CHECK SHELVES

Libretto, Italian/English. "I hoped my terror would cut short my life, but death does not come to help me, I keep on living in my misery! The veil has fallen from my eyes, Heaven and earth have betrayed me! I would weep but I cannot, even weeping forsakes me." [122-123]

Gaetano Donizetti's parents were undistinguished and desperately poor. His older brother became bandmaster for the sultan of Turkey. A second was mentally defective. Gaetano was one of the most gifted musicians ever produced by Italy.