On April 8, Gaetano Donizetti--who together with Rossini and Bellini formed the brilliant triumvirate of Italian composers in the first half of the Nineteenth Century--died in his native town of Bergamo. Donizetti composed his first opera, "Enrico di Borgogna," in 1819, while serving as a soldier in Venice. Three other operas followed quickly. His fourth, "Zoraide di Granada," was such a success that he was exempted from further military service in 1822. During the following six years he wrote no less than twenty-three operas, many of which were cheap imitations of Rossini. In 1880, stung by the success of Bellini, he wrote "Anna Bolena," which inaugurated his second more original period, which included "Lucrecia Borgia" and the immensely popular "Lucia di Lammermoor." The prohibition of his opera "Poliecto," while he was serving as a director of the Naples Conservatory, so exasperated Donizetti that he betook himself to Paris in 1838. There he brought out the "Daughter of the Regiment" and "La Favorita." After a few years he went to Vienna, where his "Linda di Chamounix," sung in 1842, achieved an immense success. Having returned to Italy he was stricken with paralysis from overwork in 1845. He never recovered. Besides more than threescore of operas, Donizetti composed seven masses, twelve string quartets, and a host of songs, cantatas and vespers, as well as pianoforte music. [Sidenote: Death of Chateaubriand] [Sidenote: New world inspirations] [Sidenote: "Essay on Revolutions"] [Sidenote: "Atala"] [Sidenote: "Rene"] [Sidenote: "Genius of Christianity"] [Sidenote: "The Last of the Abencerrages"] [Sidenote: "The monarchy under the Charter"] [Sidenote: The poet's political career]