Giuseppe Donizetti

From 1828 he was Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808–1839).

A few years later, he was invited to serve the Ottoman Empire by Giovanni Timoteo Calosso, a fellow Sardinian.

Apart from overseeing the training of the European-style military bands of Mahmud's modern army, he taught music at the palace to the members of the Ottoman royal family, the princes and the ladies of the harem, is believed to have composed the first national anthem of the Ottoman Empire, supported the annual Italian opera season in Pera, organised concerts and operatic performances at court, and played host to a number of eminent virtuosi who visited Istanbul at the time, such as Franz Liszt, Parish Alvars and Leopold de Meyer.

Although the elder Donizetti was born in Bergamo, Italy, Istanbul became a second home for him, and he lived there until his death in 1856.

Emre Aracı published a comprehensive biography of Giuseppe Donizetti in Turkish in 2007.