Gaetano Donizetti

By 1835, after the success of his "Anna Bolena", "L'Elisir d'amore" and Lucrezia Borgia, Gaetano Donizetti (1797- 1848) was already a world-famous composer, and his operas were being staged even in New York, Rio de Janeiro and Havana.

In the world of Italian opera, success was often a matter of chance. A new number could be doomed because of had performance of prejudice on the part of audience. The surprisingly frequent choise of subjects for romantic operas and ballets from English and Scottish history is explained by the vast popularity at the same time of Sir Walter Scott's historical novels.

The libretto of "Lucia di Lammermmor" is based on Scott's novel "The Bride of Lammermmoor". Like most tragical events in aristocratic families, this one was also veiled in secrecy.

Scott's novel is a story of tragic love.  Rather than love, intrigue is the moving force of the plot and it is intrigue with which the opera opens. Gaetano Donizetti was much more interested in proving a dramatic scene with appropriate musical expression. His operas were long regarded as a thing of the past, above all by the German musical culture.

Ovidiu Robu
"Duiliu Zamfirescu" School, Focsani, Romania
Teacher Petru Dumitru <petrudumitru@netscape.net>