The Donizetti Foundation in Bergamo and Casa Ricordi together for the Critic Edition of the Operas by Gaetano Donizetti

The Donizetti Foundation in Bergamo and Casa Ricordi have recently renewed the agreement for the critic edition of the operas by Gaetano Donizetti. 

The collaboration between Casa Ricordi and the City of Bergamo, then the Donizetti Foundation, dates back to 1994, when the two parties decided to undertake what seemed to be an impossible task at that time:  put together all the works by Donizetti and give them back to modern performers in a reliable edition.  The difficulty of this task was given by the extraordinary number of operas written by Gaetano Donizetti, by the variety of versions that historically realized and by the research complexity, with sources often spread throughout many different countries.

In thirteen years of work, the Donizetti Foundation and Casa Ricordi has rediscovered works of extraordinary artistic quality, such as Dom Sebastien, Pia de’ Tolomei, Maria di Rohan, and did justice to one of the greatest operas of all times,  Lucia di Lammermoor.

The figure of Gaetano Donizetti, thanks to this work, has acquired an somewhat unexpected importance:  the Bergamo born composer was definitely the most important opera composer of the period between Rossini and Verdi, characterized by a strong international profile, a very high level of writing quality and a marked tendency for innovation and experimentation, with a modernity that is still fascinating.  There are two new titles in the collection: Betly eand La fille du regiment.