Gaetano Donizetti

A Research and Information Guide

James P. Cassaro

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781135846596
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Theory & Appreciation

Gaetano Donizetti: A Research and Information Guide offers an annotated reference guide to the life and works of this important Italian opera composer. The book opens with a complete chronology of Donizetti's life (1797-1848) and career, relating it to contemporary events. The balance of the book details secondary resources and other works, including general sources, catalogs, correspondence, biographical sources, critical works; production/review sources, singers and theaters, and the individual operas.

VIII
The Complete Operas

11
The Operas

Here are listed individual works in alphabetical order. Each entry includes the following information, if applicable:

• Title (Date of Composition)

• Premiere (Date/Place/Venue)

• Autograph MS

• Other Contemporary Sources

• Critical Edition

• Libretti

• Articles/Dissertations/Critical Studies

• Discography

• Videography

ADELAIDE (1834)

Premiere: not performed

Autograph: inc. autograph FPc [partly used in L’ange de Nisida]

Articles/Dissertations/Critical Studies:

329. Harris-Warrick, Rebecca. “La favorite: Introduzione storica.” In La favorite: opéra en quatre actes /di Alphonse Royer, Gustave Vaëz e Eugène Scribe, XI–XXXII. Milan: Ricordi, 1997.

Discusses the importance of Adelaide to the genesis of La favorite, as well as outlining how the projected opera was constructed. In Italian.

ADELIA, O LA FIGLIA DELL’ARCIERE (1841)

Premiere: Rome, Apollo, 11 February 1841

Autograph: I-Nc

Other Contemporary Sources:

330. Adelia: melodramma serio in tre atti / ridotta da Pietro Corbi. Milan: F. Lucca, [184–?]. Plate nos.: 2990–3003.

Vocal score.

331. Adelia: opera seria in tre atti / musica di G. Donizetti. Paris: Maurice Schlesinger, [1843?]. Plate nos.: M.S. 3399–M.S. 3400, M.S. 3465.

Vocal score.

Libretti:

332. Adelia: melodramma serio in tre atti. Naples: Dalla Tipografia Flautina, 1841. LC: ML 48.S2630.

333. Adelia: melodramma serio in tre atti. Genoa: Dalla Tipografia dei Fratelli Pagano, canneto il lungo N.o 800, [1845?]. LC: ML 48.S11809.

Articles/Dissertations/Critical Studies:

334. Parker, Roger. “Canonic Variations: The ‘Rediscovery’ of Adelia.” In Il teatro di Donizetti: atti dei convegni delle celebrazioni 1797/1997–1848/1998. II: Percorsi e proposte di ricerca, 23–34. Saggi e monografie, 4. Ed. Paolo Cecchi and Luca Zoppelli. Bergamo: Fondazione Donizetti, 2004.

Sketch studies as an essential aspect of compiling critical editions of operas, as well as canonizing musical works is addressed. Taking Philip Gossett’s monumental sketch study of Anna Bolena (Anna Bolena and the Artistic Maturity of Gaetano Donizetti [New York: Oxford University Press, 1985]) as a model, Parker looks at the same issues—those of the aesthetic and critical background—in Adelia, the only opera completed in the last decade of Donizetti’s life that has not had a revival in the twentieth century.

Discography:

335. Adelia. Mariella Devia, soprano; Octavio Arevalo, tenor; Boris Martinovic, baritone; Stefano Antonucci, bass; Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Carlo Felice, John Neschling, conductor. Ricordi, 1999. RFCD 2029.

Program notes by Roger Parker.

336. Adelia. Michela Sburlati, soprano; Hermine Haselböck, mezzosoprano; Xavier Rouillon, tenor; David Sotgiu, tenor; Giorgio Valenta, tenor; Andrea Silverstrelli, bass-baritone); Haydn Choir; Bolzano-Trento Haydn Orchestra, Gustav Kuhn, conductor. RCA, 2007. 710813.

L’AJO NELL’IMBARAZZO, O DON GREGORIO (1824)

Premiere: Rome, Valle, 4 February 1824

Autograph: rev. as Don Gregorio, Naples, 1826; as Il governo della casa, Dresden, 1828; I-Nc (partly autograph)

Other Contemporary Sources:

337. L’ajo nell’imbarrazzo: opera buffa in due atti. Paris: Schonenberger, 1856. Plate no.: S. 2152.

Vocal score.

338. L’ajo nell’imbarazzo: melodramma giocoso in due atti / di Jacopo Ferretti. Milan: G. Ricordi, 1878. Plate no.: 45735

Vocal score.

Libretti:

339. L’ajo nell’imbarazzo: melodramma giocoso. Milan: Per Antonio Fontana, 1826. LC: ML 48.S2631.

340. L’ajo nell’imbarazzo: melodramma giocoso. Genoa: Tipografia de’ fratelli Pagano, [1839?]. LC ML 48.S11810.

341. Der Hofmeister in Verlegenheit: komische Oper in zwei Akten. Berlin: [s.n.], 1841. LC: ML 48.S2632.

In German and Italian.

342. Das Hausregiment: heiteres Melodram in zwei Akten. Dresden: [s.n.], 1828. LC: ML 48.S2633.

Libretto to Il governo della casa; in German.

Articles/Dissertations/Critical Studies

343. Watts, John. “L’ajo nell’imbarazzo.” Donizetti Society Journal 1 (1974): 41–50.

In 1822, Donizetti signed a contract with the impresario Giovanni Paterni to write an opera buffa for the Teatro Valle in Rome, as well as to revise the successful Zoraide di Granata. For the revisions to Zoraide, and for the new opera buffa, Donizetti chose Jacopo Ferretti as his librettist. The new work produced by this collaboration was L’ajo nell’imbarazzo. It is no coincidence that this work resembles Rossini’s La cenerentola: Ferretti composed the libretto for that work as well. The author works out the compositional history of the opera and its reception with audiences in and out of Italy, as well as documenting the alterations made to the work for a performance in Naples at the Teatro Nuovo.

Discography:

344. L’ajo nell’imbarazzo. Luciana Serra, soprano; Aracelly Haengel, mezzo-soprano; Paolo Barbacini, tenor; Vito Gobbi, tenor; Alessandro Corbelli, baritone; Enzo Dara, bass; Teatro Reggio Orchestra, Turin, Bruno Campanella, conductor. Fonit Cetra, 1994. CDC 81.

ALAHOR IN GRANATA (1826)

Premiere: Palermo, Carolino, 7 January 1826

Autograph: US-Bm (copy)

Libretti:

345. Alahor in Granata: dramma per musica. Naples: Dalla Tipografia Flautina, 1826. LC: ML 48.S2753.

Articles/Dissertations/Critical Studies:

346. Freeman, James. “Donizetti in Palermo and Alahor in Granata.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 25/2 (Summer 197...

Table of contents

• ROUTLEDGE MUSIC BIBLIOGRAPHIES
• Contents
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Preface to the First Edition
• Acknowledgments
• Chronology
• I General Sources
• II Catalogs
• III Correspondence
• IV Biographical Sources
• V Critical Studies
• VI Production and Review Sources
• VII Singers and Theaters
• VIII The Complete Operas
• IX Other Works
• Name Index
• Subject Indexes