Significant events during the lifetime of Donizetti
1797
Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI debuts in Prague. Gaetano Donizetti is born November 29th in
Bergamo, Italy.
1798
Napoleon invades Egypt.
1803
President Jefferson and others support an investment of $15 million for the Louisiana
Territory, which Napoleon is willing to sell for cash for his war efforts.
1804
Lewis and Clark begin expedition of western exploration. Napoleon crowns himself emperor.
1807
The U.S. Congress passes a law that bans the importation of slaves into the US, largely
ignored in southern states.
1812
U.S. Congress declares war against Britain.
1815
Inactive for thousands of years, Indonesia’s Mount Tamobra begins a week of eruptions in
April. Its debris in the stratosphere reduces sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere causing
crops to fail and livestock to die, creating the worst of 19th century famines.
1816
Because of the Tambora eruption, 1816 will be known as “the year without a summer.”
Amid the gloom in Britain, Mary Shelley writes Frankenstein.
1820
The U.S. has become the world's biggest producer of raw cotton.
1821 A treaty is signed between the United States and the declining power of Spain, and U.S. buys
Florida for 5 million dollars.
1823
Steam powered shipping begins between Switzerland and France on Lake Geneva.
1827
In Vienna, Austria, over 10,000 mourners attend the burial of Beethoven.
1828
Donizetti marries Virginia Vasselli, who he met in Rome.
1829
Scotch tape is invented.
1830
Donizeti’s ANNA BOLENA premiered. The first U.S. railway station opens in Baltimore.
1834 Britain's Abolition Slavery Act goes into effect.
1838
Cherokee Indians are forced on what will become known as the “Trail of Tears” to Oklahoma.
1843
Donizetti’s DON PASQUALE premieres January 3rd at the Salle Ventadour in Paris.
1845
Due to untreated illness, Donizetti was struck by paralysis, followed by a quick dementia.
Failure of potato crop causes famine in Ireland.
1846
Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone in Belgium.
1848
Donizetti dies in Bergamo on April 8th. In the summer, economic recovery begins across Europe.