Lucrezia Borgia.
Lady of Pesaro and Gradara Duchess of Bisceglie and Princess of Salerno Duchess of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio
Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia
Spouse(s)	Giovanni Sforza Alfonso of Aragon Alfonso d'Este
Issue Rodrigo Borgia of Aragon Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara Ippolito II d'Este Alessandro d'Este Leonora d'Este Francesco d'Este, Marchese di Massalombarda Isabella Maria d'Este
Noble family	House of Borgia
Father	Rodrigo Borgia
Mother	Vannozza dei Cattanei
Born	(1480-04-18)18 April 1480 Subiaco, Italy
Died	24 June 1519(1519-06-24) (aged 39) Ferrara

Lucrezia Borgia (Italian pronunciation: [luˈkrɛttsja ˈbɔrdʒa]; 18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was the illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, the powerful Renaissance Valencian who later became Pope Alexander VI, and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia. It is often suggested that Cesare and Lucrezia may have had an incestuous relationship.^[1]

Lucrezia's family later came to epitomize the ruthless Machiavellian politics and sexual corruption alleged to be characteristic of the Renaissance Papacy. Lucrezia was cast as a femme fatale, a role she has been portrayed as in many artworks, novels, and films.

Very little is known of Lucrezia, and the extent of her complicity in the political machinations of her father and brothers is unclear. They certainly arranged several marriages for her to important or powerful men in order to advance their own political ambitions. Lucrezia was married to Giovanni Sforza (Lord of Pesaro), Alfonso of Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie), and Alfonso I d'Este (Duke of Ferrara). Tradition has it that Alfonso of Aragon was an illegitimate son of the King of Naples and that her brother Cesare may have had him murdered after his political value waned.

Early life[link]

Lucrezia Borgia c. 1494

Lucrezia Borgia was born at Subiaco, near Rome. Her mother was Vannozza dei Cattanei, one of the many mistresses of Lucrezia's father Rodrigo Borgia, who is better known as Pope Alexander VI.

Appearance[link]

She is described as having heavy blonde hair which fell past her knees, a beautiful complexion, hazel eyes which changed colour, a full, high bosom, and a natural grace which made her appear to "walk on air";^[2] these were the physical attributes that were highly appreciated in Italy during that period. Another description said that "her mouth is rather large, the teeth brilliantly white, her neck is slender and fair, and the bust is admirably proportioned".^[3]

One painting, Portrait of a Youth by Dosso Dossi at the National Gallery of Victoria, was identified as a portrait of Lucrezia in November 2008.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} This painting may be the only surviving formal portrait of Lucrezia Borgia; however, doubts have been cast on that claim.^[9] Several other paintings, such as Veneto's fanciful portrait, have also been said to depict her but none has been accepted by scholars at present.

Marriages[link]

First marriage: Giovanni Sforza[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

On February 26, 1491, a matrimonial arrangement was drawn up between Lucrezia and the Lord of Val D'Ayora in the kingdom of Valencia, Don Cherubino Joan de Centelles, which was annulled less than two months later in favour of a new contract engaging Lucrezia to Don Gaspare Aversa, count of Procida.^[10] When Rodrigo became Pope Alexander VI he sought to be allied with powerful princely families and founding dynasties of Italy. As such, he called off Lucrezia's previous engagements and arranged for her to marry Giovanni Sforza, a member of the house of Sforza who was Lord of Pesaro and titled Count of Catignola.^[11] Giovanni was an illegitimate son of Costanzo I Sforza and a Sforza of the second rank. He married Lucrezia on June 12, 1493 in Rome.

Before long, the Borgia family no longer needed the Sforzas, and the presence of Giovanni Sforza in the papal court was superfluous. The Pope needed new, more advantageous political alliances, so he may have covertly ordered the execution of Giovanni. The generally accepted version is that Lucrezia was informed of this by her brother Cesare, and she warned her husband, who fled Rome.

It is possible that Pope Alexander VI never made such an order, and it was a plot on the part of Cesare and Lucrezia to drive her husband away. Regardless, Alexander and Cesare were said to be pleased with the chance to arrange another advantageous marriage for Lucrezia.

Alexander asked Giovanni's uncle, Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, to persuade Giovanni to agree to a divorce. Giovanni refused and accused Lucrezia of paternal and fraternal incest. The pope asserted that his daughter's marriage had not been consummated and was thus invalid. Giovanni was offered her dowry in return for his cooperation. The Sforza family threatened to withdraw their protection should he refuse. Giovanni signed confessions of impotence finally and documents of annulment before witnesses.

Affair with Perotto[link]

There has been speculation that during the prolonged process of the annulment, Lucrezia consummated a relationship with someone, perhaps Alexander's messenger Perotto. In any case, she is said to have been pregnant at the time her marriage was annulled for non-consummation. In June 1497, she is known to have retired to the convent of San Sisto to await the outcome of the divorce which was finalized in December of that year. In February 1498, the bodies of a servant, Pedro Calderon, and a maid, Pantasilea, were found in the Tiber. In March 1498 the Ferrarese ambassador reported that Lucrezia had given birth. Although this was denied, a child was born in that year before Lucrezia's marriage to Alfonso of Aragon. He was named Giovanni but known to historians as the Roman Infante.

In 1501, two papal bulls were issued concerning the child, Giovanni Borgia. In the first, he was recognized as Cesare's child from an affair before his marriage. The second, contradictory, bull recognized him as the son of Pope Alexander VI. Lucrezia's name is not mentioned in either, and rumors that she was his mother have never been proven. The second bull was kept secret for many years, and Giovanni was assumed to be Cesare's son. This is supported by the fact that in 1502, he became Duke of Camerino, one of Cesare's recent conquests, hence the natural inheritance of the Duke of Romagna's oldest son. However, some time after Alexander's death, Giovanni went to stay with Lucrezia in Ferrara, where he was accepted as her half-brother.

Tomb of Alfonso I d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia, Ferrara

Second marriage: Alfonso of Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie)[link]

Following her divorce from Sforza, Lucrezia was married to the Neapolitan Alfonso of Aragon, the half-brother of Sancha of Aragon who was the wife of Lucrezia's brother Gioffre Borgia. The marriage was a short one, lasting from 1498 until Alfonso's murder in 1500. It is widely rumored that Lucrezia's brother Cesare was responsible for Alfonso's death, as he had recently allied himself (through marriage) with France against Naples. Lucrezia and Alfonso had only one child, Rodrigo, who predeceased his mother in August 1512 at the age of 12.

Third marriage: Alfonso d'Este (Duke of Ferrara)[link]

After the death of her second husband, Lucrezia's father, Pope Alexander VI, wanted to arrange a third marriage. She then married Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara in early 1502 in Ferrara. She gave her third husband a number of children and proved to be a respectable and accomplished Renaissance duchess, effectively rising above her previous reputation and surviving the fall of the Borgias following her father's death.

Neither partner was faithful: beginning in 1503, Lucrezia enjoyed a long relationship with her brother-in-law, Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua^[12][13] as well as a love affair with the poet Pietro Bembo. Francesco's wife was the cultured intellectual Isabella d'Este, the sister of Alfonso, to whom Lucrezia had made overtures of friendship to no avail. The affair between Francesco and Lucrezia was passionate, more sexual than sentimental as can be attested in the fevered love letters the pair wrote one another.^[14] The affair ended when Francesco contracted syphilis and had to end sexual relations with Lucrezia.^[15]

Lucrezia met the famed French soldier, the Chevalier Bayard while the latter was co-commanding the French allied garrison of Ferrara in 1510. According to his biographer, the Chevalier became a great admirer of Lucrezia's, considering her a "pearl among women". How much she returned his admiration is unknown.

Lucrezia Borgia died in Ferrara on 24 June 1519 from complications after giving birth to her eighth child. She was buried in the convent of Corpus Domini.^[16]

On 15 October 1816, the Romantic poet Lord Byron visited the Ambrosian Library of Milan. He was delighted by the letters between Borgia and Bembo ("The prettiest love letters in the world"^[17][18]) and claimed to have managed to steal a lock of her hair ("the prettiest and fairest imaginable."^[18]) held on display.^[19][20][21]

Issue[link]

Lucrezia was mother to seven or eight known children:

• Giovanni Borgia, "infans Romanus" ("Child of Rome", c. 1498–1548). The child's paternity was acknowledged by both Alexander and Cesare in two separate Papal bulls, but it was rumoured that he was the child of Lucrezia and Perotto. The child (identified in later life as Lucrezia's half-brother) was most likely the result of a liaison between Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia's father) and an unknown mistress and was not Lucrezia's child.^[22]
• Rodrigo Borgia of Aragon (1 November 1499 – August 1512). Son by Alfonso of Aragon.
• Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (5 April 1508 – 3 October 1559).
• Ippolito II d'Este (25 August 1509 – 1 December 1572). Archbishop of Milan and later Cardinal.
• Alessandro d'Este (1514–1516).
• Leonora d'Este (3 July 1515 – 15 July 1575). A nun.
• Francesco d'Este, Marquess of Massalombarda (1 November 1516 – 2 February 1578).
• Isabella Maria d'Este (born and died on 14 June 1519). Complications at birth caused the death of Lucrezia ten days later.

At least one biographer (Maria Bellonci) claims that Lucrezia gave birth to three more children, one by Alfonso of Aragon and two by Alfonso d'Este, who did not survive infancy. She is also thought to have had at least four miscarriages.

Lucrezia is claimed to be the ancestress of many notable people, including American Civil War general P.G.T. Beauregard.^[23] She is a collateral relative of most of the royal families of modern Europe including that of the United Kingdom. Through her granddaughter Anna d'Este, Duchess of Guise and later Duchess of Nemours, Lucrezia is the ancestress of Juan Carlos I of Spain, Albert II of Belgium, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, as well as the Count of Paris and the claimants to the Thrones of the Bavaria, Brazil, Parma, Saxony and the Two Sicilies. The late Lady Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) is a descendant of Lucrezia.

Rumours[link]

Possible portrait of Lucrezia Borgia assumed to be by Dosso Dossi,^[24] but very likely her daughter-in-law Renée of France (painted in 1535)^[25]

Several rumours have persisted throughout the years, primarily speculating as to the nature of the extravagant parties thrown by the Borgia family. Many of these concern allegations of incest, poisoning, and murder on her part; however, no historical basis for these rumours has ever been brought forward, beyond allegations made by the rivals of the Borgias.

• It is rumoured that Lucrezia was in possession of a hollow ring that she used frequently to poison drinks.^[26][27]
• An early 20th century painting by Frank Cadogan Cowper that hangs in the London art gallery, Tate Britain, portrays Lucrezia taking the place of her father, Pope Alexander VI, at an official Vatican meeting. This apparently documents an actual event, although the precise moment depicted (a Franciscan friar kissing Lucrezia's feet) was invented by the artist.^[28]

Biographies[link]

• Lucrezia Borgia – Life, Love And Death In Renaissance Italy by Sarah Bradford; Viking 2004 ISBN 0-670-03353-7
• Lucrezia Borgia: A Biography (©1978) by Rachel Erlanger ISBN 0-8015-4725-3
• Lucrezia Borgia by Maria Bellonci; Phoenix 2002 ISBN 978-1-84212-616-5
• The Borgias (1971) by Michael Mallett
• "Lucretia Borgia (187?) Ferdinand Gregorovius (Author), translated in 1903 by John Leslie Garner (Translator)

Treatments and references[link]

Literature and opera[link]

• Victor Hugo's 1833 stage play Lucrèce Borgia, loosely based on the stories of Lucrezia, was transformed into a libretto by Felice Romani for Donizetti's opera, Lucrezia Borgia (1834), first performed at La Scala, Milan, 26 December 1834.
• The 1947 historical novel Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger describes the adventures of the fictional Andrea Orsini, a captain in the service of Cesare Borgia, during his conquest of the Romagna; it was made into a film of the same name in 1949, starring Orson Welles and Tyrone Power.
• F. M. Klinger´s 1791 novel Fausts Leben, Thaten und Höllenfahrt features an episode in which the Borgias figure, including an affair between Faust and Lucrezia.
• Rafael Sabatini's 1908 novel, The Shame of Motley, features Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia as supporting characters.
• Rafael Sabatini wrote the 1912 non-fiction book, The Life of Cesare Borgia,^[29] that attempts to treat the Borgias historically.
• Jean Plaidy's two 1958 novels, Madonna of the Seven Hills and Light On Lucrezia follow the story of Lucrezia and her entanglement with her father and brothers.
• She appears as a side character in the 1952 novel The Scarlet City (De scharlaken Stad) by Hella Haasse. The book tells the story of her brother Giovanni Borgia.
• In the 1957 novel Mandingo, Lucretia Borgia is the name of cook.
• Mario Puzo's final novel (completed by Carol Gino, published 2001), "The Family," chronicles the story of the Borgias in 15th-century Rome.
• She is the protagonist of the 2003 novel, Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons, by Roberta Gellis. The story deals with the second month of her marriage to Alfonso D'Este, when she solves a murder by poisoning of which she was accused by her new husband.
• She is the protagonist in "Lucrezia Borgia: a novel" by John Faunce, published in 2003, which is a fictional autobiography.
• She is the wicked stepmother character in "Mirror, Mirror" Gregory Maguire's 2003 retelling of the tale of Snow White. The book also includes her brother Cesare.
• She is an important character in Jeanne Kalogridis's novel, "The Borgia Bride" (2005).

Television[link]

• In the pilot episode of Warehouse 13, Lucrezia's murderous and incestuous spirit is embodied in her jeweled comb, which possesses the person wearing it.
• Lucretia Borgia is portrayed by Holliday Grainger in the 2011 Showtime series The Borgias
• She is played by Isolda Dychauk in the 2011 Canal+ series Borgia

Films[link]

• Los Borgia (played by Maria Valverde) (2006)
• Lucrezia Borgia (played by Lucia Prato) (1990)
• Le notti segrete di Lucrezia Borgia (played by Sirpa Lane) (1982)
• Lucrezia giovane (played by Simonetta Stefanelli) (1974)
• Contes Immoraux (played by Florence Bellamy) (1974)
• Lucrezia Borgia, l'amante del diavolo (played by Olga Schoberova) (1968)
• L'uomo che ride (played by Lisa Gastoni) (1966)
• Le piacevoli notti (Maria Grazia Buccella) (1966)
• Il duce nero (played by Gloria Osuna) (1963)
• Not Tonight Henry (played by Brandy Long) (1960)
• Le Notti di Lucrezia Borgia (played by Belinda Lee) (1960)
• Caterina Sforza, la lionessa di Romagna (played by Caprice Chantal) (1959)
• Lucrece Borgia (played by Martine Carol) (1953)
• Bride of Vengeance (played by Paulette Goddard) (1949)
• Passing Parade No. 29: We Do It Because – (played by Ava Gardner) (1942)
• Lucrezia Borgia (played by Isa Pola) (1940)
• Lucrece Borgia (played by Edwige Feuilliere) (1935)
• Don Juan (played by Estelle Taylor) (1926)
• Lucrezia Borgia; or, Plaything of Power (played by Nina Vanna) (1923)
• Bride of Vengeance (played by Liane Haid) (1923)
• Lucrezia Borgia (played by Liane Haid) (1922)
• Satanas (played by Else Berna) (1920)
• The Eternal Sin (played by Florence Reed) (1917)
• Lucrezia Borgia (played by Francesca Bertini) (1912)
• Lucrezia Borgia (played by Vittoria Lepanto) (1910)
• Lucrezia Borgia (played by Francesca Bertini) (1910)

Video Games[link]

• She appeared in Assassins Creed: Brotherhood. The game tells a portion of the life story of Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, a fictional assassin who seeks vengeance against the corrupt Borgia family, for the murder of his father and brothers in Florence in 1476 and the murder of his uncle in 1499.

See also[link]

• Felice della Rovere

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lucrezia Borgia

• Lucrezia Borgia: The Family Tree in Pictures
• Lucretia Borgia at the Internet Movie Database
• DIARIO DE LOS BORJA BORGIA

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2011)

Gaetano Donizetti.

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (Italian pronunciation: [doˈmeːniko ɡaeˈtaːno maˈɾia doniˈdzetti]; 29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore (1832), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), and Don Pasquale (1843), all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment (both from 1840). Along with Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini, he was a leading composer of bel canto opera.

Biography[link]

Gaetano Donizetti.

The youngest of three sons, Donizetti was born in 1797 in Bergamo's Borgo Canale quarter located just outside the city walls. His family was very poor with no tradition of music, his father being the caretaker of the town pawnshop. Nevertheless, Donizetti received some musical instruction from Simon Mayr, a German composer of internationally successful operas who had become maestro di cappella at Bergamo's principal church in 1802.

Donizetti was not especially successful as a choirboy, but in 1806 he was one of the first pupils to be enrolled at the Lezioni Caritatevoli school, founded by Mayr, in Bergamo through a full scholarship. He received detailed training in the arts of fugue and counterpoint, and it was here that he launched his operatic career. After some minor compositions under the commission of Paolo Zancla, Donizetti wrote his ninth opera, Zoraida di Granata. This work impressed Domenico Barbaia, a prominent theatre manager, and Donizetti was offered a contract to compose in Naples. Writing in Rome and Milan in addition to Naples, Donizetti achieved some popular success in the 1820s (although critics were often unimpressed), but was not well known internationally until 1830, when his Anna Bolena was premiered in Milan. He almost instantly became famous throughout Europe. L'elisir d'amore, a comedy produced in 1832, came soon after, and is deemed one of the masterpieces of 19th-century opera buffa (as is his Don Pasquale, written for Paris in 1843). Shortly after L'elisir d'amore, Donizetti composed Lucia di Lammermoor, based on the Sir Walter Scott novel The Bride of Lammermoor. It became his most famous opera, and one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, reaching stature similar to Bellini's Norma.

After the success of Lucrezia Borgia (1833) consolidated his reputation, Donizetti followed the paths of both Rossini and Bellini by visiting Paris, but his opera Marin Faliero suffered by comparison with Bellini's I puritani, and he returned to Naples to produce his already-mentioned masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor. As Donizetti's fame grew, so did his engagements, as he was further hired to write in both France and Italy. In 1838, he moved to Paris after the Italian censor objected to the production of Poliuto (on the grounds that such a sacred subject was inappropriate for the stage); there he wrote La fille du régiment, which became another success.

As a conductor, he led the premiere of Rossini's Stabat Mater.

Donizetti's wife, Virginia Vasselli, gave birth to three children, none of whom survived. Within a year of his parents' deaths, his wife, on 30 July 1837, died from cholera. By 1843, Donizetti exhibited symptoms of syphilis and probable bipolar disorder. After being institutionalized in 1845, he was sent to Paris, where he could be cared for. After visits from friends, including Giuseppe Verdi, Donizetti was sent back to Bergamo, his hometown. After several years in the grip of insanity, he died in 1848 in the house of the noble family Scotti. After his death Donizetti was buried in the cemetery of Valtesse but in the late 19th century his body was transferred to Bergamo's Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore near the grave of his teacher Simon Mayr.

Donizetti is best known for his operatic works, but he also wrote music in a number of other forms, including some church music, a number of string quartets, and some orchestral works.

He was the younger brother of Giuseppe Donizetti, who had become, in 1828, Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II (1808–1839).

Works[link]

Gaetano Donizetti

Donizetti was a prolific composer. He composed about 75 operas, 16 symphonies, 19 string quartets, 193 songs, 45 duets, 3 oratorios, 28 cantatas, instrumental concertos, sonatas, and other chamber pieces.

Operas[link]

1816–1819[link]

• Il Pigmalione (written 1816; premiere: 13 October 1960, Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo)
• Olimpiade (1817, incomplete, libretto by Metastasio)
• L'ira di Achille (1817)
• Enrico di Borgogna (14 November 1818, Teatro San Luca, Venice)
• Una follia (17 December 1818, Teatro San Luca, Venice) (lost)
• I piccioli virtuosi ambulanti (1819), opera buffa in one act
• Pietro il Grande zar di tutte le Russie ossia Il Falegname di Livonia (26 December 1819, Teatro San Samuele, Venice),

1820–1824[link]

• Le nozze in villa (1820; 1821? Teatro Vecchio, Mantua)
• Zoraida di Granata or Zoraïda di Granata (28 January 1822, Teatro Argentina, Rome, rev. 7 January 1824 at the same theatre)
• La Zingara (12 May 1822, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• La lettera anonima (29 June 1822, Teatro del Fondo, Naples)
• Chiara e Serafina, ossia I pirati (26 October 1822, Teatro alla Scala, Milan)
• Alfredo il grande (2 July 1823, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Il fortunato inganno (3 September 1823, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• L'ajo nell'imbarazzo (4 February 1824, Teatro Valle, Rome)
• Emilia di Liverpool (L'eremitaggio di Liverpool) (28 July 1824, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)

1825–1829[link]

• Alahor in Granata (7 January 1826 Teatro Carolino, Palermo)
• Don Gregorio [rev of L'ajo nell'imbarazzo] (11 June 1826, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• Elvida (6 July 1826, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Gabriella di Vergy (written: 1826; premiere: 29 November 1869, Teatro San Carlo, Naples) (Gabriella)
• Olivo e Pasquale (7 January 1827 Teatro Valle, Rome)
• Olivo e Pasquale [rev] (1 September 1827, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• Otto mesi in due ore (13 May 1827, Teatro Nuovo, Naples) (Gli esiliati in Siberia)
• Il borgomastro di Saardam (19 August 1827, Teatro del Fondo, Naples)
• Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, also known as Viva la mamma (21 November 1827, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• L'esule di Roma, ossia Il proscritto (1 January 1828, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Emilia di Liverpool [rev] (8 March 1828, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• Alina, regina di Golconda (12 May 1828, Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa)
• Gianni di Calais (2 August 1828, Teatro del Fondo, Naples)
• Il paria (12 January 1829, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Il giovedi grasso (Il nuovo Pourceaugnac) (26 February 1829?, Teatro del Fondo, Naples)
• Il castello di Kenilworth (6 July 1829, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Alina, regina di Golconda [rev] (10 October 1829, Teatro Valle, Rome)

1830–1834[link]

• I pazzi per progetto (6 February 1830, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Il diluvio universale (28 February 1830, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Imelda de' Lambertazzi (5 September 1830, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Anna Bolena (26 December 1830, Teatro Carcano, Milan)
• Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali [rev of Le convenienze teatrali] (20 April 1831, Teatro Canobbiana, Milan)
• Gianni di Parigi (written: 1831; premiere: 10 September 1839, Teatro alla Scala Milan)
• Francesca di Foix (30 May 1831, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• La romanzesca e l'uomo nero (or La romanziera e l'uomo nero) (18 June 1831, Teatro del Fondo, Naples) (arias and ensembles survive but spoken dialogue is lost)
• Fausta (12 January 1832, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Ugo, conte di Parigi (13 March 1832, Teatro alla Scala Milan)
• L'elisir d'amore (12 May 1832, Teatro Canobbiana, Milan)
• Sancia di Castiglia (4 November 1832, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo (2 January 1833, Teatro Valle, Rome)
• Otto mesi in due ore [rev] (1833, Livorno)
• Parisina (17 March 1833, Teatro della Pergola, Florence)
• Torquato Tasso (9 September 1833, Teatro Valle, Rome)
• Lucrezia Borgia (26 December 1833, Teatro alla Scala Milan)
• Il diluvio universale [rev] (17 January 1834, Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa)
• Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (27 February 1834, Teatro della Pergola, Florence)
• Maria Stuarda [rev] (Buondelmonte) (18 October 1834, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Gemma di Vergy (26 October 1834, Teatro alla Scala Milan)

1835–1839[link]

• Maria Stuarda (30 December 1835, Teatro alla Scala Milan)
• Marin Faliero (12 March 1835, Théâtre-Italien, Paris)
• Lucia di Lammermoor (26 September 1835, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Belisario (4 February 1836, Teatro La Fenice, Venice)
• Il campanello di notte (1 June 1836, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• Betly, o La capanna svizzera (21 August 1836, Teatro Nuovo, Naples)
• L'assedio di Calais (19 November 1836, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Pia de' Tolomei (18 February 1837, Teatro Apollo, Venice)
• Pia de' Tolomei [rev] (31 July 1837, Sinigaglia)
• Betly [rev] ((?) 29 September 1837, Teatro del Fondo, Naples)
• Roberto Devereux (28 October 1837, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Maria de Rudenz (30 January 1838, Teatro La Fenice, Venice)
• Gabriella di Vergy [rev] (written: 1838; August 1978 recording, London)
• Poliuto (written: 1838; premiere: 30 November 1848, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Pia de' Tolomei [rev 2] (30 September 1838, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Lucie de Lammermoor [rev of Lucia di Lammermoor] (6 August 1839, Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris)
• Le duc d'Albe (written: 1839; premiere: 22 March 1882, Teatro Apollo, Rome) (Il duca d'Alba)

1840–1845[link]

• Lucrezia Borgia [rev] (11 January 1840, Teatro alla Scala Milan)
• Poliuto [rev] (Les martyrs) (10 April 1840, Paris Opera (Salle Le Peletier)
• La fille du régiment (11 February 1840, Opéra-Comique, Paris)
• L'ange de Nisida (1839; ?)
• Lucrezia Borgia [rev 2] (31 October 1840, Théâtre-Italien, Paris)
• La favorite [rev of L'ange de Nisida] (2 December 1840, Paris Opera (Salle Le Peletier)
• Adelia (11 February 1841, Teatro Apollo, Rome)
• Rita (Deux hommes et une femme) (written: 1841; premiere: 7 May 1860, Opéra-Comique, Paris)
• Maria Padilla (26 December 1841, Teatro alla Scala Milan)
• Linda di Chamounix (19 May 1842, Kärntnertortheater, Vienna)
• Linda di Chamounix [rev] (17 November 1842, Théâtre-Italien, Paris)
• Caterina Cornaro (18 January 1844, Teatro San Carlo, Naples)
• Don Pasquale (3 January 1843, Théâtre-Italien, Paris)
• Maria di Rohan (5 June 1843, Kärntnertortheater, Vienna)
• Dom Sébastien (13 November 1843, Paris Opera (Salle Le Peletier)
• Dom Sébastien [rev] (6 February 1845, Kärntnertortheater, Vienna)

Choral works[link]

Orchestral works[link]

Concertos[link]

Chamber works[link]

Piano works[link]

Media[link]

	"Una furtiva lagrima" "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore. Sung by Enrico Caruso in 1911 for the Victor Talking Machine Company. Prelude to Lucia di Lammermoor Le beau vingt-et-unième from Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment, performed by Atelier Vocal des Herbiers
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Quotations[link]

• "Ah, by Bacchus, with this aria I shall receive universal applause. People will say to me, “Bravo maestro!”

I, in a very modest manner, shall walk about with bowed head; I’ll have rave reviews…I can become immortal…

My mind is vast, my genius swift...

And at composing, a thunderbolt am I."

(From a poem composed by 14-year-old Gaetano Donizetti)

• "Donizetti, when asked which of his own operas he thought the best, spontaneously replied, 'How can I say which? A father always has a preference for a crippled child, and I have so many.'" (Louis Engel: "From Mozart to Mario", 1886)

References[link]

Sources

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

• Allitt, John Stewart, Gaetano Donizetti – Pensiero, musica, opere scelte, Milano: Edizione Villadiseriane, 2003
• Allitt, John Stewart, Donizetti – in the light of romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr, Shaftesbury, Dorset, UK: Element Books, 1991. Also see Allitt's website http://www.johnstewartallitt.com/
• Ashbrook, William: Donizetti and his Operas, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press 1982. Ashbrook also wrote an earlier life entitled Donizetti in 1965.
• Bini, Annalisa and Jeremy Commons, Le prime rappresentazioni delle opere di Donizetti nella stampa coeva, Milan: Skira, 1997
• Black, John, Donizetti's Operas in Naples 1822–1848, London: The Donizetti Society, 1982
• Cassaro, James P., Gaetano Donizetti – A Guide to Research, New York: Garland Publishing. 2000
• Gossett, Philip, "Anna Bolena" and the Artistic Maturity of Gaetano Donizetti, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985
• Kantner, Leopold M (Ed.), Donizetti in Wien, papers from a symposium in various languages (ISBN 3-7069-0006-8 / ISSN 156,00-8921). Published by Primo Ottocento, available from Edition Praesens.
• Keller, Marcello Sorce, "Gaetano Donizetti: un bergamasco compositore di canzoni napoletane", Studi Donizettiani, III(1978), 100- 107.
• Keller, Marcello Sorce, "Io te voglio bene assaje: a Famous Neapolitan Song Traditionally Attributed to Gaetano Donizetti", The Music Review, XLV (1984), no. 3- 4, 251- 264. Also published as: "Io te voglio bene assaje: una famosa canzone napoletana tradizionalmente attribuita a Gaetano Donizetti, La Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana, 1985, no. 4, 642- 653.
• Minden, Pieter (Ed.): Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848): Scarsa Mercè Saranno. Duett für Alt und Tenor mit Klavierbegleitung [Partitur]. Mit dem Faksimile des Autographs von 1815. Tübingen : Noûs-Verlag, 1999. - 18 pp., [13] fol.; ISBN 3-924249-25-3. [Caesar vs. Cleopatra.]
• Sadie, Stanley (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Volume 7, London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 2001, pp. 761–796. The 1980 edition article, by William Ashbrook and Julian Budden, was also reprinted in The New Grove Masters of Italian Opera, London: Papermac, 1984, pp. 93–154.
• Sadie, Stanley (Ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Volume 1, London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1997, pp. 1201–1221.
• Saracino, Egidio (Ed.), Tutti I libretti di Donizetti, Garzanti Editore, 1993.
• Weinstock, Herbert, Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Random House, 1963.
• Petténi, Giuliano Donati, Donizetti, Milano: Fratelli Treves Editori, 1930
• Zavadini, Guuido, Donizetti: Vita – Musiche- Epistolario, Bergamo, 1948

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gaetano Donizetti

• Donizetti Society website
• Donizetti works at Casa Ricordi
• List of Donizetti operas at opera.stanford.edu
• Donizetti article on Manitoba Opera website
• Donizetti biography on Arizona Opera website
• 2 Donizetti libretti on intratext.com

Sheet music

• Free scores by Gaetano Donizetti at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Gaetano Donizetti in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)

Recordings

• Donizetti cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Mariella Devia

Mariella Devia (April 12, 1948) is an Italian soprano, well known for performing many roles in the bel canto repertoire.

Born in Chiusavecchia, Devia trained at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Iolanda Magnoni. She made her stage debut in Treviso, as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, in 1973, and quickly sang throughout Italy, making her debut at La Scala in Milan in 1987, as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

On the international scene, she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera from 1979 to 1994 as Lucia, Gilda and Constanze, and at Carnegie Hall, as Lakmé, in 1979. She made her debut at the Paris Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1987, and at the Royal Opera House in London, in 1988.

She was a regular at the Pesaro Festival and at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, where she won great acclaim in the exhumation of long neglected operas by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and other bel canto composers. She is also admired in Mozart operas, especially as Constanze in Abduction from the Seraglio, as well as Verdi's Gilda and Violetta.

Repertory[link]

• Auber: Manon Lescaut - Manon
• Bellini: Beatrice di Tenda - Beatrice; I Capuleti e i Montecchi - Giulietta; Il Pirata - Imogene; I Puritani - Elvira; La Sonnambula - Amina
• Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini - Teresa
• Bizet: Les Pecheurs des Perles - Leila
• Cherubini: Lodoïska - Lodoïska
• Cimarosa: Il Matrimonio Segreto - Elisabetta
• Donizetti: Adelia - Adelia; Anna Bolena - Anna; Don Pasquale - Norina; Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth - Elisabetta; L'Elisir d'Amore - Adina; La Fille du Regiment - Marie; Linda di Chamounix - Linda; Lucrezia Borgia - Lucrezia; Lucia di Lammermoor - Lucia; Maria Stuarda - Maria; Marino Faliero - Elena; Parisina - Parisina
• Delibes: Lakmé - Lakmé
• Gounod: Faust - Marguerite; Roméo et Juliette - Juliette
• Mozart: Cosí fan tutte - Despina and Fiordiligi; Die Entführung aus dem Serail - Kostanze; Don Giovanni - Donna Anna; Idomeneo - Ilia and Elettra; Le Nozze di Figaro - Contessa; Die Zauberflöte - Pamina and Königin der Nacht
• Puccini: Gianni Schicchi - Lauretta
• Rossini: Adelaide di Borgogna - Adelaide; Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Rosina; Le Comte Ory - Adele; Mosè - Anaide; Mosè in Egitto - Elcia; Otello - Desdemona; Semiramide - Semiramide; Il Signor Bruschino - Sofia; Tancredi - Amenaide; Il Turco in Italia - Fiorilla; Zelmira - Zelmira
• Rota: Cappello di Paglia di Firenze - Elena
• Satie: Geneviève de Brabant - Genèvieve
• Verdi: Falstaff - Nannetta; Giovanna D'Arco - Giovanna; Rigoletto - Gilda; La Traviata - Violetta

References[link]

• Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique, R. Mancini & J-J. Rouveroux (Fayard, 1986) ISBN 2-213-01563-5