Opera Daily 🎶 — Don Pasquale

This week's Opera Daily features “Com'è gentil”, a tenor aria from Act 3 of the Italian opera Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti

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A scene from Act 2 of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, premiered at the Salle Ventadour in Paris,1843

Today we’re listening to…

“Com'è gentil”, a tenor aria from Act 3 of the Italian opera Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti.

In the garden, Ernesto sings of his love for Norina, as he waits for her arrival (Com'è gentil – "How lovely"). He describes the beautiful night and that he wishes to be with her.

🎧 Listening Example: (4 minute listen): Tenor Tito Schipa singing “Com'è gentil”, from Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti.

I find Schipa’s interpretation of this piece so calming and satisfying. No big sounds, just one beautiful singing line after another. I love the way Edmund St. Austell describes the beauty of Tito Schipa and the secret of his success:

The answers are not hard to find, and they are a great lesson to all who aspire to sing: first, he was a superb musician. No endless fermatas, no invented notes. Even more importantly, he was a master of style: the precise reason for any song or aria he sang was always clear to the audience, and, more importantly, to him. His diction was crystal clear, and one can understand every single word he sings. He possessed, in abundance, a musical and stylistic understanding sufficient to make him an absolute master of the musical line. Line is perhaps the greatest of all the artistic attributes necessary to sing beautifully and—all too often—one of the rarest.

Don Pasquale’s straightforward story and lightness make it highly accessible to any audience.

• An older man decides to find a young bride.

• His friend wants to teach him a lesson, so he arranges for a young woman to pretend to agree to marry the older man, which makes his life miserable.

• The plot gets a bit more complicated because the young woman (Norina) is engaged to another man, the older man's nephew (Ernesto), and they use the trick to get his blessing for their marriage.

The old bachelor Don Pasquale plans to marry to punish his nephew, Ernesto, who is in love with the young widow Norina. Dr. Malatesta (mah-lah-TEST-ah) agrees to help the couple. The wealthy old bachelor, Don Pasquale, has decided to find a wife to help him produce an heir, cutting out his nephew, Ernesto, from his inheritance. Refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, Ernesto (ehr-NEST-oh) is devastated to think of a life without Norina. Dottore Malatesta, a friend of Ernesto and Don Pasquale (pahss-KWAHL-ay), helps the couple develop a plan to trick Don Pasquale into giving the couple permission to be married with Ernesto’s inheritance. Disguised, Norina (no-REE-nah) is married to Don Pasquale in a fake ceremony and then wreaks havoc on Don Pasquale’s life. After a series of hilarious moments, the plan works, and Don Pasquale allows Ernesto to marry Norina, stating that marriage is not suited for an older man such as himself.

Gaetano Donizetti was the master of bel canto. Bel canto is a style of singing in Italian opera from the mid-18th to early 19th centuries (we discussed this in a previous post when discussing Joan Sutherland). Donizetti had quite a life. At the age of nine, he started his musical training and, throughout his life, composed 70 operas. His most prominent operas include Anna Bolena (1830), L’elisir d’amore (1832), Maria Stuarda (1835), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), La fille du régiment (1840) and Don Pasquale (1843). Donizetti wrote his fair share of comedies throughout his career.

While L’Elisir d’Amore remains his most popular comedy, Don Pasquale is always a favorite.

Here are some other interpretations of “Com'è gentil”:

LISTEN Alfredo Kraus
LISTEN Enrico Caruso
LISTEN Luciano Pavarotti

Want to listen to the full opera?

LISTEN Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti, EMI with Mirella Freni, Sesto Bruscantini, Gösta Winbergh and Leo Nucci conducted by Riccardo Muti and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Ambrosian Chorus, 1988

LISTEN Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Nuccia Focile , Gregory Kunde, Lucio Gallo, Claudio Giombi, Director: Ricardo Muti, Teatro alla Scala, 1994

Grateful for your time and ears,

Michele

PS. Missed our last edition? We featured “Pourquoi me réveiller” from the French opera Werther by Jules Massenet.

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