Don Pasquale
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | Don Pasquale |
Alessio Arduini as Malatesta and Michele Pertusi as Don Pasquale, Vienna State Opera 2015 |
|
| Shape: | Opera buffa in three acts |
| Original language: | Italian |
| Music: | Gaetano Donizetti |
| Libretto : | Michele Accursi (= Giovanni Ruffini ) and Gaetano Donizetti |
| Premiere: | January 3, 1843 |
| Place of premiere: | Théâtre-Italy , Paris |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Rome, around 1840 |
| people | |
|
|
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa in three acts . The libretto is from “M. A. “( Giovanni Ruffini and Gaetano Donizetti based on an older model) and the music of Gaetano Donizetti . The premiere was on January 3, 1843 in the Paris Théâtre-Italien .
action
first act
Salon in Don Pasquale's house
The rich, stingy and somewhat older bachelor Don Pasquale wants to get married. His nephew Ernesto loves the young but destitute widow Norina, but is supposed to marry a rich lady. When he refuses, his uncle tells him to leave the house. Malatesta appears and says he has found a suitable bride for the old Hagestolz: his own sister Sofronia, who was brought up in the monastery. This is none other than Norina, only Ernesto has not yet been let in on Malatesta's plans.
Room in Norina's house
While reading a novel, the capricious Norina falls into daydreams about her own love affairs. Malatesta submits his plan to her: she should, disguised as innocent from the country, marry Don Pasquale in appearance and then make his life hell as a beast. Both indulge in glee.
Second act
_03_012_1_Theater_Ventadour_in_Paris_%E2%80%93_Eine_Scene_aus_dem_zweiten_Acte_des_Don_Pasquale.PNG)
Salon in Pasquale's house
Ernesto says goodbye to Norina and sets off into the big wide world. Malatesta leads in the veiled Norina. Don Pasquale is delighted with her beautiful figure and shyness and wants to marry her immediately. A false notary comes with a marriage contract, Malatesta and Ernesto, who has since been privy to the intrigue, are witnesses. As soon as the contract has been signed, Norina tied up with Ernesto in front of her “husband” and hired new servants. She mocks Don Pasquale and threatens him with slaps.
Third act
Salon in Pasquale's house
Servants bring in tons of luxury and fashion items. Norina explains to Don Pasquale that she wants to go to the theater. When he forbids her to do so, she slaps and mocks him. She deliberately drops a letter: Instead of going to the theater, she meets Ernesto in the garden. In his distress, Don Pasquale calls Doctor Malatesta. He is angry about the behavior of his "sister". Both want to catch the young couple in the garden red-handed.
Garden behind Pasquale's house
Ernesto eagerly awaits his lover in the garden, who will soon appear. Both assure each other of their love. Malatesta and Don Pasquale approach. Malatesta explains to the astonished Don Pasquale that Ernesto is not in love with “Sofronia” at all, but wants to move back into the house with his fiancée. When "Sofronia" indignantly refuses to share the house with another woman, Don Pasquale sees an opportunity to get rid of his wife and agrees, even promising Ernesto a lot of money. Malatesta "Sofronias" reveals to him true identity. Don Pasquale stands by his promises because he realizes that an old Hagestolz cannot expect love from young women.
Emergence
In September 1842, when Donizetti was in Paris, he signed a contract with the Théâtre-Italien for a new opera. In keeping with the tradition of the house, he chose a cheerful subject: Ser Marc'Antonio , a libretto by Angelo Anelli (1761–1820), which the now forgotten Stefano Pavesi (1779–1850) had also set to music for Paris in 1808. The template was only slightly modified and under the monogram “M. A. ”publishes, which can stand for“ Maestro Anonimo ”or“ Marc Antonio ”. Giovanni Ruffini was certainly involved in the preparation of the libretto; to what extent he and to what extent Donizetti himself can no longer be clarified. When Donizetti learned that the material planned for Vienna by Caterina Cornaro was also being set to music by Franz Lachner , he interrupted work on this opera. On November 12th, he reported to Antonio Vasselli that he had finished Don Pasquale .
The first performance, planned for December 1842, took place on January 3, 1843 in the presence of the composer. The musical director was Théophile Tilmant , the director was Toussaint-Eugène-Ernest Mocker, and the set was by Domenico Ferri. Luigi Lablache (Don Pasquale), Antonio Tamburini (Malatesta), Giovanni Matteo Mario (Ernesto), Giulia Grisi (Norina) and Federico Lablache (notary) sang .
The libretto goes back to the theme of the unequal couple. Based on Carlo Goldoni's comedies , the characters lean more or less closely to types of the Commedia dell'arte , but are given sentimental traits, i. H. through the ability to feel and express grief, pain or remorse, a differentiation that goes beyond its typical nature.
layout
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (2nd also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons
- Brass : four horns , two trumpets , three trombones
- Timpani , drums : bass drum , cymbals
- Strings
- Incidental music : tambourine , two guitars
music
The music of Don Pasquale consists of 19 individual numbers, which are linked by orchestral recitatives . As a result, the dialogues between the numbers lack the lightness and suppleness of the secco recitatives of the opera buffes by Mozart , Cimarosa or Rossini , to which Donizetti ties in with the choice of material. But this detail already shows that Donizetti wanted to develop the genre, the last outstanding example of which, Rossini's Barber of Seville , was already more than a quarter of a century ago, and to win it over for his time, which is why he also wanted the piece by naming fashionable accessories Time clearly settled in the then present. Even if echoes of the barber seem to be palpable again and again, Donizetti's own musical language prevails. It is the time of the railroad, industrialization, revolutions, the rapidly growing cities, a noisy time, which corresponds to a rumbling, hectic gesture of the music: timpani, drums and brass are almost constantly in use, falling into the tonic is only constituted more rarely a moment of rest.
literature
- Score, piano reduction, orchestral material published by Ricordi music publisher .
- Don Pasquale . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 3 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig July 15, 1843, p. 43-45 ( Wikisource ).
Web links
- Don Pasquale : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto (Italian / French), Paris 1843. Digitized in the Internet Culturale portal
- Work information and libretto (Italian) as full text on librettidopera.it
- Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Plot and libretto of it at Opera Guide landing page for URL upgrade currently unavailable
- Discography of Don Pasquale at Operadis
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Norbert Miller : Don Pasquale. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 40-45.
- ↑ January 3, 1843: "Don Pasquale". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ., Accessed on August 3, 2019.