In 1842 Donizetti signed a contract with the Théâtre-Italien in
Paris for his 64th opera. It was to feature the theatre's quartet
of well-known singers: Luigi Lablache, Giulia Grisi, "Mario" and Antonio Tamurini.
What Donizetti did not tell Ruffini was that he planned to reuse much of his
earlier music. Thus, when the poet sent him verses, they did not fit the existing
music, and Donizetti rewrote the text. In the end, so many changes were made
that Ruffini refused to have his name used, and the printed libretto bore the
initials M.A. as the author. This gave rise to the story, later corrected, that
Michele Accursi was the actual librettist.
Donizetti later claimed he had composed Don Pasquale in only eleven days, but much of the music was borrowed from his other writings, and the eleven days certainly did not include orchestration. Overall, three months is a more realistic estimate of the time he spent on it. He wished the opera to be set in his own time, hoping the audiences would understand that the characters were real people who could be their contemporaries, but both Ruffini and the singers objected. They felt that curled wigs and velvet costumes were much more suited to the subject. In the end, the program merely mentioned the location as Rome and did not give a date. The costumes ended up being a mixture of seventeenth and eighteenth century styles although, for the second act, where he is supposedly decked out in finery, Lablache did wear a contemporary green tailcoat in which, according to Gautier, "He looked like a monstrous scarab that wants to open its wings and fly away but can't". In the end, the subject matter of the opera is timeless. It will make just as much of an impact when, as in San Diego Opera's production, it is set in the nineteenth-century American West.
Don Pasquale premièred on January 3, 1843, with Donizetti conducting the first performance. It was an instant success and was soon produced all over Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The first United States performance took place in New Orleans in 1845.