Editing Gaetano Donizetti (section)

==Early life and musical education in Bergamo and Bologna==
[[File:Donizetti as a schoolboy in Bergamo.jpg|thumb|upright|Donizetti as a schoolboy in Bergamo]]
The youngest of three sons, Donizetti was born in 1797 in the [[Donizetti's birthplace|Borgo Canale quarter]] of [[Bergamo]], located just outside the city walls. His family was very poor and had no tradition of music, his father Andrea being the caretaker of the town pawnshop. Simone Mayr, a German composer of internationally successful operas, had become ''[[Kapellmeister|maestro di cappella]]'' at [[Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo|Bergamo's principal church]] in 1802. He founded the Lezioni Caritatevoli school in Bergamo (now the [[Bergamo Conservatory|Conservatorio Gaetano Donizetti]]) in 1805 for the purpose of providing musical training, including classes in literature, beyond what choirboys ordinarily received up until the time that their voices broke. In 1807, Andrea Donizetti attempted to enroll both his sons, but the elder, Giuseppe (then 18), was considered too old. Gaetano (then 9) was accepted.{{sfn|Weinstock|1963|pp=5–6}}

[[File:Mayr, Simon - Italian composer.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Johann Simone Mayr, {{circa|1810}}]]
While not especially successful as a choirboy during the first three trial months of 1807 (there being some concern about a ''difetto di gola'', a throat defect), Mayr was soon reporting that Gaetano "surpasses all the others in musical progress"<ref>Mayr to the school administrators, in {{harvnb|Weinstock|1963|p=6}}</ref> and he was able to persuade the authorities that the young boy's talents were worthy of keeping him in the school. He remained there for nine years, until 1815.

However, as Donizetti scholar [[William Ashbrook]] notes, in 1809 he was threatened with having to leave because his voice was changing. In 1810 he applied for and was accepted by the local art school, the Academia Carrara, but it is not known whether he attended classes. Then, in 1811, Mayr once again intervened. Having written both libretto and music for a "pasticcio-farsa", ''Il piccolo compositore di musica'', as the final concert of the academic year, Mayr cast five young students, among them his young pupil Donizetti as "the little composer". As Ashbrook states, this "was nothing less than Mayr's argument that Donizetti be allowed to continue his musical studies".<ref name=ASH1982>{{harvnb|Ashbrook|1982|pp=8–9}}</ref>

[[File:Donizetti as a young man.jpg|thumb|upright|Donizetti as a schoolboy]]

The piece was performed on 13 September 1811 and included the composer character stating the following:

{{quote|Ah, by Bacchus, with this aria / I'll have universal applause. / They'll say to me, "Bravo, Maestro! / I, with a sufficiently modest air, / Will go around with my head bent... / I'll have eulogies in the newspaper / I know how to make myself immortal.<ref name=WEIN>Lines from Mayr's libretto, as spoken by Donizetti in 1811, quoted in {{harvnb|Weinstock|1963|p=8}}.</ref>}}

In reply to the chiding which comes from the other four characters in the piece after the "little composer" 's boasts, in the drama the "composer" responds with:

{{quote|I have a vast mind, swift talent, ready fantasy—and I'm a thunderbolt at composing.<ref name=WEIN />}}

The performance also included a waltz which Donizetti played and for which he received credit in the libretto.{{sfn|Ashbrook|1982|p=9}} In singing this piece, all five young men were given opportunities to show off their musical knowledge and talent.

The following two years were somewhat precarious for the young Donizetti: the 16-year-old created quite a reputation for what he did do—which is regularly to fail to attend classes—and also for what he did instead, which was to make something of a spectacle of himself in the town.<ref name=ASH9-11>{{harvnb|Ashbrook|1982|pp=9ff}}</ref>

However, in spite of all this, Mayr not only persuaded Gaetano's parents to allow him to continue studies, but also secured funding from the Congregazione di Carità in Bergamo for two years of scholarships. In addition, he provided the young musician with letters of recommendation to both the publisher [[Giovanni Ricordi]] as well as to the Marchese Francesco Sampieri in Bologna (who would find him suitable lodging) and where, at the Liceo Musicale, he was given the opportunity to study musical structure under the Padre [[Stanislao Mattei]].<ref name=ASH9-11 />

In Bologna, he would justify the faith which Mayr had placed in him. Author John Stewart Allitt describes his 1816 "initial exercises in operatic style",<ref name=ALL9>{{harvnb|Allitt|1991|pp=9–11}}</ref> the opera ''Il pigmalione'', as well as his composition of portions of ''Olympiade'' and ''L'ira d'Achille'' in 1817, as no more than "suggest[ing] the work of a student".<ref name="ALL9"/> Encouraged by Mayr to return to Bergamo in 1817, he began his "quartet years" as well as composing piano pieces and, most likely, being a performing member of quartets where he would have also heard music of other composers.<ref name=ALL9/> In addition, he began seeking employment.