Donizetti in Milan
The series about historical places of opera art & culture. Get to know exciting excursion and travel ideas for opera lovers. This time: Donizetti in Milan
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Donizetti in Milan
Milan played a minor role in Donizetti’s personal biography alongside Bergamo, Naples and Paris. And yet the northern Italian metropolis was decisive for the career of the Lombard. In 1830 his international career began there with the triumph of his first masterpiece “Anna Bolena” starring the dream couple Giuditta Patsa and Giovanni Rubini.
Two years later he presented himself to the Milan audience with “Elisir d’amore”. When the opera premiered on May 12, 1832, Donizetti experienced one of the most brilliant moments of his career. The ovations from the audience were gigantic, and the reviews in the newspapers were overwhelming. Donizetti thus brilliantly confirmed the success he had achieved with “Anna Bolena” two years earlier. Now he was finally on a par with his friend and rival Bellini, and the two became Italy’s leading opera composers.
TO THE COMPLETE DONIZETTI BIOGRAPHY
Destination Teatro alla Canobbiana
This theater was the premiere site of his “Elisir d’amore”. Donizetti wrote the opera in an incredible 13 days. The time pressure stemmed from the fact that a composer at Milan’s Teatro alla Canobbiana (the city’s popular second theater, along with La Scala) was unable to complete his commissioned work in time, and the theater therefore needed an alternative at short notice. It is interesting to see Donizetti’s autographs of the “Elisir”, because Donizetti wrote out only the vocal lines, in addition he noted the bass lines to indicate the harmonic progression. To this he added remarks on how to orchestrate. The copyist then wrote out the parts and completed the score under Donizetti’s supervision. Hector Berlioz attended one of the first performances of the opera, and he was not very complimentary about the theater business at that time. He had to strain to hear the music above the din of the audience. People were talking to each other, gambling for money, dining, and successfully drowning out the orchestra.
The Canobbiana was renamed the “Teatro lirico” in 1894 and has had a troubled history since then, including a fire in 1937. A renovation has been underway for several years. The opening is planned for 2021 or 2022.
After the devastating fire in 1937:
Destination Teatro alla Scala
5 of Donizetti’s 71 operas were premiered at La Scala. Among them was his Lucrezia Borgia. This piece struggled with censorship in the 19th century and was performed with 6 different titles in its first 10 years; in the 1845 production in Paris, Italians even became Turks (“La rinnegata”).
La Scala honored Donizetti with a statue in the foyer of the theater.
Donizetti bust at la Scala:
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