Donizetti: His Life and Works

Author(s): M. De Thémines and Margaret Cecilia Cleveland

Source: Watson's Art Journal , Nov. 2, 1867, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Nov. 2, 1867), pp. 17-18

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20647570

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 AMWSR&t "JSSGffiSS 'Iff;MW? ffllll 1

* New Series?No. 210.) (foub dollars peb year. ,

Voi* "Vm.-^No. 2. ) NEW YOBK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1867, \ Single Cokes, 10 era

THE
WILLIAM KNABE & CO/S duty to render him homage, and so wrote an
opera, the title of which was- the name of the
CELEBRATED GOLD MEDAL WEBER illustrious author of the Crusade.
This work was given in Borne, at the
Teatro Valle. The libretto was by Jacopo
- GRAND, SQUARE AND UPRIGHT
PIANO-FORTE Teretti, who committed the error of making
it an opera-comique; or, to say the least, dif
PIANOS. IS PRONOUNCED BY THE fused a jovial element through it, very little
en rapport with the unfortunate loves of
Tasso and Leonora, and with the unhappy
First Musicians of tbis City
These instruments huve been for thirty yours before end of Torquato. Notwithstanding this
the ptfblic, in competition with other instruments of first
class makers. They have, throughout that long period, AND ELSEWHERE,
maladresseon the part of the author of the
maintained their reputation among theAMD profession
BT TBS andlibretto,
the the opera succeeded. It could not
p lb Vic as being unsurpassed in every quality found in a
first-class Piano. have been otherwise. First, the work was
LEADING NEWSPAPERS in the STATES
the excellent in itself; then it was Ronconi who
650 BKOADWAY, Best Piano Manufactured.
filled the role of Tasso. He was superb in
that part.. It was even considered as one of
his finest roles, and from the date of its suc
jfcjr They ire used by the CONSERVATORIES OP
MUSIC oi NEW YORK fend BROOKLYN, cess,
and he
allalways
the chose for his debtd in other
CROSBY'S OPERA HOUSE, theatres,
High Musical School! of the country, because of theirthe Torquato Tasso of Donizetti.
Donizetti
Immense Power, Sweetness, Brilliancy and Perfectdedicated this opera " To Ber
Chicago, Mil, gamo, Sorrento, and Rome," " wishing
Equality of Tone, Elasticity of Touch,
and Great Durability thus "?I quote the words of one of his best
"J. BAUER & CO., Agents. biographers, already mentioned?the lawyer
WAREROOMS,
DECKER BROTHERS9 Cioconetti?" wishing thus to give a proof
of affection to his own city, to the birthplace
NEAR BROADWAY.
, PATENT of Tasso, and to Rome, which had conferred
the crown upon the immortal poet, and who
even now hone rad him through the melodies
PLATE PIANO-FORTES. HIS LIFE AND WORKS. inspired by his name."
Thus Donizetti terminated the year 1833
NO. 91 BLEECKER ST., BY M. DE THEMINES. brilliantly. He inaugurated the year follow
ing by another chef-d'oeuvre?with Lucrezia
New York. Translated for the Abt Journal from the French,
Borgia! Everyone knows that Lucrezia
These Piano-Fortes are the only instrument made In
BY MARGARET CECILIA CLEVELAND.
Borgia is Donizetti's work; but what is gen
this country or in Europe, with the full Iron Frame, in erally unknown, is that it came very near
which Xl. being Mercadante's.
All the Strings Rest upon Wooden Lucrezia Borgia was written under these
After Parisina, Donizetti wrote Torquato
Bearings, circumstances:
Tasso. It was a subject that he had dreamed
and in which none of the Tuning Pins go' through the
Iron Plate.. / over for a long time. He was not bornWhile in Donizetti was in Venice, he received
The advantages gained by this arrangement are the an urgent call from his confrere and friend,
production of a Bergamo for nothing. It is a well-known
. . MOKE REFINED TONE, fact, that Tasso, notwithstanding that Saverio
he Meroadante, the illustrious author of
with Elisa e Claudio, of / 2forman?ii a Parigi,
COMBINED SWEETNESS AND GREAT POWER, came into the world on the delicious shores
and Donna Caritea, VApoteosi oVErcole, etc. (he
of Sorrento, near Naples, loved to say that
MORE PERFECT QUALITY THROUGH THE ENTIRE
SCALE, and the capacity of bad not then written II Giuramento, La
he was of Bergamo, the native oity of his
STANDING LONGER IN TUNE,
end retaining its > , .i. Vestale, and consequently the other scores
father. Donizetti did like Tasso; he pre
( 8UPERIQR QUALITY OF TONE,
khan any other instrument. , ' , tended, that the author of '' Jerusalem which
De followed these two chefs-d'oeuvre).
r Pnrohasers will ftnTd the following words cast on the Donizetti knocked at the door of a house
left hand side of pur PatentPfcte: .; ^ ?ii ? :;- ? .; / liyered " was a Berfyamdsquer' 'and'' in'' hi*
'dtiu^ed on the Canal Grande; he wa^ ad?

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 18 V WATSQN'S ART JOURNAL. < .- v .
mitted and conducted into a bed-chamber.
Twenty-five * daysVlpterJnpt one niore;,Qr The writers ?f that time axe perfectly unani
less?thehe
The first thing that he saw, was that comjpletq.
sav Icorei orchestrated, tyis motfs as to its excellence. " Our operatic
nothing at all. As soon as heihad entered,
delivered to the Impjresaim \ ' company,'^ says one of them, " is truly su
the door was closied behind himfifteen and days
the later,jthe first representation perior to all others in Germany a*1*! Italy,
room left in obscurity. took<place.
i ?Lucrezia
i Boi*gia\only met |rit}i for, "during his journey through the penin
But if he did not see, he heard. .aAmoderate
mourn success !^.; i ^ * ^ sula^, t&e Emperor^ visited all the? large
ful voice guides him; it was that of It could
Merca not "have happened otherwise. theatres, and engaged the most celebrated
dante. Donizetti stepped forward The with
new stylehisdisplayed by the musician dis virtuosos. It is not uncommon to find our
arms outstretched, and met the; concerted
moist and the audience. It was neither the second and third singers leaving Vienna to
feverish hand of his poor friend. grand opera nor the opera comique; but there appear as prime donne in Italy." In addition
"Gaetano, my dear Gaetano!" were smiles in the midst of lamentations.
exclaimed to the opera bvffa, Vienna possessed a second
that voice, "excuse me for derangingIt was the
you,drama?the true drama of the new theatre. This was devoted to German music.
but there is no one but you who can school thatme
help music was about to-adopt. - ; Unfortunately, there was a deficiency of
out of this affair. I beseech you, do notonly
It was re after ten years, and at the good composers and good singers, and, with
fuse me." courageous initiative of an artist, that the exception of a few national works, transla
" Speak, my dear friend; what is it ?" Lucrezia Borgia arose. The work obtained tions formed the staple entertainment of this
" You see or rather you do not see; I can the success that it merited, and from that establishment. For a short time, Mozart re
not open my eyes, I am afraid of becom time, it grew steadily in favor. stored its fortunes by his " Entf?hrung aus
ing blind. The least light makes me feel the dem Serail." The reader may easily imagine
pam of a thousand needles. They have for [From the London Musical World.) what powers of attraction such a place as
bidden me even the dimmest light. " VierJna exerted upon the genial young com
" But I am not a physician, and still less "THE GOOSE OF CAIBO." poser. He trembled at the mere thought of
an oculist," said Donizetti; "how then can having to return to Salzburg. But how
I aid you?" A POSTHUMOUS OPERA BY MOZART. could he avoid the sad necessity? Leopold
"That is the doctor's affair. He has Mozart, his father, attached great value to
sworn by all the gods that if I am provident, the .Archbishop's four hundred florins, and
in a month?six weeks at the farthest?I will In a former number of our paper* says the dreaded his son's being exposed to the vicis
be able to distinguish a tree from a steeple !" editorfof the Berlin Echo, we tojd our-read situdes of life. He feared, too, that the fact
' He has not promised too much,'' thought ers that Mozart's unfinished posthumous of Wolfgang's breaking with his master
Donizetti, "there are no trees in Venice; or comic opera, " Die Gans von Cairo " (" The might endanger the situation which he hin>
if there are, ma foi /".... Goose of Cairo "), had been produced at the self, Leopold, held at the Couit of Salzburg.
"Well," oontinued Mercadante, "I had Theatre des Fantaisies P<irisiennes,. where it Under these circumstances, Mozart's perma
bound myself to deliver to the Impresario of met with a very' favorable reception. Ac nent stay in Vienna became an exceedingly
the Fenice, an opera for the season. There are cording to the Paris papers it has been very difficult problem. But the Archbishop's
only forty days left, and I have not written a skillfully remodelled; that is to say, the plot brutality succeeded in solving it. Most pro
single measure. He now threatens to prose has been condensed into two acts by M. Vic foundly wounded in his dignity as a man and
cute me for damages. That would cost me tor Wilder, and the omissions in the soore an artist, Mozart listened only to the voice
my eyes." have been filled up in the proper spirit of of his just indignation. He bade farewell to
"Such as they are at this moment," veneration for the composer. M. Wilder, to the choleric Archbishop, and knocked at the
thought Donizetti, "they would not be whom the notion and successful realization hospitable door of his friend 0. Weber,
dear." " Well 1 what do you think of of the performance are due, gives the follow whose daughter he was afterwards to marry.
doing ?" added he aloud to his friend. ing details of the history of the opera from He was now settled in Vienna. After he had
"You have not guessed? Alas! alas! its commencement, and of his arrangement provided for his livelihood by lessons and
he has not guessed !?That you shall substi of it for the stage:-r-" The Goose of Cairo " concert-speoulations, he turned his attention
tute yourself for me in the engagement; that is not, as might be supposed, says M. Wilder, principally to the stage. He first thought
you shall write the opera that I have prom one of Mozart's youthful productions; on the of the national theatre. This was natural, as
ised to give to the director of the Teatro contrary, it dates from the most fertile and there were neither rivals nor any other serious
Fenice. There is no one in the world but brilliant period of his career, the period obstacles in the way; besides, he could refer
you that can do it in so short a time. You which witnessed the birth of "Figaro's to the success of his previous work ("Die
go like the post I"- I Hochzeit," "Don Juan," and " Die Zauber Entf?hrung'1). It appear? from his corres
" Willingly, my dear friend, if the Impre fl?te." Written in the year 1783, the place pondence, that he had in his possession for
sario will agree to that substitution, which I of this opera is between " Die Entf?hrung some time a piece entitled "Rudolph v?n
doubt." aus dem Serail" (1782) and " Figaro's Hoch HapBburg." He proposed, also, getting some
" Flatter I he will be enchanted." zeit" (1786). Mozart, who unfortunately one to translate a comedy of Goldoni's, " II
"Flatter yourself! Have you the lib was doome<J to die at tne age* of thirty-five, Servitore di due Patroni," but the German
retto?" was then. about twenty-eight. In addition theatre was at its last gasp, and the Emperor
" I have only that ready." to a large number of symphonies, sonatas, had already condemned it to death. There
"By whom is it ?" &c, he had already written a dozen operas, was, therefore, nothing but the Italian
"ByRomani." among which were "Idomeneo" and "Die theatre left.
"That is already a great inducement. Entf?hrung." It will no doubt interest the Mozart's most ardent wish was to write an
Well, if the libretto suite me, it is an ar reader to learn under what circumstances opera buff a. Despite his German descent,
ranged affair. What is the title ?" Mozart composed "The Goose of, Cairo,'! his taste drew him to Italian art, for we must
"Luorezia Borgia!" and I may therefore be allowed to describe not forget that, though as the composer of
"Misericorde/ That of Victor Hugo? them. I will do so in the form of a notice "Die Entf?hrung" and "DieZauberfl?te,"
Where is this poem ?" intended to be placed at the head of the he is the real founder of the German musical
"Here it is; I had it under my hand, score. After twice travelling through c drama, we behold in him more especially the
ready to give it to you, so sure was I that you large portion of Europe, Mozart settled al impersonification and last representative of
would not refuse me." Salzburg. The Archbishop had attached him the great school of men like Pergolese,
"Thank you. I will read it over, and to his person with a salary of 400 florins. Ir Paesiello and Cimarosa. Unfortunately, he
write you to-morrow." this small provincial town, where the greai had many obstacles to overcome in order to
" Do not write, I cannot read; and no one artist was exposed to the abuse and insultf attain his end. The great thing to be first
can read to me, for all light is forbidden, I of his master, who treated him worse thai done was to overcome the prejudice enter
have already told you." the meanest of his servants, Mozart felt his tained by Joseph II., who did not admire
" I will bring you the answer myself. So genius was being suffocated. It was, there Mozart's dramatic talent very highly, and
until to-morrow, and think only of keeping fore with childlike did not care much for "Die Entf?hrung."
quiet and getting well." command to followjoyhis
that he received
master th<
to Vienna The next thing was to conquer the intrigues
" Until to-morrow. I will endeavor to do which place he reached in March, 1781. of Salieri, who was greatly respected in
my best." Vienna was then .the true home of art Vienna, and enjoyed the especial favors of
The next morning Donizetti returned and Joseph II., who was passionately fond o: the Emperor. Finally, it was necessary to
' expressed himself enchanted with BomanTs music, had collected in his capital an Italiai obtain a book. Being exceedingly anxious
libretto. operatic company which was unrivalled about the tetter, Mo^tr ^o^

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