An 1843 comedy where an old man gets absolutely destroyed by love—opera style, no refunds.
First performed in Paris in 1843, at the turning point of several eras, Don Pasquale, a composite and varied work, is the apotheosis of opera buffa. Performed for the first time at the Paris Opera, the production has been entrusted to the Italian director, Damiano Michieletto, who transports us directly to the sincerity and dramatic splendour at the heart of an apparently light‑hearted work.
Production
Michieletto's staging finds darkness in the comedy
Acting
Pertusi's Pasquale: pathetic, hilarious, devastating
Direction
Michieletto strips away cuteness, finds emotional truth
Director
Damiano Michieletto
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Don Pasquale was Donizetti's final opera buffa and his farewell to the genre he helped define—written while he was already showing signs of the syphilis that would destroy him.
Michieletto's production famously strips away the traditional 'cute' staging to reveal the work's melancholy core: Pasquale isn't just ridiculous, he's dying of loneliness and the opera knows it.
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