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Donizetti was not especially successful as a choirboy, but in 1806 he was one of the first pupils to be enrolled at the Lezioni Caritatevoli school, founded by Mayr, in Bergamo through a full scholarship.

He received detailed training in the arts of fugue and counterpoint, and it was here that he launched his operatic career.

After some minor compositions under the commission of Paolo Zancla, Donizetti wrote his ninth opera, Zoraida di Granata.

This work impressed Domenico Barbaia, a prominent theatre manager, and Donizetti was offered a contract to compose in Naples.

Writing in Rome and Milan in addition to Naples, Donizetti achieved some popular success in the 1820s ( although critics were often unimpressed ), but was not well known internationally until 1830, when his Anna Bolena was premiered in Milan.

He almost instantly became famous throughout Europe.

L ' elisir d ' amore, a comedy produced in 1832, came soon after, and is deemed one of the masterpieces of 19th-century opera buffa ( as is his Don Pasquale, written for Paris in 1843 ).

Shortly after L ' elisir d ' amore, Donizetti composed Lucia di Lammermoor, based on the Sir Walter Scott novel The Bride of Lammermoor.

It became his most famous opera, and one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, reaching stature similar to Bellini's Norma.