Editing Gaetano Donizetti (section)

====Success in Rome====
After these minor compositions under the commission of Paolo Zancla, Donizetti retreated to Bergamo once again to examine how he could make his career move along. From the point of view of Donizetti's evolving style, Ashbrook states that, in order to please the opera-going public in the first quarter of the 19th century, it was necessary to cater to their tastes, to make a major impression at the first performance (otherwise there would be no others), and to emulate the preferred musical style of the day, that of [[Rossini]] whose music "was the public's yardstick when they were assessing new scores".<ref name=ASH1819/>

[[File:Donizetti-young.jpg|thumb|upright|Donizetti as a young man]]
[[File:Jacopo Ferretti.jpg|thumb|upright|Jacopo Ferretti, Italian librettist and poet, 1784–1852]]

Remaining in Bergamo until October 1821, the composer busied himself with a variety of instrumental and choral pieces, but during that year, he had been in negotiation with Giovanni Paterni, [[intendant]] of the [[Teatro Argentina]] in Rome, and by 17 June had received a contract to compose another opera from a libretto being prepared by Merelli. It is unclear as to how this connection came about: whether it had been at Merelli's suggestion or whether, as William Ashbrook speculates, it had been Mayr who had initially been approached by Paterni to write the opera but who, due to advancing age, had recommended his prize pupil.{{sfn|Ashbrook|1982|pp=20–21}} This new ''opera seria'' became Donizetti's ''[[Zoraida di Granata]]'', his ninth work. The libretto had been started by August and, between then and 1 October, when Donizetti was provided with a letter of introduction from Mayr to [[Jacopo Ferretti]], the Roman poet and librettist who was later to feature in the young composer's career, much of the music had been composed.{{sfn|Weinstock|1963|pp=24–25}}

The twenty-four-year-old composer arrived in Rome on 21 October, but plans for staging the opera were plagued with a major problem: the tenor cast in the major role died a few days before the opening night on 28 January 1822 and the role had to be re-written for a ''musico'', a mezzo-soprano singing a male role, a not uncommon feature of the era and of Rossini's operas. Opening night was a triumph for Donizetti; as reported in the weekly ''Notizie del giorno'':

{{bquote|A new and very happy hope is rising for the Italian musical theatre. The young Maestro Gaetano Donizetti...has launched himself strongly in his truly serious opera, ''Zoraida''. Unanimous, sincere, universal was the applause he justly collected from the capacity audience....<ref name="Osborne 146">In {{harvnb|Osborne|1994}}</ref>}}