opera notebook
some operas I have seen on videoGaetano Donizetti, Don Pasquale (1843)
libretto by Giovanni Ruffini and the composer
Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 2013
- Conductor: Enrique Mazzola
- Director: Mariame Clément
- Set Designer: Julia Hansen
- Don Pasquale: Alessandro Corbelli
- Norina: Danielle de Niese
- Ernesto: Alek Shrader
- Malatesta: Nikolay Borchev
Reviewers of the 2013 Don Pasquale at Glydebourne noted that the production was more troubling than the usual farcical presentation of Donizetti's opera. It's not that Mariame Clément's production is particularly pointed, though there are uneasy moments where Danielle de Niese, as Norina, seems to be two-timing not just her supposed husband but her actual lover Ernesto as well (is she involved with her co-conspirator Malatesta?) Julia Hansen's sets and the production design generally are straightforward, and the action pared down to the basics. But Alessandro Corbelli is such a nice Don Pasquale, and the conspirators against him so brash, that the old man seems almost tormented; he doesn't deserve his humiliation. Corbelli is marvelous, anyway, and the production is exceptionally well-sung.