Don Pasquale

Synopsis

The opera tells the story of how one old man learns a harsh and expensive lesson when he tries to stand in the way of true love. In the finest traditions of the genre we enjoy disguises, crooked lawyers, scheming doctors and at its heart, two love-truck youngsters trying to find a way to be together. Above all, Donizetti’s score is suffused with beauty and vivacity from which a torrent of wonderful music tumbles. First performed in 1843.

Our Review:

14 September 2010

While the majority of the Royal Opera company are singing and playing their hearts out in Tokyo in grand Verdi, a skeleton crew remain on Bow Street , with two stalwart productions revived by their original director Jonathan Miller.  Following hot on the heels of the once-Armani Così fan tutte, on Sunday Miller and associate director Daniel Dooner staged the second revival of their 2004 Don Pasquale, first seen at the Maggio Musicale, Florence in 2001.  

There are a number of similarities between Così and Don Pasquale with an even smaller number of principal singers (four here to Così’s six, though with a small part for a notary) and only an occasional chorus.  There’s a baritone manipulator – here Dr Malatesta to Così’s Don Alfonso – and a lesson to be taught; here, in essence, an old man’s jealousy at his nephew’s youth.   

There’s even a hint at Th...

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