Donizetti's Don Pasquale

In 1842, the director of Paris' Théâtre-Italien Jules Janin suggested to Donizetti the idea of composing a new opera tailored to the talents of Giulia Grisi, Antonio Tamburini, and Luigi Lablache, some of the most popular singers of the day. Donizetti took him at his word, and produced a work now considered the high point of the 19th-century opera buffa tradition. Drawing on selected commedia dell'arte stock characters, the librettist Giovanni Ruffini (in collaboration with Donizetti himself) brought to life in unforgiving detail the story of the curmudgeonly old Don Pasquale, who decides to marry in order to disinherit his nephew Ernesto for himself wanting to marry a young woman judged unsuitable by his uncle. To select a bride, Don Pasquale turns to Dr. Malatesta, who recommends his own convent-raised sister Sofronia. Little does Don Pasquale know that the girl is actually Ernesto's love, Norina, in disguise...

Photo © Clive Barda