Gaetano Donizetti: A Research and Information Guide offers an annotated reference guide to the life and works of this important Italian opera composer. The book opens with a complete chronology of Donizetti's life (1797-1848) and career, relating it to contemporary events. The balance of the book details secondary resources and other works, including general sources, catalogs, correspondence, biographical sources, critical works; production/review sources, singers and theaters, and the individual operas.

In this close study of Donizetti's seminal masterpiece Anna Bolena, Gossett examines the composer's autograph manuscripts to reveal the arduous procedure of composition as well as his relationship with the Rossinian tradition and his efforts to define a personal style. Gossett also develops a general vocabulary and method for the analysis of Italian Opera.