Georg Philipp Telemann
Dimitry Rostovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Gioachino Rossini
Alexander Ostrovsky, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Giacomo Puccini
Giuseppe Verdi
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Richard Strauss
Alexei Verstovsky
Sergei Prokofiev. Maurice Ravel
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Francesco Cilea
César Cui. Igor Stravinsky
Dmitry Shostakovich
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Umberto Giordano
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Dmitry Shostakovich
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Benjamin Britten. Camille Saint-Saëns
Anton Rubinstein
Hector Berlioz
Giacomo Puccini
Modest Mussorgsky
Grigory Frid. Udo Zimmermann
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mieczysław Weinberg
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Sergei Banevich
Georges Bizet
Gaetano Donizetti
Richard Wagner
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Richard Strauss
Jacques Offenbach
Sergei Prokofiev
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Andrei Rubtsov
Tatiana Kamysheva
Gioacchino Rossini
Alexander Borodin
Giuseppe Verdi
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Georges Bizet
The premiere of Don Pasquale was held on the 3rd of January 1843 at the Italian Opera House in Paris and was showered with success. The same year, the opera was staged in Milan, Turin, Vienna, London, Brussels and Lille. To this day, Don Pasquale remains one of the most visited works of Donizetti’s repertoire.
Gaetano Donizetti wrote Don Pasquale in 1842, while at the height of his fame and having no competitors (Bellini had died, Rossini had ceased writing operas and Verdi was only at the beginning of his creative path). The composer worked incredibly fast: according to one account, he created the opera in only eight days, another more cautious version said it took him three weeks. In any case, the masterpiece was created within an extremely short period of time.
Premiered on April 19, 2016.
Presented with two intervals.
St. Jerome University, Rome, present day.
Act I
Scene One. The University
Don Pasquale, a renowned scholar and a confirmed bachelor, makes a decision to marry on the brink of his 70th birthday.
He receives Dr Malatesta, who offers him his sister Sofronia as a bride-to-be. The girl was raised in a convent and is full of virtue. Inflamed Pasquale sends Malatesta to fetch her.
The bridegroom is anxious to share the happy news with his subordinates and his nephew Ernesto. The uncle and the nephew have been in conflict for a long time. Don Pasquale threatens to cut Ernesto off and even disinherit him by marrying, if Ernesto keeps resisting the good match arranged by his uncle, but the young man remains true to his love for the penniless young widow Norina.
Knowing now that Don Pasquale’s marriage is no blind threat, Ernesto is in turmoil. In addition he learns from his uncle that his friend Malatesta betrayed him by arranging Don Pasquale’s betrothal.
Insulted by his nephew’s obstinacy and derision, Don Pasquale cuts him off and kicks him out.