
1 |
1831 |
Domenico Gilardoni |
Lost, possibly Eugene Scribe's and Jean-Henri Dupin's L'homme
noir, 1820 |
Teatro del Fondo, Naples, 18 June 1831 |
|
35 |
Fausta |
Opera seria/
melodramma |
2 |
1831 |
Domenico Gilardoni, Gaetano Donizetti |
Unknown |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 12 Jan. 1832 |
|
36 |
Ugo conte di Parigi |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
2 |
1831-32 |
Felice Romani |
Unknown |
La Scala, Milan, 13 Mar. 1832 |
|
37 |
L'elisir d'amore |
Opera buffa (opera comica)/melodramma giocoso |
2 |
1832 |
Felice Romani |
Eugene Scribe's libretto for Daniel-François-Esprit
Auber's Le philtre, 1831 |
Teatro Canobbiana, Milan, 12 May 1832 |
|
38 |
Sancia di Castiglia |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
2 |
1832 |
Pietro Salatino |
Unknown |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 4 Nov. 1832 |
|
39 |
II furioso all'isola di San Domingo |
Opera semiseria/
melodramma |
2 |
1832
rev. 1833 |
Jacopo Ferretti |
The play Il furioso nell'isola di San Domingo, 1820 |
Teatro Valle, Rome, 2 Jan. 1833
rev. Milan 1833 |
|
40 |
Parisina |
Opera seria/
melodramma |
3 |
1833 |
Felice Romani |
Lord Byron's Parisina, 1816 |
Teatro della Pergola, Florence, 17 Mar. 1833 |
|
41 |
Torquato Tasso |
Opera semiseria/
melodramma |
3 |
1833 |
Jacopo Ferretti |
Giovanni Rosini's Torquato Tasso, 1832; Carlo Goldoni's
Tasso, 1755; Johann Wolfgang Goethe's Tasso,
1790; Lord Byron's The Lament of Tasso, 1817 |
Teatro Valle, Rome, 9 Sept. 1833 |
|
42 |
Lucrezia Borgia |
Opera seria/
melodramma in un prologo |
2 |
1833
rev. 1839 and
1840 |
Felice Romani |
Victor Hugo's Lucrece Borgia, 1833 |
La Scala, Milan, 26 Dec. 1833
rev. La Scala, Milan, 11 Jan. 1840
rev. Theatre-Italien, Paris, 31 Oct. 1840 |
|
43 |
Rosmonda d'Inghilterra |
Opera seria/
melodramma serio |
2 |
1834
rev. 1837 |
Felice Romani |
Felice Romani's libretto for Carlo Coccia's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra,
1829 |
Teatro della Pergola, Florence, 27 Feb. 1834 |
|
44 |
Maria Stuarda
rev. Buondelmonte |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
3 |
1834
rev. 1834 |
Giuseppe Bardari
rev. Pietro Salatino |
Andrea Maffei's 1830 translation of Friedrich Schiller's Maria
Stuart, 1800
rev. unknown |
La Scala, Milan, 30 Dec. 1835
rev. Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 18 Oct. 1834 |
|
45 |
Gemma di Vergy |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
2 |
1834 |
Emanuele Bidera |
Alexandre Dumas' Charles VII chez les grands vassaux,
1831 |
La Scala, Milan, 26 Dec. 1834 |
|
46 |
Marino Faliero |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
3 |
1834-35 |
Emanuele Bidera, Agostino Ruffini |
Casimir Delavigne's Marino Faliero, 1829 |
Paris, Theatre-Italien, 12 Mar. 1835 |
|
47 |
Lucia
di Lammermoor
rev. Lucie de Lammermoor |
Opera seria/dramma tragico |
3 |
1835
rev. 1839 |
Salvatore Cammarano
rev., transl. Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaez |
Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor, 1819 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 26 Sept. 1835
Theatre de la Renaissance, Paris, 6 Aug. 1839 |
|
48 |
Belisario |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
3 |
1835-36 |
Salvatore Cammarano |
Luigi Marchionni's adaptation of Eduard von Schenk's Belisarius,
1820 |
Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 4 Feb. 1836 |
|
49 |
II campanello di notte |
Farsa/melodramma giocoso |
1 |
1836 |
Gaetano Donizetti |
Leon Levy Brunswick's, Mathieu-Barthélmy Troin's and Victor
Lhérie's La sonnette de la nuit, 1836 |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 1 June 1836 |
|
50 |
Betly, ossia La capanna svizzera |
Opera buffa (opera giocosa)/dramma giocoso |
1
rev. 2 |
1836
rev. 1837 |
Gaetano Donizetti |
Eugene Scribe's and Anne-Honore-Joseph Melesville's libretto
for Adolphe Adam's Le chalet, 1834 |
Teatro Nuovo, Naples, 21 Aug. 1836
rev. Naples, 1837 |
|
51 |
L'assedio di Calais |
Opera seria/
melodramma lirico |
3 |
1836 |
Salvatore Cammarano |
Luigi Marchionni's L'assedio di Calais (aka Edoardo
III), c. 1825; Luigi Henry's ballet L'assedio
di Calais, 1828 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 19 Nov. 1836 |
|
52 |
Pia de' Tolomei |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
2 |
1836-37
1st rev. 1837
2nd rev. 1838 |
Salvatore Cammarano
1st rev. Salvatore Cammarano
2nd rev. unknown |
Bartolomeo Sestini's Pia de' Tolomei, 1822; Giacinto
Bianco's Pia de' Tolomei, 1836; Carlo Marenco's Pia
de' Tolomei, 1836 |
Teatro Apollo, Venice, 18 Feb. 1837
1st rev. Sinigaglia, 31 July 1837
2nd rev. Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 30 Sept. 1838 |
|
53 |
Roberto Devereux, ossia Il conte di Essex |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
3 |
1837 |
Salvatore Cammarano |
François Ancelot's Elisabeth d'Angleterre,
1832; Felice Romani's libretto for Saverio Mercadante's II
conte d'Essex, 1833 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 28 Oct. 1837 |
|
54 |
Maria de Rudenz |
Opera seria/dramma
tragico |
3 |
1837 |
Salvatore Cammarano |
Anicet Bourgeois' Cuvelier's and Mallian's La nonne sanglante,
1835 |
Teatro La Fenice, Venice, 30 Jan. 1838 |
|
55 |
Poliuto*
rev. Les martyrs |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica |
3 |
1838
rev. 1839 |
Salvatore Cammarano
rev. Eugene Scribe |
Pierre Corneille's Polyeucte, 1642 |
Les
martyrs: Opera, Paris, 10 Apr. 1840
Poliuto: Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 30 Nov. 1848 |
|
56 |
Le
due d'Albe
rev. Il duca d'Alba |
Grand opera |
4 |
begun 1839
rev. 1822
|
Eugène Scribe, Charles Duvéyrier
rev. Angelo Zanardini |
Unknown |
Il
duca d'Alba: Teatro Apollo, Rome, 22 Mar. 1882 |
|
57 |
La fille du régiment
rev. La figlia del reggimento |
Opéra comique
rev. opera buffa |
2 |
1839 |
Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Jean-François-Alfred
Bayard Italian vers. transl. Calisto Bassi |
Unknown |
French vers.: Opéra-Comique, Paris, 11 Feb. 1840
Italian vers.: La Scala, Milan, 3 Oct. 1840 |
|
58 |
L'ange
de Nisida (aka Silvia) |
Opera semiseria
|
4 pts |
1839 |
Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz |
Final scene: François-Thomas Baculard d'Arnaud's Les
amans malheureux, ou Le comte de Comminge, 1790. Remainder
unknown. |
Unperformed |
|
59 |
La favorite |
Grand opera |
4 |
1840 |
Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz, Eugène Scribe |
In part from L'ange de Nisida, with the story of Leonora
de Guzman incorporated |
Paris, Opéra, 2 Dec 1840 |
|
60 |
Adelia,
ossia La figlia dell’arciere |
Opera seria/
melodramma serio |
3 |
1840 |
Felice Romani (Acts 1 and 2), Girolamo Marini (Act 3) |
Felice Romani's libretto for Michele Enrico Carafa's Adele
di Lusignano, 1817. Act 3 by Girolamo Marini |
Teatro Apollo, Rome, 11 Feb. 1841 |
|
61 |
Rita,
ou Le mari battu (aka Deux hommes et une femme) |
Opéra comique |
1 |
1841 |
Gustave Vaëz |
Possibly an original plot |
Opéra-Comique, Paris, 7 May 1860 |
|
62 |
Maria Padilla |
Opera seria |
3 |
1841
rev. 1842 |
Gaetano Rossi, Gaetano Donizetti |
François Ancelot's Maria Padilla, 1838 |
La Scala, Milan, 26 Dec. 1841
rev. Trieste, 1 Mar. 1842 |
|
63 |
Linda di Chamounix |
Opera seria/
melodramma semiserio |
3 |
1842
rev. 1842 |
Gaetano Rossi |
Adolphe-Philippe d'Ennery's and Gustave Lemoines La grace
de Dieu, 1841 |
Karntnertorteater, Vienna, 19 May 1842
rev. Theatre-Italien, Paris, 17 Nov. 1842 |
|
64 |
Caterina Cornaro |
Opera seria/tragedia lirica in un prologo |
2 |
1843 |
Giacomo Saccherò |
Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges' libretto for Fromental
Halevy's La reine de Chypre, 1841 |
Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 18 Jan. 1844 |
|
65 |
Don Pasquale |
Opera buffa |
3 |
1842 |
Giovanni Ruffini, Gaetano Donizetti |
Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marc'Antonio,
1810 |
Theatre-Italien, Paris, 3 Jan. 1843 |
|
66 |
Maria di Rohan |
Opera seria/
melodramma
tragico |
3 |
1843 |
Salvatore Cammarano |
Salvatore Cammarano's libretto for Giuseppe Lillo's II
conte di Chalais, 1839 |
Karntnertortheater, Vienna, 5 June 1843 |
|
67 |
Dom
Sébastien, roi de Portugal
rev. Dom Sebastian |
Grand opéra |
5 |
1843
rev. German 1844-45 |
Eugène Scribe
German vers. transl. Leo Herz |
Paul-Henri Foucher's Dom Sébastien de Portugal,
1838 |
Opera, Paris, 13 Nov. 1843
German vers. Karntnertortheater, Vienna, 6 Feb. 1845 |
 |
Sources:
1. W. Ashbrook. Donizetti and his Operas. London,
etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
2. Mary Ann Smart, J. Budden. (Domenico) Gaetano (Maria) Donizetti.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
New York: Grove Dictionaries, Inc., 2001.
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