Began in October 1835 to commemorate the death of Donizetti's friend and rival Vincenzo Bellini in Naples, the work was left unfinished. It was published in 1870 by Lucca in a vocal with organ arrangement. The first known performance took place the same year in Donizetti's native Bergamo, in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, under Alessandro Nini. It was repeated in 1875 on the occasion of the translation of the remains of Donizetti and his teacher Simon Mayr to Santa Maria Maggiore; then on the centenary of Donizetti's birth and death. The manuscript is preserved in the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella. In 1974 Vilmos Leskó prepared a new Ricordi edition of the Requiem, and since then it came to be regarded as one of the most important non-operatic compositions by Donizetti. It could also influence Giuseppe Verdi in his own Requiem, if he was acquainted with it. The Requiem for Bellini is one of four Requiem settings by Donizetti, but the only one to survive to the present day. Among the others were a Requiem for Niccolò Zingarelli and a Requiem for . Donizetti's Requiem was performed at the Piazzale del Cimitero monumentale in Bergamo on 28 June 2020, to commemorate the victims of the coronavirus pandemic.
Orchestration
Soloists: soprano, alto, tenor, 2 basses
Chorus: SATB
Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings, organ
Structure
For his setting Donizetti used the traditional Latin Requiem text. The opening Requiem aeternam section is preceded by an orchestral introduction, of which the orchestration is lost. A gradual follows. While Donizetti completed the Sequentia and Offertorium, there is no trace of Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, which are thought to be never composed. The work concludes with the Lux aeterna and Libera me.
I. Introduzione . Requiem aeternam — Te decet — Requiem aeternam — Kyrie
II. Graduale. Requiem aeternam — In memoria aeterna
III. Sequentia. Dies irae — Tuba mirum — Judex ergo — Rex tremendae — Ingemisco — Praeces meae — Confutatis — Oro supplex — Lacrymosa
IV. Offertorium. Domine Jesu Christe
V. Communio. Lux aeterna
VI. Responsorium. Libera me — Tremens factus — Quando coeli — Dies irae and Dum veneris — Requiem aeternam — Libera me — Kyrie
Editions
Gaetano Donizetti. Messa di requiem: composed in memory of Vincenzo Bellini. Published under the auspices of the Donizetti Society, London, by Egret House, 1974
Gaetano Donizetti. Messa di Requiem for Soprano, Contralto, Tenor, 2 Bass Soloists, Four-part mixed Chorus and Orchestra. Latin & English texts. Piano-Vocal score, Edited by Vilmos Leskó. Milano: Casa Ricordi, 1997
