Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment . Along with Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini, he was a leading composer of bel canto opera. 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.
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| Birthdate: | November 29, 1797 |
| Birthplace: | Bergamo |
| Date of death: | April 8, 1848 |
| Also known as: | Donizetti, Gaetano, Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti, Gaetano Donizetti |