Dedicated websites for Contemporary 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/ includes pages on the history of several bel canto composers as well as pages on some of the works.

Details of many Donizetti and others' operas may be found on the Italian Opera site http://www.italianopera.org/ .

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

Donizetti -
The Fondazione Donizetti, Bergamo, is the main academic institution devoted to Donizetti. Its website www.donizetti.org  has comprehensive lists of recordings and other material is planned on both Donizetti and Mayr.

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

Mayr - http://www.simon-mayr.de/, the site of the Internationale Simon-Mayr-Gesellschaft devoted to promoting understanding, performance and research of Mayr's works (in German and Italian).  The Fondazione Donizetti site www.donizetti.org  has comprehensive lists of recording and books on Mayr.

Mercadante - http://www.saveriomercadante.it/biografia.htm, not all the links are working.

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

Pacini - http://www.giovannipacini.net/ includes libretti and scores that can be downloaded as well as a full discography and some articles by Philip Gossett.

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)

Sites of Operatic Interest 

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.

www.bachtrack.com is a new site advertising forthcoming musical events including opera.  It's currently being built but already includes many useful links including reviews.

http://www.operatoday.com/ and http://www.theoperacritic.com/ have news, reviews and articles on opera. You need to subscribe to get access to much of the second site.

http://www.operacast.com/  have details of opera broadcasts on the web as well as information on the New York based Vocal Records Collecting Society.

Norbeck, Peters & Ford sell a wide range of historic recordings

If you're interested in airing your views on 19th century Italian and French operas, you may be interested in blog site http://operablog.blogspot.com/.  

More general opera blogs include:-

http://www.operachic.typepad.com/

http://likelyimpossibilities.blogspot.com/

http://opera-cake.blogspot.com/

http://operaobsession.blogspot.com/

http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/

http://www.operatoday.com/

The British Library includes a huge amount of musical material, which is in the process of being catalogued. Caroline Shaw, the Curator, is writing a blog, http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/theatremusicarchive/ as this proceeds and has provided a short description:-  

Two large archives of sheet music from London theatres are currently being catalogued. The music, mostly in manuscript but including many printed items, belonged to the King's Theatre (later Her Majesty's Theatre), Haymarket, and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was used in productions of operas, ballets, and popular entertainments, and dates from the 18th to the early 20th century.

This blog is written by the cataloguer of the theatre archives, Caroline Shaw (Curator, Music Collections, British Library) and is intended to document the cataloguing process, and share information about individual items as work proceeds. These collections should interest anyone concerned with opera, theatre history, music performance history, musical theatre, dance and Victorian studies. 

There are materials in the King's Theatre archive relating to 'Don Pasquale', 'La fille du regiment', 'Gemma di Vergy', 'Poliuto' and 'Torquato Tasso', and to Mayr's operas 'L'amor coniugale' and 'Medea in Corinto'.

© Donizetti Society and contributors, 2004-2012