Giuseppe Donizetti (6 November 1788 – 12 February 1856), also known as Donizetti

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...

, was an Italian musician. From 1828 he was Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

(1808–39). His younger brother was the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

composer

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

. He studied music first with his uncle, Carini Donizetti, and, later, he was a pupil of Simone Mayr. After enlisting in Napoleon's army (1808), he served there as band leader. He took part in the campaigns against Austria and in Spain, and followed Napoleon to Elba. He was present at the Battle of Waterloo. After the fall of Napoleon, he continued his career as a bandmaster in the Savoy army. Donizetti Pasha as he was called in the Ottoman Empire, played a significant role in the introduction of European music to the

Ottoman military The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

. Apart from overseeing the training of the European-style military bands of Mahmud's modern army, he taught music at the palace to the members of the Ottoman royal family, the princes and the ladies of the harem, is believed to have composed the first national anthem of the Ottoman Empire, supported the annual

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ...

season in

Pera Pera may refer to: Places * Pera (Beyoğlu), a district in Istanbul formerly called Pera, now called Beyoğlu ** Galata, a neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, often referred to as Pera in the past * Pêra (Caparica), a Portuguese locality in the district of ...

, organised concerts and operatic performances at court, and played host to a number of eminent virtuosi who visited Istanbul at the time, such as

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, Parish Alvars and Leopold de Meyer. Although the elder Donizetti was born in

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, İstanbul became a second home for him, and he lived there until his death in 1856. He is buried in the vaults of the St. Esprit Cathedral, near the

Beyoğlu Beyoğlu (, ota, بك‌اوغلی, script=Arab) is a district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn. It was known as the region of Pera (Πέρα, meani ...

district of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, in Pera.

Emre Araci Emre * Emre Altuğ (born 1970), Turkish musician * * Emre Aracı (born 1968), Turkish music historian, conductor, composer * Emre Aydın (born 1981), Turkish rock singer * Emre Aşık (born 1973), Turkish footballer * Emre Zafer Barnes (born ...

published a comprehensive biography of Giuseppe Donizetti in Turkish in 2007.''Osmanli Sarayi'nin Italyan Maestrosu''
YKY Istanbul, 2007 The volume ''Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha: Musical and Historical Trajectories between Italy and Turkey'', edited by Federico Spinetti, was published in English and Italian by the Fondazione Donizetti in 2010.

References

Sources

* Ashbrook, William (1982), ''Donizetti and his Operas'', Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
The Musical Times: A Levantine life: Giuseppe Donizetti at the Ottoman court
* ''Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha: Musical and Historical Trajectories between Italy and Turkey / Giuseppe Donizetti Pascià: Traiettorie musicali e storiche tra Italia e Turchia.'' Edited by Federico Spinetti . Bergamo, Fondazione Donizetti, 2010. * Maurizio Costanza, ''La Mezzaluna sul filo - La riforma ottomana di Mahmud II'', Marcianumpress, Venezia 2010. *Weinstock, Herbert (1963), ''Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century'', New York: Random House. 1856 deaths 19th-century Italian musicians Musicians from the Ottoman Empire Italian Levantines Pashas 1788 births 19th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-music-bio-stub