Donizetti, like all other good composers of opera, took inspiration from his libretti when making musical choices. His musical choices for Don Pasquale were similarly inspired. In Anelli's older (1810) libretto for the composer Pavesi entitled Ser Marc'Antonio, Donizetti found plenty of comedy based on the traditional high jinks of the commedia dell'arte. Rossini before him had taken inspiration from the commedia characters; in fact, Il barbiere di Siviglia is filled with reminders of these characters and the stock gags that were essentially reactions to the predicaments devised for them by the librettist. But Donizetti was living in a new operatic 'age' by the 1840s. The delightful, madcap comic form that Rossini had established thirty years earlier was coming to the end of its popularity. A more sentimental, tender spirit was moving through Italian opera in the creation of works like Bellini's La sonnambula and Rossini's La gazza ladra. Audiences began demanding these semiserie, semi-serious operatic melodramas which had a minimum of dramatic tension and ended happily, Italian versions of the French opera comique (although sung throughout). It was within this context that Don Pasquale was created in 1843.
In Don Pasquale, Donizetti treated what were essentially commedia characters in a much more human way, with far more sensitivity than ever before in Italian comic opera. In this way Pasquale approaches the Mozart-Da Ponte comedies in spirit if not in style. As in the Mozart operas, this comedy tells its story through the near constant use of ensembles rather than standard arias. In fact, there are only two arias in Pasquale that would have been recognized as 'standard forms': Norina's entrance aria So anch'io la virtù magica (I also know the magic virtue) and Ernesto's Cercherò lontana terra (I will seek a distant land) at the beginning of Act II. The rest of the opera is a swirl of duets and other combinations that keep the considerable activity of the libretto moving at a swift pace.
The qualities of the music are those that we have come to expect of the bel canto school: long, arching phrases, emphasis on vocal expressiveness, ornamentation of the melodic lines and transparent orchestral accompaniment in support of the voice. In works such as this nothing should approach a level of seriousness which would demand much thought or concern on behalf of the audience. Therefore the music is kept at a sparkling, superficial level by the composer who at the same time looks for moments of humanity in order to give an extra dimension to the characters and their plight. And this, ultimately, is the thing that separates Don Pasquale from earlier opere buffe: like Mozart, Donizetti gives emotional weight to the melodic outpourings of these characters. Hence the opera is less sheer comedy than a domestic human drama within the context of comedy.
One such human moment occurs at the beginning of Act II. Ernesto is under the impression that he has been betrayed by his friend Dr. Malatesta and that all is lost in his quest for Norina's hand in marriage. He will soon discover that this is, indeed, not the case and that Malatesta's contrived plan is a very roundabout way to get Pasquale to agree to the match. (See our synopsis for further details!) Ernesto enters alone, and after a lovely orchestral introduction featuring a trumpet solo (a rather unusual feature for the time), sings his aria Cercherò lontana terra. This is a kind of lament rather like Una furtiva lagrima (A furtive tear) in L'elisir d'amore. The music is sensitive, melancholy, but without the hint of tragedy that one might find in a tenor aria from one of Donizetti's darker works, like Lucia di Lammermoor. Musically, the composer walks a very thin line between pathos and satire and woe betide the tenor who pushes the aria too far in either direction. If it is sung in an 'over the top' manner, as if the character were playing Edgardo in the last act of Lucia, the human character Ernesto would become a caricature of Ernesto. The audience would laugh, but we would be pushing too far into the arena of commedia. A certain reserve must rule in the interpretation of this piece so that Ernesto retains his humanity, that which is truly comic about all of us. The music, if performed stylishly, will communicate everything we need to know about Ernesto at this moment without the tenor having to do much more than sing beautifully! (This is a tall enough order without our expecting the tenor to play satire.)
The demands on the soprano, at least dramatically speaking, are somewhat less trying because Donizetti is more obvious with his musical clues to her character. When we meet her she is reading a passage from a silly ninteenth-century romance. The music is Chopinesque with a long elegant melody over simple orchestral accompaniment, designed to both communicate the sentimentality of the story as well Norina's desire to poke fun at its old-fashioned tendencies. Her gay laughter separates the movement from the sprightly dance tune that follows it, during which she sets out her 'lover's manifesto': that instead of waiting demurely for the hero to make his moves, she is more than capable of taking control of the situation herself and creating her own amorous destiny. This is, indeed, a 'modern' 19th-century woman (remembering that the original production was done in then contemporary dress) and the composer tells us everything through the music.
There is one thing that an audience used to the conventions of opera buffa will notice immediately and that is the absence of the harpsichord, or any other keyboard instrument, to accompany the recitatives (compare to the composer's earlier comedy L'elisir d'amore). This is the first important Italian comedy to do away with the continuo tradition and it seems not to have worked against the opera's popularity in any way. In fact, the recitatives in Don Pasquale are so melodious and so emotionally true that they unify the opera's numbers in a way that otherwise would have been impossible. It is a delightful and elegant work!