Born Today! 29.11.2024

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 during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione, which may never have been performed during his lifetime. An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to Naples and his residency there until production of Caterina Cornaro in January 1844. In all, 51 of Donizetti's operas were presented in Naples. Before 1830, success came primarily with his comic operas, the serious ones failing to attract significant audiences. His first notable success came with an opera seria, Zoraida di Granata, which was presented in 1822 in Rome. In 1830, when Anna Bolena was first performed, Donizetti made a major impact on the Italian and international opera scene shifting the balance of success away from primarily comedic operas, although even after that date, his best-known works included comedies such as L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843). Significant historical dramas did succeed; they included Lucia di Lammermoor (the first to have a libretto written by Salvadore Cammarano) given in Naples in 1835, and one of the most successful Neapolitan operas, Roberto Devereux in 1837. Up to that point, all of his operas had been set to Italian libretti. Donizetti found himself increasingly chafing against the censorship limitations in Italy (and especially in Naples). From about 1836, he became interested in working in Paris, where he saw greater freedom to choose subject matter, in addition to receiving larger fees and greater prestige. From 1838, beginning with an offer from the Paris Opéra for two new works, he spent much of the following 10 years in that city, and set several operas to French texts as well as overseeing staging of his Italian works. The first opera was a French version of the then-unperformed Poliuto which, in April 1840, was revised to become Les martyrs. Two new operas were also given in Paris at that time. Throughout the 1840s Donizetti moved between Naples, Rome, Paris, and Vienna, continuing to compose and stage his own operas as well as those of other composers. From around 1843, severe illness began to limit his activities. By early 1846 he was obliged to be confined to an institution for the mentally ill and, by late 1847, friends had him moved back to Bergamo, where he died in April 1848 in a state of mental derangement due to neurosyphilis.

Abramo Basevi (December 1818 – November 1885) was an Italian musicologist and composer. Basevi was born in Livorno. He began as a physician in Florence (1858) but then devoted himself exclusively to music. His first attempts as a composer failed but in time he composed operas (Romilda ed Ezzelino 1840; and Enrico Howard, 1847) and other music. Basevi was editor of the musical journal L'Armonia. He founded the Beethoven Matinées (1859), which developed into the Società del Quartetto, a source of influence upon the musical life of Florence and Italy in general. Basevi offered an annual prize in this connection for the best string quartet. In 1863 Basevi founded the Concerti Popolari di Musica Classica. He was a frequent contributor to musical periodicals, and was the author of Studio sulle Opere di G. Verdi (1859), Introduzione ad un Nuovo Sistema d'Armonia (1862), and Compendio della Storia della Musica (1866). He died in Florence.

Alfred Stelzner (29 November 1852 – 9 July 1906) was a German composer and luthier. Stelzner was born in the Free City of Hamburg, and educated in music, physics and mathematics. He produced string instruments of his own design in Wiesbaden and then in Dresden. Two instruments of his invention were the violotta and the cellone. The violotta is tuned an octave below the violin, and possesses a timbre between that of the viola and cello. The cellone, a large cello, is tuned between the cello and string bass. His instruments received praise and endorsements from major figures of the day, including impresario Alfred Schulz-Curtius, and the German composer Felix Draeseke composed his string quintet in A major, named the Stelzner Quintett, specifically for Stelzner instruments. Stelzner began production of his new instruments in 1889 and continued to make them until 1900. He vigorously promoted his instruments through advertising and obtained endorsements from many famous musicians of the day, including Joseph Joachim, Eugène Ysaÿe, David Popper, and August Wilhelmj. In addition, he helped sponsor competitions in various categories such as symphonies, opera and chamber music. His own works included the operas Rübezahl (1902) and Swatowits Ende (1903), as well as the never performed Kinder des Todes and Cäcilie. Stelzner's company eventually failed and entered bankruptcy. Faced with overwhelming financial difficulties, Stelzner committed suicide at his home in Dresden in 1906.

Spyridon-Filiskos Samaras (also Spyros, Spiro Samára; Greek: Σπυρίδων Σαμάρας) (29 November [O.S. 17 November] 1861 – 7 April [O.S. 25 March] 1917) was a Greek composer particularly admired for his operas who was part of the generation of composers that heralded the works of Giacomo Puccini. His compositions were praised worldwide during his lifetime and he is arguably the most important composer of the Ionian School. He also composed the Olympic Hymn, for which lyrics were written by National Poet Kostis Palamas. Among his works are the operas Flora mirabilis (1886) and Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (1905).

Friedrich Klose (born 29 November 1862 in Karlsruhe, Margraviate of Baden-Durlach; died 24 December 1942 in Ruvigliana, Switzerland) was a German composer. He studied with Vinzenz Lachner in Karlsruhe, and then with Anton Bruckner in Vienna, and recorded his impressions of his time with Bruckner in a book. His Mass in d-minor was written in response to Franz Liszt's death. His opera Ilsebill (1903) is inspired by the music of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, and the plot is based on the Brothers Grimm tale of a fisherman who catches a huge fish which grants ever increasingly more greedy wishes and this is reflected in the increasing complexity of orchestration during the opera. It was premiered in 1903 in Karlsruhe under the direction of Felix Mottl. He ended his career as a composer and a teacher in 1919 and retired to Switzerland.

Waldemar Edler von Baußnern (also Baussnern or Bausznern; 29 November 1866 – 20 August 1931) was a German composer and music teacher.

Lodovico Rocca (29 November 1895, Turin – 24 June 1986, Turin) was an Italian composer. A pupil of Giacomo Orefice, his operas, written in late verismo style, met with some success in Italy but have been little performed elsewhere. They include; Morte di Frine, In Terra di Leggenda, Il Dibuk, his most successful work, Monte Ivnòr, and L'Uragano. He was director of the Turin Conservatory from 1940 until 1966.

Mario Braggiotti (November 29, 1905 – May 18, 1996) was a United States pianist, composer and raconteur. His career was launched by George Gershwin, who became his friend and mentor.

Valentino Bucchi (29 November 1916 – 8 May 1976) was an Italian composer.