The Donizetti Society has been established since 1973 and has regularly published Newsletters over that time. The following is the list of Newsletter content from 2014-2017. 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 2014 (121 - 123)
Newsletters for 2015 (124 - 126)
Newsletters for 2016 (127 - 129)
Newsletters for 2017 (130 -132)
- Bicentenari 1813-2013: Petrella, Verdi, Wagner in concerto
a Torino by Michele Curnis (in Italian) (p.5)
Remarks on Petrella's career and a concert of his, Verdi and Wagner's music
to celebrate their bicentenaries.
- Errico Petrella ed I pedanti by G.A. Biaggi (in Italian)
(p.7)
Article from the Gazzetta Musicale di Milano, April 22,
1877, p. 131 defending Petrella
- The Vampire rises in New Orleans by Charles Jernigan (p.9)
Article on Polidori's short story, the background to Marschner's
Der Vampyr and comments on its recent production in New Orleans.
- Something to look forward to... by Douglas Bennett (p.14)
Remarks on forthcoming recordings
- Pietro Generali e L'Adelaide di Borgogna by Franco Piva (in
Italian) (p.15)
History and some analysis of the opera and
comments on a concert performance in Rovigo in 2012 by the
conductor Franco Piva.
The concert is available on
Bongiovanni 2458/60.
- Appoggiaturas in the Operas of Donizetti by Alan Jackson
(p.19)
Article on guidance as to when and when not to include
appoggiaturas and some examples.
- Extended reviews by Paul Micio of two books: Bel Canto Bully by Philip Eisenbeiss, which can be seen here, and Giovanni Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors by Dan H. Marek. (p.24)
- Theodore Victor Giubilei by Russell Burdekin (p.3)
Article
on the Victorian bass singer. The article, extended to include
sketches of his wife Augustine Clara Proche and half-brother,
Augustus can be found
here.
- A Belgian blessing by Alexander Weatherson (p.8)
Article on
the recent revival in Ghent of Karel Miry's opera Bouchard D'Avesnes.
- Tra Matti e Padroni by Marco Leo (in Italian) (p.13)
Article on Donizetti's Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo
originally staged at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo. See
here for photographs and comment on the Bergamo
performance. It then toured 5 other Italian cities.
- Il Gaetan furioso by Christian Speranza (in Italian)
(p.15)
An article on Donizetti's Il furioso all'isola di San
Domingo
- Sulla "Fausta" di Donizetti: la fonte letteraria, la
fortuna teatrale by Paola Ciarlantini (in Italian) (p.19)
Article on Donizetti's Fausta and the libretto's source in T.
Sgricci's tragedy Crispo (Part 1)
- Late-blooming Spanish Belcanto flower by Walter Wiertz
(p.25)
Article on Arrieta's La conquista di Granata
- A review by Alexander Weatherson of
Napoleons Traumrollen
by Irs Winkler (p.3)
The book covers a number of works that were
stimulated by Napoleon's invasion of Italy
- Sulla "Fausta" di Donizetti: la fonte letteraria, la
fortuna teatrale by Paola Ciarlantini (in Italian) (p.7)
Appendices including a chronology of Fausta performances and
bibliography. Part 2 of an article begun in
Newsletter 122.
- The Kaufman Chronologies by Thea Cook (p.14)
Tom Kaufman's
work was widely known to scholars and centred on a massive
archive of performances. Thea's article describes the archive
and discusses ways in which it might be made more widely
available and even expanded. The article can be found
here .
- Giuseppe Lillo, pianista d'arte e d'intrattenimento by Alessandro Macchia (in Italian) (p.19) Article looking at the composer Lillo's piano career.
- Serious Sullivan by Douglas Bennett (p.22)
Background and
review of the recent recording of Sullivan's On Shore and Sea
and Kenilworth by Victorian Opera Northwest. See
here for details of the recording.
- Arrieta - a Postscript by Alan Jackson (p.27)
Some remarks
on the recording of Arrieta's opera La conquista di Granata
following Walter Wiertz's article in
Newsletter 122
- L.S.Lowry and Belcanto opera by Alan Jackson (p.28)
Brief
remarks on a visit to the Lowry Centre in Salford and Lowry's
love of belcanto opera.
- Why Cardenio? by Alexander Weatherson (p.4)
An interview
with James Conway ahead of English Touring Opera's production of
Donizetti's
The Wild Man of the West Indies (Il furioso all’isola di San
Domingo)
- And a further response from Jeremy Silver (p.8)
An article
by the man who will be conducting it on the ETO's tour.
- Vincenzo Pucitta: An omitted composer, review by Alexander
Weatherson (p.12)
A review of a book of essays entitled
Vincenzo Pucitta: Il tumulto del gran mondo (Barletta:
Cafagna Editore, 2014)
- Antonio Ghislanzoni by Michele C. Ferrari (in German)
(p.16)
A review of Pacifica Artuso's book
Antonio Ghislanzoni, non di solo Verdi... (Varenna, EurArte
Edizioni, 2013) librettist whose best known book is Aida.
- Yet again Salieri shows he was no mediocrity by Douglas M.
Bennett (p.18)
Background and review of Pinchgut Opera's
performance of Salieri's Der Rauchfangkehrer given in Sydney. A
recording is available
here
- Una Voce Sombre per il Dramma di Edgardo by Piero Mioli (in
Italian) (p.22)
Memories of the tenor Carlo Bergonzi
- Les Martyrs - the new passages in the Opera Rara recording
by Alan Jackson (p.24)
Information and comment on three
passages that have been included in the new critical edition of
the opera, which was used by Opera Rara in their recent
recording of the opera and in the concert version at the Royal
Festival Hall on November 4, 2014. An article by Alan Jackson on
that performance can be found
here. October's Opera magazine included an article on the
opera entitled "Opera à la française" by Flora Willson, who
edited the critical edition of the opera.
- Pane, amore e Donizetti by Christian Speranza (p.28)
Report
on a performance of L'elisir d'amore at Piacenza together with
some historical background on Donizetti's career leading up to
it.
-
A Romance for Marcella by Alexander Weatherson (p.3)
An
article on an aria by Balfe which he wrote to insert in a
performance of Donizetti's Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo
scheduled for Her Majesty's Theatre, London, in 1846 but which
was never used. The article was in memory of Basil Walsh, who
did much work to raise Balfe's profile including the website
http://www.britishandirishworld.com/ and a book,
Michael W. Balfe: A Unique Victorian Composer. (Dublin:
Irish Academic Press, 2008).
- Alto: The Voice of Bel Canto - part 1, by Dan H. Marek
(p.6)
Excerpts from the chapter on "Bel Canto Altos of Bellini
and Donizetti" from a forthcoming book by Dan H. Marek. A second
extract will be included in the next newsletter. Other books of
his include Giovanni
Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors: History and Technique
- Leyla Gencer sconosciuta? by Douglas M. Bennett (p.14)
Thoughts on Gencer's career stimulated by a present of a book
about her and CDs of some performances.
- L' "orrido campo" e Isabella d'Aspeno di Paolo Carrer by
Eduardo Rescigno (in Italian) (p.17)
An article about Carrer's
opera, whose plot foreshadows that of Verdi's Un ballo in
maschero, and asks whether it influenced it in any way
- Le Pré aux Clercs by Alan Jackson (p.23)
A review of a
recent performance at the Opéra Comique. Photographs and comment
on the production can be found at
http://www.donizettisociety.com/Pastproductions2014/
2015PreParis.htm
- Linda di Chamounix in Giessen by Walter Wiertz (p.25)
A
review of a recent performance of the opera. Photographs from
the production can be found
here.
- Halévy's La Juive in Ghent by Russell Burdekin (p.28)
A
review of the Opera Vlaanderen production directed by Peter
Konwitschny. Photographs from the production can be found
http://www.donizettisociety.com/Pastproductions2014
/2015LaJuiveGent.htm
- I Cavoli a Merenda Di Windsor by Fulvio Stefano Lo Presti
(in Italian) (p.31)
A review of Otto Nicolai's Die lustigen
Weiber von Windsor at Liège. The article can be found
here
- Donizetti compositore e...patriota? by Mario Villani (in
Italian) (p.4)
Consideration of the depth and range of
Donizetti's patriotism. See
here.
- Une ténébreuse affaire or worse: the fate of an opera by
Constantino Palumbo by Alexander Weatherson (p.7)
The story
behind the precipitous disappearance of Palumbo's opera, Pier
Luigi Farnese, with its text by Arrigo Boito, from the Rome
stage in 1891. The article can be seen
here.
- Alto: The Voice of Bel Canto - part 2 by Dan H. Marek
(p.12)
The second part of an excerpt from the chapter on "Bel
Canto Altos of Bellini and Donizetti" from a forthcoming book by
Dan H. Marek. The first extract was included in the
previous newsletter. Other books of his include Giovanni
Battista Rubini and the Bel Canto Tenors: History and Technique
- Ein unbekannter Komponist und eine bekannte Opernfigur:
Michele Carafa und seine "beiden Figaro" by Bruno Rauch (in
German) (p.21)
Article on Carafa's I due Figaro which was produced
last year by the Free Opera Company, Zurich.
- Ein charmantes Phantom of the Opera by Bruno Rauch (in
German) (p.24)
Article on Boieldieu's La Dame Blanche produced this
year by the Free Opera Company, Zurich.
- La Favorite by John Yohalem (p.27)
Article on the 2015 Caramoor Festival production of Donizetti's La Favorite. An
article on the same production by Charles Jernigan can be found
at http://www.donizettisociety.com/Articles/
articlefavoritejernigan0815.htm
- "Donizetti a Nozari per 2 Colazioni avute" by Fabrizio
Capitano (in Italian) (p.4)
An article on and score of a
recently found work by Donizetti dedicated to the tenor Andrea Nozzari.
- Bringing Salieri out from the Shadows by Douglas Bennett
(p.12)
Article on Salieri's Trofonio's Cave given by Brampton
Classical Opera.
- Prima della Prima al Kärntnertortheater by Mario Villani
(in Italian) (p.16)
An article on Donizetti's operas in Vienna
in the early 1840's and his correspondence with Carlo Balocchino,
who was in charge of the Kärntnertortheater there.
- Bergamo's Vanishing Festivals by Stephen Hastings
(p.8)
A history of the varying fortunes to establish a Donizetti
festival at Bergamo.
- Lucrezia e Lady: Marianna Barbieri Nini by Piero Mioli (in
Italian) (p.24)
An article on the singer Marianna Barbieri Nin,
the original Lucrezia Borgia in Donizetti's opera of that name.
- Liszt Piano Transcriptions by Alan Jackson (p.26)
A preface
to an article by Przemyslaw Krzywoszński, which will appear in
Newsletter 128, in which he considers
whether Liszt's transcriptions might tell us something of
performance practice at the time. See
here.
- Palumbo in Piacenza: his Pier-Luigi Farnese by Alexander
Weatherson (p.28)
A follow up on an earlier article about this
opera (see here) and speculating that
its complete disappearance might be due to its underlying
reliance on outdated models despite its superficial boldness.
- Editorial by Alexander Weatherson
(p.2)
Includes some remarks on the reception of Donizetti's Adelia
at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1843
- Il poeta teatrale Girolamo Maria Marini
dimenticato collaboratore di Donizetti by Paola Ciarlantini (in
Italian) (p.4)
Background on the librettist of a number of operas including
Nicolai's Il templario and the third act of Donizetti's
Adelia.
- Malibran recalled by Alexander
Weatherson (p.12)
Description and comment on a short lived cantata in memory of
Maria Malibran with contributions by Donizetti, Pacini,
Mercadante, Coppola and Vaccai with a text mainly by Antonio
Piazza. A performance is planned probably in Brussels
- Gaetano Donizetti's operas in piano
transcriptions by Franz Liszt by Przemyslaw Krzywoszyński (p.21)
Description of 7 Liszt works based on Donizetti operas. This was
a shortened version of a paper entitled "Gaetano Donizetti by
Franz Liszt, the Piano in the Service of the Opera",
Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology, no. 13, 2013, pp.
141-154, which can be found
here.
Alan Jackson wrote a companion article in Newsletter 127
speculating whether Liszt's transcriptions might tell us
something of performance practice at the time. See
here.
- Maria Marcolini Contralto - Qualche
novita biografica by Mario Villani (in Italian) (p.28)
New details on the life of the early 19th century contralto
Maria Marcolini
- New recordings of Satanella
and Le Duc d'Albe by Alan Jackson (p.33)
Comments on the new recordings of Balfe's Satanella by
Victorian Opera Northwest, details and excerpts of which can be
found at
http://www.victorianoperanorthwest.org/Recordings/Satanellarecording.htm
and of the first two extant acts of Donizetti's Le Duc d'Albe
by Opera Rara, see
here .
- Il Pentagono Rossiniano (Ermione a
Rostock) by Fulvio Stefano Lo Presti (in Italian) (p.36)
Performance of Rossini's Ermione in Rostock at their
Festival del Belcanto
- Mischief and Eleonora by Alexander
Weatherson (p.4)
Article on Boisnormand de Bonnechose's play Rosemonde,
the source for Donizetti's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra
- La prima volta de La
Favorite alla Fenice di Venezia by Giacomo Branca (in
Italian, p.10)
The first staging of the opera in its original French at La
Fenice
- Margherita (p.14)
Synopsis of Jacopo Foroni's opera scheduled for the 2017 Wexford
Festival
- Die Free Opera Company bringt erneut
eine Raritat by Bruno Rauch (in German, p.16)
The Free
Opera Company's production of E.T.A. Hoffmann's singspiel
Liebe und Eifersucht
- Francesca da Rimini by
Alexander Weatherson (p.18)
Review of Mercadante's opera that received a belated premiere at
Martina Franca on July 30, 2016. Another take on it from
Charles Jernigan's can be found
here.
- Malvina di Scozia - a view
from New York by "Lei & Lui" (p.20)
An article on the revival of Pacini's Malvina di Scozia
by the Vertical Player Repertory. A more detailed article on the
opera can be found
here
- Caro amico ti scrivo ....... by Mario Villani (in Italian, p.24)
- Per una riscoperta de Il giovedi
grasso by Francesco Bellotto (in Italian, p.5)
Article on Donizetti's opera given recently at Treviso
- Olivo e Pasquale by Giacomo
Branca (in Italian, p.9)
Review of Donizetti's opera given at the 2016 Donizetti Festival
in Bergamo. Another view and photographs can be found
here
- Bergamo by Alan Jackson (p.12)
Reflections on the 2016 Donizetti Festival. Alan's reviews of
the two main operas can be found
here
and here.
- Inaugurato con Donizetti il nuovo teatro di Trapani by Giulia Vannoni (in Italian, p.16)
- Stella di Napoli by Alexander Weatherson (p.18)
Article on Pacini's opera.
- Il padre di Vincenzo Bellini nacque
nel 1778 by Giovanni Pasqualino (in Italian, p.24)
Article on Bellini's father.
- A Victorian view of Donizetti by
Russell Burdekin (p.29)
Comments from an article on Donizetti by R.G. White published in
1874
- Two Rare Cantatas by Alexander
Weatherson (p.4)
Some additional information on revivals of two Donizetti
cantatas in Palermo
- Who or what was Méhul by Douglas M.
Bennett (p.6)
Report of a concert at St John's Smith Square
- Cornaro x 2 by Alexander Weatherson
(p.10)
A discussion of the relationships between Donizetti's
Caterina Cornaro and Halévy's La Riene de Chypre.
- Dionilla Santolini - Diva Inattuale by
Gabriele Cesaretti (in Italian) (p.18)
Article on the 19th century soprano
- The First Recording of Donizetti by
Alan Jackson (p.21)
Comments on an 1890 recording of "Quando rapito" by Mademoiselle
Nikita
- Two books on 19th century singers by
Russell Burdekin (p.23)
Short reviews of books on Pasta and Tietjens. See
here
- Donizetti and Vienna by Peter C.
Walther (p.24)
Article on the author's stay in Vienna and reflections on
Donizetti's career there.
- Jane Austen and Opera, some thoughts by
Douglas M. Bennett (p.3)
Review of a new opera based on Austen's Persuasion
- Pariah, purdah and protest: Michele
Carafa in the opera house, Il paria by Alexander
Weatherson (p.8)
Article on the history behind Carafa's Il paria.
- Nel 150o anniversario della
morte di Giovanni Pacini by Giovanni Pasqualino (in Italian)
(p.19)
Article reflecting on Pacini's career
- Recitals by Michael Spyres and Joyce
El-Khoury on Opera Rara by Alan Jackson (p.23)
Review of two new CDs from Opera Rara:
Spyres
Espoir and
El-Khoury Écho. See
here
- "La gazza ladra" ritorna alla Scala di
Milano by Michele Curnis (in Italian) (p.25)
A performing history of Rossini's opera at La Scala
