Giuseppe Donizetti

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Giuseppe Donizetti (1788-1856) was an Italian composer. Born in Bergamo, Italy, on 6th November 1788, his younger brother was the opera composer Gaetano Donizetti. Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha, as he was called in the Levant, played a significant role in the introduction of European music to the Ottoman military. From 1828, he was the Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839). 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, and is believed to have composed the first national anthem of the Ottoman Empire. He supported the annual Italian opera season in Pera, 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, Parish Alvars, and Leopold de Meyer. Istanbul became a second home for Donizetti, and he lived there until his death on 12th February 1856. He is buried in the vaults of the St Esprit Cathedral, near the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, in Pera. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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