The comic opera "Don Pasquale" on stage on 11 February
News публикувана на: 03.02.2025
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On 11 February at 19,00. On the stage of the State Opera Stara Zagora you will see the comic opera "Don Pasquale" by Gaetano Donizetti, conducted by participants in the International Master Class for Conductors with leading conductor Ivaylo Krinchev. In this production the young opera singers Stoyan Buyukliev / Ernesto/ and Anastasia Altukhova /Norina/ will have their debuts, the soloists Evgeny Arabadzhiev /Don Pasquale/, Ivan Kabamitov /Dr Malatesta/, Ignat Zhelev /Notarius/, Servants - Petya Vaneva, Dragomir Hristov, Alexander Zhelev will also participate. Orchestra and Choir of the State Opera-Stara Zagora, concertmaster Paulina Zaharieva, choirmaster Mladen Stanev.
The comic opera "Don Pasquale" is a true benchmark in the genre - if we are to give an example of the ideal opera-buffa, Gaetano Donizetti's masterpiece has every chance to "grab" the first place in such a ranking. A funny story, quality humour, comic situations with unexpected endings, the characters are as if they had just come out of the Italian "commedia dell'arte". Recognizable Pantalone - stingy, foolish and terribly charming Pasquale, eternally suffering from love Piero - in the person of his nephew Ernesto. The resourceful con-man Brigela - Malatesta and the charming, if very pragmatic, Colombina - Norina form a brilliant comic duo that drives the play's intrigue.
But not everything is as simple as it seems: this opera seems to have a 'double bottom line'. Already in the first reviews after the opera's premiere, a French newspaper remarked: "the dramatic colours of Don Pasquale are a sad buffoonery".
The opera Don Pasquale is one of Gaetano Donizetti's last works. The composer wrote it at the height of his fame, at the height of his creative powers - but already at the beginning of their decline. He was already suffering from a certain illness, which caused him to stop writing music two years later. "I laugh, but you know that my soul is wrapped in sorrow, which I hide under a deceptive mirth," Donizetti wrote to one of his relatives. Nevertheless, he still worked in record time.
There are differing opinions about how long it took the composer to write his Don Pasquale. Some believe that Gaetano Donizetti worked on the work for eight days, others spread the version of eleven days, according to others - that it took him three weeks (!). Be that as it may, preparations for the premiere began in November 1842 at the Théâtre Italien in Paris. "The next week the rehearsals of Don Pasquale begin"-Donizetti wrote to a relative-"The operatic subject is on a very old story which you know well yourself. It's 'Mark Antonio', but don't tell anyone!". It turns out in the end that it was an open secret. Stefano Pavesi's opera Sir Marc`Antonio, with libretto by Angelo Agnelli (1810), was quite popular and remained in the repertoire well into the 1840s. So Donizetti's contemporaries were well acquainted with it. Not to mention the fact that the story itself, including "Sir Mark Antonio", has been used in literature countless times. The "old man in love" remains one of the most beloved characters of the 16th century theatre (in Italian theatre, the character is known as Manifico, Benedetto, Pantalone and by many other names).
But, based on the classic story, Donizetti and his librettist Giovanni Ruffini created a completely innovative work. They shortened the number of actors, removed the excessive slapstick, and left the most striking moments to reveal the intrigue itself. The characters are no longer just "masks" - and literally "come to life". Each Donizetti character gives a very accurate description of the music. What sets Don Pasquale apart is the way Donizetti masterfully transforms the otherwise one-dimensional characters of this theatrical form into full-blooded and convincing characters. Most of all, this applies to the impact of Don Pasquale himself - at the beginning we are repulsed by his self-centredness, by the end we are sympathetic to the misfortune to which he has been driven. Donizetti "plays" with meanings, with subtexts, Donizetti saddens and smiles.
The premiere of Don Pasquale took place on January 3, 1843 at the Théâtre Italien in Paris and was crowned with complete triumph. The composer was repeatedly called to the stage, many of the numbers were encored. That same year the opera was staged in Milan, Turin, Vienna, London, Brussels and Lille. To this day, Don Pasquale continues to be one of the most popular repertoire titles in Donizetti's oeuvre.
In Bulgaria, Don Pasquale was first staged at the Sofia National Opera in 1932.
In Stara Zagora it was staged twice: in 1952, 1989 and 2017.
