DONIZETTI 



1841 



DON QUIXOTE 



to Florence, he showed how wonderfully a 

 frieze could be made a part of a cathedral, 

 and yet have life in it, when he made the 

 Singing Gallery. His equestrian statue, the 

 first of modern sculpture, which he made in 

 1446, ranks as his best work, but in it he did 

 not quite get away from old traditions, for he 

 had a ball for the horse to rest his foot upon. 

 After traveling widely, Donatello settled in 

 Florence in 1457 with his mother and sister, 

 where he lived simply, unspoiled by praise and 

 success. He was the greatest sculptor of the 

 Italian Renaissance and prepared the way for 

 Michelangelo (which see). B.C. 



DONIZETTI, dohnedzet'te, GAETANO (1797- 

 1848), an Italian operatic composer, most 

 widely known through the famous melodious 

 sextette from his opera Lucia di Lammermoor. 

 Both that opera and Lucrezia Borgia have been 

 called by various admirers his masterpiece. 

 He showed remarkable skill in writing for the 

 voice, but produced his operas so rapidly, 

 writing sixty-four in all, besides other compo- 

 sitions, that, though many are brilliant and 

 effective, all would have been better if they 

 had been given careful revision., Among his 

 operas are Les Martyrs, La Favorita, Anna 

 Bolena, the comic opera Don Pasquale and the 

 light, sparkling operetta La Fille du Regi- 

 ment (Daughter of the Regiment), all of which 

 have enjoyed great popularity. 



DON JUAN, don hwahn, a legendary hero 

 of Spain, whose life story has been made the 

 basis for many dramatic and poetic forms. 

 Moliere, Corneille, Milton, Mozart, Byron, 

 Dumas, Balzac and Flaubert are among the 

 great poets, writers and musicians who have 

 made this romantic character the subject of 

 their works. 



There seems to have been a certain historical 

 foundation for him in the life of a member of 

 the noble family of Tenorio, at Seville. Ac- 

 cording to the legend, Don Juan cared only for 

 self,, and acknowledged no higher obligation 

 than his own will imposed. Failing in his 

 attempt to abduct the daughter of the governor 

 of Seville, he was challenged by her father, 

 whom he killed in a duel. To demonstrate his 

 belief that spirits do not exist, he visited the 

 tomb of the murdered man, ordered a feast to 

 be prepared there and invited the statue to 

 follow him to a revel. To his horror, the "stone 

 figure" accepted the invitation, appeared at 

 table among the guests, promptly compelled 

 Don Juan to follow him and at once delivered 

 the blasphemer over to perdition. 

 116 



Mozart's famous opera, Don Giovanni, made 

 the story popular all over Europe. Byron's 

 Don Juan follows the name, and to some ex- 

 tent the character, of the original legend of 

 this ne'er-do-well. In some of the later dra- 

 matic versions, other features are introduced 

 attributed to another personage named Don 

 Juan of Marana, who, through his mother's 

 influence in having masses said for his salva- 

 tion, ended his days in a monastery where he 

 subjected himself to the severest penance, to 

 atone for a life of debauchery and crime. 



DONNELLY, don' el i, IGNATIUS (1831-1901), 

 an American prose writer and journalist, who 

 tried to prove that Bacon wrote the works of 

 Shakespeare. He was born in Philadelphia, 

 educated in the public schools, studied law, and 

 was admitted to the bar in 1852. In 1859, after 

 his removal to Saint Paul, Minn., he was 

 elected lieutenant-governor and 'served as a 

 congressman from that state from 1863 to 

 1869. He then left the Republican party to 

 become associated with the People's party, 

 receiving nomination from the latter for the 

 Vice-Presidency in 1898. From 1873 to 1878 

 he was editor of the Anti-Monopolist at Saint 

 Louis, and in his later years edited The Repre- 

 sentative in Minneapolis. His best-known 

 works include Atlantis, the Antediluvian 

 World, Ragnarok, and The Great Cryptogram. 

 In the latter he attempted to prove the theory 

 of the Baconian authorship of Shakespeare's 

 plays, based on a cipher which he claimed to 

 have personally discovered. His contentions 

 failed deeply to interest the literary world. 



DON QUIXOTE (Spanish, keho'ta), the title 

 of a masterpiece of burlesque in literature, 

 written by Cervantes, which has entertained 

 people of all nations and all times since its 

 publication in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. It 

 is also the name of the hero of the story, the 

 "Knight of the Rueful Countenance." 



This book was written to ridicule absurd 

 stories of chivalry which were so popular in the 

 time of Cervantes. Throughout the tale, with 

 its wealth of comedy and its faithful picture of 

 every class of society of the sixteenth century, 

 runs a strain of sadness and keen human under- 

 standing. The brave, courteous old gentleman, 

 Don Quixote, his brain filled with the deeds of 

 knights as pictured in books he has read, ven- 

 tures forth to seek adventure of his own in a 

 world where knight-errantry is no longer 

 known. With him, as squire, goes the simple, 

 faithful Sancho Panza, and together they pass 

 through dangers and many comical episodes, 



