The Daughter of the Regiment Gaetano Donizetti Fight for the one you love Raised by a French regiment, Marie happily traverses the Alps eventually falling in love with Tonio. She then discovers her regal family ties, ventures home to become ‘a lady’ and is asked to marry a Duke. What will she do? Conductor: JOSEPH WALSH Stage Director: DOROTHY DANNER Performed in French with Supertitles

About the Composer

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Gaetano Donizetti was born in Bergamo, Italy, on Nov. 29, 1797. He came from a poor family and was fortunate to have his talent discovered at an early age. He studied in both Bergamo and Bologna and received excellent training from Simon Mayr and Padre Mattei. Donizetti developed into one of the most prolific composers of the bel canto period. In addition to his seventy operas he composed twelve string quartets, seven masses, and a multitude of songs, piano music, cantatas, motets, and psalms.

The opera composers of the bel canto period were travelers, moving from one opera house to another, composing and staging their work. Donizetti was no exception. He accepted every commission proffered in order to support himself financially, sometimes producing as many as four operas in a single year. He toured all of Italy producing new operas, many of which were great successes. By the time he had composed Anna Bolena in 1830 this congenial and outgoing man was famous throughout Italy.

Bel canto composers were a prolific lot because of their reliance on a formulaic process. This suited audiences of the period well because they seemed to enjoy and encourage opera as pure entertainment without a great deal of complication. They were very content with music crafted for singers and singing that required no deep thought or involvement to enjoy. During this period Hector Berlioz was very critical of Italian audiences, stating that to Italians music was like a bowl of macaroni, to be consumed and enjoyed on the spot, like a sensual pleasure, not a worthy expression of the mind. Donizetti, like other composers of his day, knew what audiences wanted, and he turned out operas with astonishing rapidity.

Donizetti seemed to be challenged by the conditions under which he composed. The circumstances surrounding his opera, Elixir of Love, clearly demonstrate how exhilarated he was by short deadlines. In 1832 Donizetti was contacted by the manager of a theater in Milan who needed an opera for an opening which was scheduled in two weeks. The manager suggested rearranging something old and producing it as new, but Donizetti would have none of it. A new work it would be! He told the librettist, Felice Romani, that he had one week to provide a libretto and he himself would compose the music in the remaining week. All work was completed on schedule and the opera was a success at its opening, remaining so to this day.

In Naples in 1835 he produced the opera that would become one of the most popular of the nineteenth century, Lucia di Lammermoor. When it was composed it was considered the epitome of the Romantic ideal. Mad scenes were very popular with bel canto audiences, and Donizetti's were particularly admired. The Mad Scene from Lucia is considered to be the opera world's most famous.

Donizetti lost his beloved wife in a cholera epidemic in 1837 and never truly recovered from the shock. He moved to Paris the following year seeking greater prestige, fees and artistic freedom, and also traveled to Vienna in 1842 to accept a musical appointment to the Hapsburg court. He split his time between the two cities for three years but periods of poor health followed and in 1845 he suffered a stroke which resulted in a continuous deterioration of his mind. Three years later he died on April 7, 1848, in Bergamo, where he was being nursed by friends.

Photos: Cincinnati Opera - The Daughter of the Regiment, Philip Groshong