Donizetti Society
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Newsletter archives pre 1980 
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The Donizetti Society has been established since 1973 and has regularly published Newsletters over that time. The following is the list of Newsletter content prior to 1980. At that time, Newsletters had less material, were less well produced using a stencil and duplicator and more informal with fewer substantial articles.  Much of the information in them has been absorbed into or overtaken by later scholarship and the contents are included here mainly for the record. 

You can use the "Find" facility, part of "Edit" on your browser, to search for keywords within each of those pages as well as using the Search facility on the Home page. Articles are in English unless stated otherwise.

 

Newsletters for 1973 (1-3)

Newsletters for 1974 (4-6)

Newsletters for 1975 (7-9)

Newsletters for 1976 (10-12)

Newsletters for 1977 (13-15)

Newsletters for 1978 (16-18)

Newsletters for 1979 (19-21)

 

1973 

Newsletter 1, May 1973

- Article of introduction to the Society

 

Newsletter 2, July 1973

- Mostly devoted to an article on Donizetti's Il borgomastro di Saardam by John Allitt.  The article described a visit by the Society to a revival of the opera in the Netherlands in May 1973 using an edition created by Jan Schaap who also conducted.  The production was by Mieke de Goeje and starred Renato Capecchi and Philip Langridge. A CD is available of the performance, e.g. see here, which also includes some short excerpts.  The article is a pdf file here.

 

Newsletter 3, October 1973

- Roundup of news on Donizetti and Mayr

- Donizetti and the Music Hall, Birkenhead by Brian Thornton.
Short article on an intriguing likeness of Donizetti on one of the stones at the Music Hall, Birkenhead and an earlier performance at the Craven Rooms, Birkenhead of Donizetti's music. See here for article

 

1974 

Newsletter 4, March 1974

- Mayr's setting of the Passion by John S. Allitt
Article giving the background to a performance of Mayr's La Passione that the Society sponsored in 1974. See here for article

- News roundup

  

Newsletter 5, ? 1974

- Report of the first Society AGM

- News roundup

- Donizetti in Dublin 1830-1860 by Robert Potterton
Details of performances of Donizetti's operas in Dublin.  See here for article. The legibility is a little below average but has been included for its intrinsic interest.  A related article Persiani and Rubini - Dublin 1838 by Basil Walsh from Newsletter 113 can be found here.

- Letter from Count Giacomo Antonini

 

Newsletter 6, ? 1974

- News roundup

 - Part of a scathing 1913 review by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor with Graziella Pareto

- Reproduction of an article on Donizetti's death from The Illustrated London News

  

1975 

Newsletter 7, April 1975

- News roundup

- The letters of Adolphe Nourrit on Donizetti by Robert Potterton
Short extracts from various letters dated between December 28, 1837 to July 26, 1838.  See here for article.  For more on Nourrit see Henry Pleasants, The Great Tenor Tragedy.  Portland: Amadeus Press, 1995

  

Newsletter 8, July 1975

- News roundup

  

Newsletter 9, November 1975

 - News roundup

  

1976 

Newsletter 10, February 1976

- News roundup including short sections on Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at Covent Garden, a visit to Naples including Donizetti's Gemma di Vergy at the San Carlo, Donizetti and Siegfried Wagner and the Museo Donizettiano, Bergamo.

 

Newsletter 11, May 1976

- News roundup

- Alboni and the operas of Donizetti by Robert Potterton.  See here for article. The legibility is a little below average but has been included for its intrinsic interest.

  

Newsletter 12, October 1976

- News roundup

  

1977 

Newsletter 13, March 1977

- Brief report on Mercadante's operas including Il bravo from Rome Opera, January 2, 1977

- Reprint of a review from The Times, April 6, 1838 of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor with Persiani, Rubini and Tamburini.  See here.

- Reviews of Pro Opera's production of  Donizetti's Maria di Rohan at the Queen Elizabeth's Hall, London, December 5, 1976.

 

Newsletter 14, June 1977

- Reprint of a review from The Times, July 9, 1831 of Donizetti's Anna Bolena.  See here

 

Newsletter 15,  1977

- Donizetti at Aix-en-Provence by Alexander Weatherson including a brief review of Caballé and Carreras in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux. See here.

- Reprint of a Felix Aprahamian review of the 1957 La Scala production of  Donizetti's Anna Bolena.

- An obituary of Adolfo Camozzo, Artistic Director of the Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo.

  

1978 

Newsletter 16, January(?) 1978

 

Newsletter 17, May (?) 1978

- Rare Donizetti by Alexander Weatherson
An overview of various bel canto performances taking place in Europe, including two cantatas by Donizetti.

- Buxton and bel canto by Alexander Weatherson
 Some comments on Buxton's plan to perform Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor

- Italian Opera at the Court Opera 1842-50 of Copenhagen by Borre Qvamme
Lists of operas and comments on them from the various seasons.  See here for article

- Article on early Opera Rara recordings

- Donizetti's La Favorita at the Met by Don Gulliver and John Standen
Review of performances March 20 & 23, 1978.  See here.

- Various reviews of Donizetti's Pia de' Tolomei by Pro Opera
The performance part sponsored by the Donizetti Society, February 26, 1978

 

Newsletter 18, September 1978

- Pro Opera and Adelaide di Borgogna by Alexander Weatherson
Background and overview of Rossini's opera.  See here for article. In passing Professor Weatherson makes reference to the composer Carafa and wrote a longer article on him, which can be found here.

- Rossini and Donizetti
A rather fanciful description of Donizetti's education taken from Sutherland Edwards' 1862 History of the Opera.

- List of performances in Great Britain between 1950 and 1978.

 

1979

Newsletter 19, January 1979

- Gabriella di Vergy by Marigold Mann
Review of Donizetti's opera performed in Belfast, November 9, 1978

- Book Review by Alexander Weatherson of The Walter Scott Operas by Jerome Mitchell (Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1977).  He also wrote More Scott Operas (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1996)

- Some recent recordings by Giacomo Antonini
Reviews of Donizetti's  Ugo, Conte di Parigi, Gemma di Vergy, Lucia di Lammermoor and La Favorita

- Book review by Alexander Weatherson of  Annals of Opera 1597-1940 by Alfred Loewenberg (Totowa N.J., USA : Rowman and Littlefield; London: John Calder, 1978. First published 1943; revised 1955)

- Donizetti da Camera by Gordon Bellingham
Comments on a concert of non operatic pieces by Donizetti played by Redbridge Young Musicians on October 22, 1978 at the Purcell Room.  See here.

 

Newsletter 20, May 1979

- Book Review: Dom Sébastien by René Swennen (Paris: Julliard, 1979)
Review by Alexander Weatherson of the novel based on the events surrounding Donizetti's composition of the opera. See here

 - List of World Premieres at the Théâtre-Italiens 1794-1837 and at the Salle Ventadour 1837-1856.

 - Anna Bolena by Fulvio Lo Presti
Review of a performance of Donizetti's opera at the Théâtre des Arts, Rouen.  See here

 

Newsletter 21, September 1979

- Donizetti's Island by Alexander Weatherson
Background to Donizetti's opera Il Furioso all'isola di San Domingo. See hhere

 - Review of  Donizetti's Lucia given at the Buxton Festival

 - Matteo Salvi's masterpiece by Alexander Weatherson
Background on Donizetti's Il Duca d'Alba completed by a one time pupil Matteo Salvi.  See here.

- A letter from South Africa by Philip Miller
News on forthcoming South African opera productions including Lucia with May Sandoz, Jon Treleaven and Lawrence  Folley

- Verdi's Oberto in Rotterdam by Marigold Mann
Review of a performance in Rotterdam on May 31, 1979.