Giuseppe Donizetti (6 November 1788 – 12 February 1856), also known asDonizettiPasha, was an Italian composer. From 1828 he was Instructor General of the ImperialOttoman Music at the court of SultanMahmud II (r. 1808–1839). He was replaced byGuatelli Pasha after his death.

His younger brother was theopera composerGaetano Donizetti. He studied music first with his uncle, Carini Donizetti, and, later, he was a pupil ofSimone Mayr. After enlisting inNapoleon's army (1808), he served there as band leader. He took part in the campaigns against Austria andin Spain, and followed Napoleon to Elba. He was present at theBattle of Waterloo. After the fall of Napoleon, he continued his career as a bandmaster in theSavoy army. A few years later, he was invited to serve theOttoman Empire byGiovanni Timoteo Calosso, a fellowSardinian.^[1]

Donizetti Pasha, as he was called in the Ottoman Empire, played a significant role in the introduction of European music to theOttoman military. 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 theOttoman royal family, the princes and the ladies of the harem, is believed to have composed the firstnational anthem of the Ottoman Empire, supported the annualItalian opera season inPera, organised concerts and operatic performances at court, and played host to a number of eminentvirtuosi who visited Istanbul at the time, such asFranz Liszt,Parish Alvars andLeopold de Meyer. Although the elder Donizetti was born inBergamo,Italy,Istanbul became a second home for him, and he lived there until his death in 1856. He is buried in the vaults of theSt. Esprit Cathedral, near theBeyoğlu district of Istanbul, in Pera.

Emre Aracı published a comprehensive biography of Giuseppe Donizetti in Turkish in 2007.^[2] The volumeGiuseppe Donizetti Pasha: Musical and Historical Trajectories between Italy and Turkey, edited by Federico Spinetti, was published in English and Italian by the Fondazione Donizetti in 2010.

• Ashbrook, William (1982),Donizetti and his Operas, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-27663-2ISBN 0-521-23526-X
• The Musical Times: A Levantine life: Giuseppe Donizetti at the Ottoman court
• Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha: Musical and Historical Trajectories between Italy and Turkey / Giuseppe Donizetti Pascià: Traiettorie musicali e storiche tra Italia e Turchia. Edited by Federico Spinetti . Bergamo, Fondazione Donizetti, 2010.
• Maurizio Costanza,La Mezzaluna sul filo - La riforma ottomana di Mahmud II, Marcianumpress, Venezia 2010.
• Weinstock, Herbert (1963),Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, New York: Random House.

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