DONIZETTI, DOMENICO GAETANO MARIA

(1797-1848)

   An Italian opera composer who suffered from neurosyphilis, and died in a state of * psychosis or 'general paralysis'. On the basis of a careful reconstruction of Donizetti's medical history, which includes recurrent fevers, severe headaches, convulsions, gastrointestinal problems, formal thought disorders, and delusions, it has been suggested that the composer's musical and lyrical creativity may have been influenced by his brain disease. In particular, the portrayal of the hallucinatory state of the historical Anne Boleyn (1501 or 1507-1536), second wife of King Henry VIII of England, which features prominently in Donizetti's opera Anna Bolena, has led historians to believe that Donizetti himselfalso suffered from hallucinations.

   References

   Peschel, E., Peschel, R. (1992). Donizetti and the music of mental derangement: Anna Bolena, Lucia di Lammermoor, and the composer's neurobiological illness. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 65, 189-200.