Small picture of Donizetti

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dedicated websites for other composers

The following sites are devoted to particular composers of Donizetti's era.  Please email:-info@donizettisociety.com with any new sites.

http://www.magiadellopera.com/donizetti.html includes information on both the lives and operas of several major opera composers including Donizetti (in Italian).

http://www.operaamerica.org/audiences/learningcenter/belcanto/home.shtml includes pages on both the lives and works of several bel canto composers as well as an essay on bel canto opera.

http://phonoarchive.org/grove/ includes short biographies of composers taken from the New Grove dictionary of music and musicians.

Bellini - www.bellininews.it - site devoted to Bellini (in Italian)

Donizetti -

 www.gaetanodonizetti.net  - the site of the Fondazione Donizetti, Bergamo, the main academic institution devoted to Donizetti (in Italian)

teatro.gaetano-donizetti.com - the Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo site (in Italian)

Mayr - www.simon-mayr-gesellschaft.de ,the site of the Internationale Simon-Mayr-Gesellschaft devoted to promoting understanding, performance and research of Mayr's works (in German and Italian).

Meyerbeer - www.meyerbeer.com , the  Meyerbeer fan club site with an interest also in Auber and Halévy

Pacini - www.giovannipacini.com , site devoted to Pacini

Rossini -

www.rossinigesellschaft.de - the Rossini Gesellschaft Switzerland site (in German and Italian)

www.rossinioperafestival.it - the site of the annual Pesaro festival dedicated to Rossini's works and the associated Accademia Rossiniana

Verdi -

Amici di Verdi UK - UK based society devoted to Verdi

www.amicidiverdi.it - official site of the association of Amici di Verdi (in Italian)

 

Visiting Bergamo

Low cost airlines (e.g. in the UK, Ryanair) sometimes use Milan-Bergamo (Orio al Serio) airport as a gateway to Milan.  However, as it is only about 5 kilometres from Bergamo, it makes it extremely convenient to visit Bergamo for a few days or a long weekend. Regular buses go from the airport into the town. Please note that the other Milan airports, Milan Linate and Milan Malpensa, are not nearly so convenient, necessitating going into Milan first and then travelling onto Bergamo.

Bergamo picture

Second Bergamo picture

 Bergamo has an atmospheric, historic old town on the hill overlooking the lower city, which is more modern with the main transport links and the commercial and shopping centres. Bergamo is also an excellent jumping off point with good links to Milan and Brescia and into some of valleys coming down from the Italian Alps, including Lake Como.  The best source of information on Bergamo is the Bergamo tourist office.  This has lists of hotels, restaurants, maps etc. Some hotels can be booked online with organisations such as http://www.italy-accomodation.com/bergamo.htm .

 

Donizetti Museum

In the old town, the main Donizetti associations are the house where he was born in the Borgo Canale and the Museo Donizettiano, which originally was the school that Donizetti attended. It has two of his pianos and other furniture, portraits, copies of scores, letters etc and engravings of many of the singers associated with the premieres of his operas.  Both of the above are open to the public but the opening times can be a little unpredictable. The Donizetti's Life page has some pictures.  There is also the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Mayr was Maestro di Cappella and which has monuments to Donizetti and to Mayr (picture on Mayr page).

In the lower city Donizetti is commemorated by the Teatro Donizetti and a statue behind the theatre.  Schedules and booking details for opera in Bergamo can be found at the Teatro Donizetti web site.

 

Sites of Operatic Interest 

Tom Kaufman's website,  http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/8917/ , includes lists and reviews of books giving the chronology and details of performances at opera houses in many countries.  It also has an interesting list of other sites of opera information and some of Tom's reviews of  rarely heard opera recordings.

Details of all Metropolitan Opera performances can now be found by looking at the database on http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/ .

Playbill Arts, http://www.playbillarts.com/index.php ,  includes articles and news on opera, including photographs from some productions.

Details of many Donizetti's and others' operas may also be found on the Italian Opera site http://www.italianopera.org/index.html    (in Italian).

Librettos (Italian only) for many of the operas can be found at http://www.karadar.com/operas/donizetti.html

If you're interested in airing your views on 19th century Italian and French operas, you may be interested in the following blog site http://operablog.blogspot.com/ .  Other opera blogs include http://www.operachic.typepad.com/ and http://www.yankeediva.blogspot.com/ (Joyce DiDonato).

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