As a very young child of a poor family, Dominico Gaetano Maria Donizetti lived in a windowless cellar. But as a grown man, he dominated the Italian opera scene in the period between Bellini’s death (1835) and Verdi’s rise to fame after the success of Nabucco (1842). Donizetti succeeded with oper... More informationas of a wide range of genres. His comedies for example included L’ajo nell'umbarazzo, [The Embarrassed Tutor] (1824), Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali [Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage] (an initial version was produced in 1827, a much expanded final version in 1831), and Il giovedi grasso [Maundy Thursday]. He also composed the heroic neoclassical drama L’esule di Roma [The Exile from Rome] (1828) and the romantic melodrama Il paria [The outcast] (1829). During the period of his dominance of the operatic stage his works include: Maria Stuarda [Mary Stuart] (1835); Lucia di Lammermoor (1835); and La fille du regiment [The Daughter of the Regiment] (1840). His final work, integrating ballet, was the comic opera Don Pasquale (1843), first produced at the Théâtre-Italien at the Salle Ventadour, in Paris. Less information