An International
Co-production
Donizetti's 'Don Pasquale'
impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI
impresses GIUSEPPE PENNISI
Don Pasquale is Donizetti's most frequently performed opera. Although it is called a drama buffo, musicologist Walter Ashbrook rightly says that it is a 'romantic comedy' with nineteenth century rather than
the eighteenth century values. As
in Mozart's drammi giocosi, the characters are not
just stereotypes but are humanized and the melodies mirror the emotions they
express. At the 1843 premiere, the four roles were entrusted to the best singers of the time. It is still a
'war horse' for important singers.
A special feature of the Don Pasquale seen and heard at the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi on 13 November 2015 is that it is a co-production shared
between thirteen theatres. In addition to the Pergolesi
Spontini Foundation in Jesi, where the
stage sets and costumes were prepared, the other
theatres are Opera Lombardia (Bergamo, Como, Cremona and Pavia) and the French theatres of Clermont Ferrand,
Reims, Limoges, Rouen, Saint-Etienne, Massy, Avignon and Vichy. They all seat audiences of between 600 and 800, with
stages quite similar in size. About fifty performances are planned
over a six months period. The basic team of principal singers and the conductor generally do not change, but
the orchestras and choruses vary according to local availability. Such an international
co-production allows employment of a high quality team, by ensuring artists comparatively long contracts.
In 1843, Don Pasquale was conceived by Gaetano Donizetti (who wrote
the libretto with Giovanni Ruffini) as a contemporary opera with
the plot based in Rome. The stage director (Andrea
Cigni) and the author of sets and costumes (Lorenzo Cutùli) maintain the location
in Rome but set the action in the nineteen fifties when
Rome was a major center of American movie production referred to as 'Hollywood-on-the-Tiber'. The set is
dominated, on the one hand, by a huge safe where the stingy Don Pasquale keeps
his wealth, and on the other by a very pretty garden where Norina and Ernesto
exchange their feelings of love. The plot works well, even
though there is more emphasis on the funny aspects than on the
melancholic dimension of the protagonist's ageing.
Paolo Bordogna is Don Pasquale: he is a veteran of the role, both in Italy and abroad, and the author of
several recordings. Paolo
Garcia Ruiz (a young baritone, already on the international
scene) is the smart and tricky Dr
Malatesta. A real surprise is the young Pietro Adaini as Ernesto with his clear timbre, strong volume, and the ability to keep the
high texture required for the role. He
received open stage applause and ovations at curtains
calls. Maria Mudryak (as Norina) is a twenty-one-year-old soprano born in Kazakhstan but trained
in Milan; she is already an
accomplished actress and promises to develop as an excellent soprano. I feel,
however, that with the sound density of her voice, she would be more suitable
in dramatic roles rather than as a light lyric soprano.
Last but not least, conductor Giuseppe La Malfa kept the balance between the comic and pathetic aspects very
well.
There were accolades for all at the end.
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