At the time of the premiere of Don Pasquale, in 1843, Gaetano Donizetti was the most significant living artist in the opera, the most important musical genre of the century. Bellini died in 1835, Rossini abandoned opera composition for nearly a decade and a half, Verdi reaped his first successes, Wagner was only beyond the Dutch performance of the repertoire in today's repertoire, and Parisian and Viennese musical life was dominated by Italian opera.
Donizetti was not even fifty years old, a quarter-century celebrated author, his number of completed operas was over sixty by then, and his premiere was celebrated by audiences in Naples, Milan, Venice, Rome, Vienna and Paris. The culmination of the comedy genre was Don Pasquale, a favorite role of our world-class bassist, József Gregor, who passed away ten years ago. In memory of him, our new production is being made, which continues the best performing traditions of the opera buffa in Szeged.
