The Bergamo chorister who grew up to be a celebrated tenor famous around the world

Giovanni Battista Rubini was born
 in Romano di Lombardia in 1794

Giovanni Battista Rubini, born on this day in 1794 in Romano di Lombardia in Bergamo province, grew up to be an international star in opera, a tenor as famous in his day as Enrico Caruso would be almost a century later.

Blessed with an exceptionally high yet beautifully lyrical voice, his popularity ended the dominance of the castrati in the leading male roles in opera and he is credited with launching the era of the bel canto tenor. 

He formed close partnerships with Vincenzo Bellini and Bergamo's own Gaetano Donizetti, his popularity boosting their standing among composers of the day.

At the peak of his fame, Rubini alternated between Paris and London, singing at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris and His Majesty’s Theatre in the Haymarket, London.  He toured Germany and Holland with Franz Liszt in 1843 and in the same year performed in St. Petersburg, Russia, where Czar Nicholas I appointed him Director of Singing and made him Colonel of the Imperial Music. 

Precociously talented, Rubini was just 12 when he was taken on as a violinist and chorister at the Riccardi Theatre in Bergamo. He was 20 when he made his professional debut in Pietro Generali’s Le lagrime d’una vedova at Pavia in 1814, then sang for 10 years in Naples.  

In 1825 he sang the leading roles in Gioacchino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Otello, and La donna del Lago in Paris and was soon regarded as the leading tenor of his day. 

Teatro Donizetti is built on the site of Teatro Riccardi,
where Rubini was a violinist and chorister as a boy

Bellini wrote many operas specifically with Rubini's voice in mind, giving him the tenor leads in Il pirata, La sonnambula and I Puritani, in which he starred alongside the soprano Giulia Grisi, the baritone Antonio Tamburini and the bass Luigi Lablache, who collectively became known as the “Puritani quartet.”

The four also appeared together in Donizetti's Marino Faliero during the same season. Rubini premiered Donizetti's La lettera anonima, Evida, Il giovedì grasso, Gianni di Calais, Il paria and Anna Bolena. 

In 1845 he retired to Romano di Lombardia and bought a palazzo there, which became a museum after he died in 1854, a month short of his 60th birthday.

Teatro Riccardi stood on the site of Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo's Città Bassa.  Opened in 1791, it was destroyed in a fire in 1797 and reopened in 1800.  It was renamed Teatro Gaetano Donizetti, now commonly shortened to Teatro Donizetti, in 1897, the centenary of the composer's birth. 

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Enjoy musical memories in tranquil Via Arena in Bergamo

Quiet Via Arena in Bergamo

One of the most beautiful and characteristic streets in the Città Alta (upper town) is the peaceful Via Arena.

The narrow cobbled street lined with old houses with ornate portals and fresco decorated walls runs from Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore up to the west end of the Città Alta and the Seminario Vescovile. It can be accessed by leaving the church of Santa Maria Maggiore at the south entrance.

On the left side is the high wall encircling the Santa Grata convent with an ornate church entrance. Opposite is the Palazzo della Misericordia Maggiore, which houses a musical institute and the Donizetti museum.

The palazzo, at Number 9 Via Arena, was originally built in the 15th century but was extended and refurbished in the 17th century to become the largest baroque building in Bergamo .

The museum dedicated to Gaetano Donizetti has a unique and fascinating collection of furniture, paintings, books and musical scores.

Donizetti, who was born and died in Bergamo, composed about 70 highly regarded operas in 30 years, making him one of the leading composers of opera in the early part of the 19th century and a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other Italian composers who came after him.

Donizetti museum entrance in Via Arena

Visitors are able to see Donizetti’s furniture, including the bed he died in and the chair he used to sit in towards the end of his life when he was living in Palazzo Scotti in Bergamo ’s Città Alta as the guest of a wealthy family. There are also the composer’s piano, portraits, original scores from his operas and his letters on view in display cases as well as a library of books and documents.

To add to the atmosphere as you look round the museum, you will hear occasional snatches of music played by students using the practice rooms of the musical institute, which is also housed in the palace.

The origins of the musical institute go back to the charitable lessons in music provided for orphans early in the 19th century by Simone Mayr, music master at Santa Maria Maggiore, under who Donizetti himself at one time studied

The Donizetti Museum in Via Arena is open from Tuesday to Friday from 9.30 to 13.00 and on Saturday and Sunday from 9.30 to 13.00 and from 14.00 to 17.30. Closed Mondays.

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Anniversary of Donizetti’s death in Bergamo

The Donizetti monument

Today is the 163rd anniversary of the death of composer Gaetano Donizetti in Bergamo.

Donizetti returned to his native city after a brilliant career to spend his last days in the Palazzo Scotti in the Città Alta (upper town).

By then seriously ill, he was looked after by friends in the gracious surroundings of the palazzo, situated in what is now called Via Donizetti.

He died on 8 April 1848 and his tomb is in the nearby Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, where it is marked by a white marble monument.

Donizetti has since become acknowledged as the greatest composer of lyrical opera of all time. He was a major influence on Verdi, Puccini and other composers who came after him.

Nowadays his achievements can be studied at the Museo Donizettiano in Via Arena, where there are many interesting letters, documents and original scores on display.

Opera lovers will be fascinated by the bed he died in and the chair he sat in while staying in Palazzo Scotti towards the end of his life.

His most famous operas are considered to be Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale and L’Elisir d’Amore.

His birthplace in Borgo Canale, just outside the Città Alta, is also open to the public at the weekends.

In Via Sentierone in the Città Bassa (lower town), there is an elaborate white marble monument to the composer next to Teatro Donizetti, which was renamed in his honour in 1897 on the centenary of his birth.

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Bergamo Jazz 2011

The elegant Teatro Donizetti

Bergamo hosts its 33rd annual jazz festival later this month with a series of events at the Teatro Donizetti and throughout the city.
Bergamo Jazz 2011, under the artistic direction of Paolo Fresu, will feature a host of internationally acclaimed musicians in concert, as well as films and educational events for jazz enthusiasts.
The former church of Mary Magdalene and the Teatro Sociale will be used as venues and there will be three evenings dedicated to jazz in the elegant setting of Teatro Donizetti in Via Sentierone in the Città Bassa (lower town) between March 18 and 20.
The Teatro Donizetti was built near the end of the 18th century but was remodelled at the end of the 19th century and renamed in honour of composer Gaetano Donizetti, who was born in Bergamo in 1797. After a brilliant career during which he composed some of the greatest lyrical operas of all time, Donizetti returned to spend his last days in his native city. His tomb is in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore in the Città Alta (upper town).
Although Teatro Donizetti is an internationally acclaimed opera house it now also stages symphony concerts, dance, jazz and the annual Brescia and Bergamo piano festival.
For more information or to book tickets online, visit teatro.gaetano-donizetti.com

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