A bright English critic, whose style is as charming as his judgments
are good, says, in his study of the Donizetti music, "I find myself
thinking of his music as I do of Domenichino's pictures of 'St. Agnes'
and the 'Rosario' in the Bologna gallery, of the 'Diana' in the
Borghese Palace at Rome, as pictures equable and skilful in the
treatment of their subjects, neither devoid of beauty of form nor of
colour, but which make neither the pulse quiver nor the eye wet; and
then such a sweeping judgment is arrested by a work like the 'St.
Jerome' in the Vatican, from which a spirit comes forth so strong and
so exalted, that the beholder, however trained to examine and compare
and collect, finds himself raised above all recollections of manner by
the sudden ascent of talent into the higher world of genius.
Essentially a second-rate composer,[I] Donizetti struck out some
first-rate things in a happy hour, such as the last act of 'La
Favorita.'"
Both Donizetti and Bellini, though far inferior to their master in
richness of resources, in creative faculty and instinct for what may
be called dramatic expression in pure musical form, were disciples of
Rossini in their ideas and methods of work. Milton sang of
Shakespeare--
"Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child,
Warbles his native wood-notes wild!"
In a similar spirit, many learned critics have written of Rossini, and
if it can be said of him in a musical sense that he had "little Latin
and less Greek," still more true is it of the two popular composers
whose works have filled so large a space in the opera-house of the
last thirty years, for their scores are singularly thin, measured by
the standard of advanced musical science. Specially may this be said
of Bellini, in many respects the greater of the two. There is scarcely
to be found in music a more signal example to show that a marked
individuality may rest on a narrow base. In justice to him, however,
it may be said that his early death prevented him from doing full
justice to his powers, for he had in him the material out of which the
great artist is made. Let us first sketch the career of Donizetti, the
author of sixty-four operas, besides a mass of other music, such as
cantatas, ariettas, duets, church music, etc., in the short space of
twenty-six years.
GÄETANO DONIZETTI was born at Bergamo, 25th September 1798, his father
being a man of moderate fortune.[J] Receiving a good classical
education, the young Gäetano had three careers open before him: the
bar, to which the will of his father inclined; architecture, indicated
by his talent for drawing; and music, to which he was powerfully
impelled by his own inclinations. His father sent him, at the age of
seventeen, to Bologna to benefit by the instruction of Padre Mattei,
who had also been Rossini's master. The young man showed no
disposition for the heights of musical science as demanded by
religious composition, and, much to his father's disgust, avowed his
determination to write dramatic music. Paternal anger, for the elder
Donizetti seems to have had a strain of Scotch obstinacy and
austerity, made the youth enlist as a soldier, thinking to find time
for musical work in the leisure of barrack-life. His first opera,
"Enrico di Borgogna," was so highly admired by the Venetian manager,
to whom it was offered, that he induced friends of his to release
young Donizetti from his military servitude. He now pursued musical
composition with a facility and industry which astonished even the
Italians, familiar with feats of improvisation. In ten years
twenty-eight operas were produced. Such names as "Olivo e Pasquale,"
"La Convenienze Teatrali," "Il Borgomaestro di Saardam," "Gianni di
Calais," "L'Esule di Roma," "Il Castello di Kenilworth," "Imelda di
Lambertazzi," have no musical significance, except as belonging to a
catalogue of forgotten titles. Donizetti was so poorly paid that need
drove him to rapid composition, which could not wait for the true
afflatus.
It was not till 1831 that the evidence of a strong individuality was
given, for hitherto he had shown little more than a slavish imitation
of Rossini. "Anna Bolena" was produced at Milan and gained him great
credit, and even now, though it is rarely sung even in Italy, it is
much respected as a work of art as well as of promise. It was first
interpreted by Pasta and Rubini, and Lablache won his earliest London
triumph in it. "Marino Faliero" was composed for Paris in 1835, and
"L'Elisir d'Amore," one of the most graceful and pleasing of
Donizetti's works, for Milan in 1832. "Lucia di Lammermoor," based on
Sir Walter Scott's novel, was given to the public in 1835, and has
remained the most popular of the composer's operas. Edgardo was
written for the great French tenor, Duprez, Lucia for Persiani.
Donizetti's kindness of heart was illustrated by the interesting
circumstances of his saving an obscure Neapolitan theatre from ruin.
Hearing that it was on the verge of suspension and the performers in
great distress, the composer sought them out and supplied their
immediate wants. The manager said a new work from the pen of
Donizetti would be his salvation. "You shall have one within a week,"
was the answer.
Lacking a subject, he himself rearranged an old French vaudeville, and
within the week the libretto was written, the music composed, the
parts learned, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. There could
be no greater proof of his generosity of heart and his versatility of
talent. In these days of bitter quarrelling over the rights of authors
in their works, it may be amusing to know that Victor Hugo contested
the rights of Italian librettists to borrow their plots from French
plays. When "Lucrezia Borgia," composed for Milan in 1834, was
produced at Paris in 1840, the French poet instituted a suit for an
infringement of copyright. He gained his action, and "Lucrezia Borgia"
became "La Rinegata," Pope Alexander the Sixth's Italians being
metamorphosed into Turks.[K]
"Lucrezia Borgia," which, though based on one of the most dramatic of
stories and full of beautiful music, is not dramatically treated by
the composer, seems to mark the distance about half-way between the
styles of Rossini and Verdi. In it there is but little recitative, and
in the treatment of the chorus we find the method which Verdi
afterwards came to use exclusively. When Donizetti revisited Paris in
1840, he produced in rapid succession "I Martiri," "La Fille du
Regiment," and "La Favorita." In the second of these works Jenny Lind,
Sontag, and Alboni won bright triumphs at a subsequent period.