Metropolitan Opera – Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. 4/15/2006.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center – Dress Circle, Seat G105.

Conductor – Maurizio Benini ; Don Pasquale – Simone Alaimo, Dr. Malatesta – Mariusz Kwiecien, Ernesto – Juan Diego Forez, Norina – Anna Netrebko, A Notary – Anthony Laciura.

Story : Don Pasquale plans to disinherit his nephew Ernesto because he is displeased with Ernesto’s plan to marry Norina. Instead Don Pasquale plans to get marry himself to produce an heir. Upon learning this, Norina teams up with Malatesta to trick Don Pasquale into marrying her, disguised as Malatesta’s sister Sofronia. Don Pasquale’s life is made so miserable after the marriage that he is glad to have Norina marry Ernesto after she reveals to Pasquale her true identity.

The Wall Street Journal had a review of an earlier performance of this opera, published on April 5, 2006, which I read before I went to the show. The review was not kind to the soprano Anna Netrebko, and it colored my view of the performance.

I have never heard Donizetti before. I thought he was one of the earlier Italian opera masters, and was therefore surprised to find out this opera premiered in 1843. In any case, the opera is very classical in the sense that the harmony is traditional and the arias are generally melodic.

The settings are simple: Don Pasquale’s house, his garden, and Norina’s terrace. But the stage designs were elegant and bright. The audience gave an appreciative applause when the curtain first went up. There seemed to be some problem with the column inside the house, and it had to propped up with a 2x4 stud. The New York Times review attributes this to the state of decline in Don Pasquale’s fortune.

The orchestra played with precision, which was probably not a great challenge for this work. The singers’ voices all carried well, better than most other concerts. Norina’s voice at first sounded a bit unrefined, but it eventually developed into a smooth enjoyable sound. Her acting skills actually were quite good, especially compared to other opera sopranos; not being overweight also helped a lot. The other characters also put in an excellent performance. Perhaps she toned it down after the WSJ review, perhaps the WSJ was overly critical, or perhaps I just have a different standard, but I didn’t think Netrebko’s acting dominated the play at all.

There was a mad scene in Act II that was quite interesting. The love song in Act III Scene 2 was very nice. However, there were not that many songs so lovely that people would hum along.

Overall, this was a great performance of a nice opera that showcased some good singing. I am not a great fan of comedic operas, and Don Pasquale is no exception. The moral that older men shouldn’t be going around chasing young women made many in the audience chuckle, although I am sure it also made quite a few people uncomfortable. I am more bothered by Ernesto’s readiness to call off the marriage when he found out his uncle’s plan to disinherit him, though.

The New York Times evidently went to the same performance as the WSJ reviewer (they both reported the “allergic attack” suffered by Florez). The reviewer was kind to Netrebko, and surprisingly described in some detail the plot of the play also – perhaps he also found little else to write about?