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The Monument to Gaetano Donizetti is located in the garden of Piazza Cavour in Lower Bergamo, right next to the Donizetti Theatre. It stands in the middle of the water feature that adorns the square, known by locals as the “swan pond.” In terms of composition, the monument follows a circular design, determined by a curved exedra-like bench, on which the musician is seated, facing the inspirational muse Melopea (from the ancient Greek melopoièo, “to compose songs, set to music”).
The upper part, made entirely of marble, rests on a granite base decorated with steps and vegetative and animal friezes. Behind the monument is a small fenced woodland, symbolising an art that is mysterious and almost inaccessible.
A notable feature of this work is that, instead of being presented centrally as is traditional, Donizetti sits somewhat to one side. The muse plays the lyre at the opposite end of the composition, and their contrasting poses, along with their positions, create an allegory of the real (the musician) as opposed to, but complementary to, the ideal (his inspiration). The entire composition conveys a sense of contemplation and, through the melancholy of the figures, seems to foreshadow the illness that would lead to the composer’s premature death at the age of fifty-one.
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