[The librettist for Donzinetti's Don Pasquale was Giovanni Ruffini (1807-1881) - NMR]
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.
The story of an old man made a fool of by a young girl so she may be with a man she loves is an ancient one. About 200 B.C. the Roman author, Plautus, wrote one of the first, The Comedy of the Asses.
Ariosto, the writer of Orlando furioso, the source for the opera Ariodante,
wrote Counterfeit in which a poor student poses as his own servant to
win a girl away from her rich old suitor (shades of Il barbiere di Siviglia).
Machiavelli not only wrote advice to his prince but also wrote a play based
on this theme.
In 1609, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare's contemporary, produced Epicœne or The
Silent Woman. In it, an old man, Morose, decides to disinherit his nephew,
Sir Dauphine Eugenie, by marrying a young woman and having a child of his own.
He also hates noise so seeks a silent woman. Dauphine's friends Clerimont, Truewit,
Jack Daw, Sir Amorous La-Foole, and others decide to provide as the wife, a
young girl named Epicœne whom Dauphine has been training. At first she is shy,
modest and quiet, but once the papers are signed she turns into a loquacious,
expensive shrew. Two of the friends, disguised as a lawyer and a priest, pretend
to try to help Morose. They search for a ground for divorce without success.
Finally, Dauphine promises that, if his uncle will settle his fortune on him,
he can find an impediment to the marriage which will allow a divorce. When the
desperate Morose agrees, Dauphine pulls the wig from Epicœne's head, revealing
that 'she' is a boy, certainly grounds to invalidate the marriage. This was
adapted as another play by Anatole France, La comédie de celui qui
epousa une femme muette (The Man who Married a Dumb Wife), which was turned
into the opera Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Wife) by
Richard Strauss.
Other examples of plays on the same theme are Molière's School for
Wives, and Beaumarchais's Le barbier de Séville which became
Rossini's opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia, but it was Ben Jonson's
play which was the source for Pavesi's 1810 opera Ser Marc'Antonio,
with a libretto by Anelli, the librettist for Rossini's L'italiana in
Algeri. Pavesi was the successor of Salieri (of Mozart fame) at the
Vienna's Court Opera. His opera was a great success. Donizetti may have seen
it when he was in Vienna in 1842 and decided to write his own opera on the theme.
(In the early nineteenth century, it was common practice for composers to write
their own versions of a well-known operas.) Ruffini adapted Anelli's libretto
for Don Pasquale rewriting the text completely and eliminating
several minor characters.
Ser Marc'Antonio was also rooted in the commedia dell'arte
tradition and was pure farce. Don Pasquale also reflects that
heritage but is gentler, a comedy in which the characters are real people, more
in the tradition of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. Don Pasquale
is Pantalone (who traditionally was married to a younger, unfaithful woman),
Norina is a mixture of the noble Isabella and her vivacious Colombine, Ernesto
is The Lover and Dr. Malatesta is a combination of the Dottore and Harlequino.