opera notebook
some operas I have seen on videoGaetano Donizetti, Don Pasquale (1843)
libretto by the composer and Giovanni Ruffini
Opéra National Montpellier Occitanie, 2019
- Conductor: Michele Spotti
- Director and Lighting Designer: Valentin Schwarz
- Set and Costume Designer: Andrea Cozzi
- Don Pasquale: Bruno Taddia
- Norina: Julia Musychenko
- Ernesto: Edoardo Milletti
- Malatesta: Tobias Greenhalgh
- Chant-signeur: Katia Abbou
- Chant-signeur: Vincent Bexiga
A fascinating production of Don Pasquale, notable for two "sign singers" who convey the libretto in LSF (French Sign Language). The production is also beautifully sung. Unfortunately there are also tons of incomprehensible staging ideas: Ernesto spending most of his time in a tent and emerging in stupid T-shirts, Don Pasquale and Norina flying around in harnesses, a set cluttered with inexplicable junk. Most unfortunate of all, the voice singers are usually brightly lit while the sign singers are costumed in drab grey and kept in relative shadow. One would think it should be the other way around! But perhaps the visual impact worked better on stage. Julien Condemine's TV direction does make use of ingenious split-screen effects to showcase both voice singers and sign singers.