''Olivo e Pasquale'' (''Olivo and Pasquale'') is a ''

melodramma ''Melodramma'' (plural: ''melodrammi'') is a 17th-century Italian term for a text to be set as an opera, or the opera itself. In the 19th century, it was used in a much narrower sense by English writers to discuss developments in the early Italia ...

giocoso'', a romantic comedy

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, in two acts by

Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

Jacopo Ferretti Jacopo Ferretti (16 July 1784 – 7 March 1852) was an Italian writer, poet and opera librettist. His name is sometimes written as Giacomo Ferretti. He is most famous for having supplied the libretti for two operas composed by Rossini and for fiv ...

wrote the Italian

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

after Antonio Simeone Sografi's play.

Performance history

It premiered on 7 January 1827 at the

Teatro Valle Teatro may refer to: * Theatre * Teatro (band) Teatro, Italian for "theatre", is a vocal group signed to the Sony BMG music label. The members of Teatro are Jeremiah James, Andrew Alexander, Simon Bailey and Stephen Rahman-Hughes. Band members ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Donizetti made some revisions in a subsequent production in Naples for the Teatro Nuovo in September 1827, the most important of which was changing Camillo to a tenor.Osborne 1994, p. 166.

Roles

Synopsis

:Time: The eighteenth century :Place: Lisbon Olivo and Pasquale are two brothers, both merchants from Lisbon: the first is hot-blooded and brutal, the other is sweet and shy. Olivo's daughter, Isabella, loves a young apprentice, Camillo, but her father wants her to marry a wealthy merchant from Cadiz, Le Bross. Isabella tells Le Bross that she loves another. At first he is led to believe that it is Columella, an old conceited and ridiculous man, but shortly after he understands that it is Camillo. Olivo, realizing that his daughter dares to oppose his will, is furious and Le Bross, shocked by his disproportionate reaction, becomes Isabella and Camillo's ally and promises to help them get married. The lovers threaten to commit suicide at five o'clock if Olivo doesn't agree to let the marriage take place, but he does not believe them and he refuses to be blackmailed. However, at five o'clock, shots of a firearm ring out: Pasquale faints and Olivo says that now he would have preferred Isabella to be Camillo's wife rather than be dead. The threat of suicide was not true, and the young couple appears at the door; Olivo embraces and blesses their union.

Recordings

References

Notes Cited sources * Osborne, Charles, (1994), ''The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini'', Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. Other sources *Allitt, John Stewart (1991), ''Donizetti: in the light of Romanticism and the teaching of Johann Simon Mayr'', Shaftesbury: Element Books, Ltd (UK); Rockport, MA: Element, Inc.(USA) * Ashbrook, William (1982), ''Donizetti and His Operas'', Cambridge University Press. *Ashbrook, William (1998), "Donizetti, Gaetano" in

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

(Ed.), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', Vol. One. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. *Ashbrook, William and Sarah Hibberd (2001), in Holden, Amanda (Ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam. . pp. 224 – 247. *Loewenberg, Alfred (1970). ''Annals of Opera, 1597-1940'', 2nd edition. Rowman and Littlefield *

Sadie, Stanley Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

, (Ed.); John Tyrell (Exec. Ed.) (2004), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

''. 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. (hardcover). (eBook). * Waidelich, T. G. (1997), in dem Vaterlande der Haydn, der Mozarte und so vieler andern berühmten Componisten'. Ein unbekannter Brief Gaetano Donizettis betreffend den Vertrieb seiner Opera buffa Olivo e Pasquale in Deutschland''. In: ''Semantische Inseln – Musikalisches Festland für

Tibor Kneif Tiburtius Tibor Kneif (9 October 1932 – 26 July 2016) was a German-Hungarian lawyer and musicologist. Life Born in Bratislava, Kneif, who after studying law received his doctorate from the Faculty of Law in Budapest in 1955, continued his stud ...

zum 65. Geburtstag'', Hamburg 1997, p. 57–62. * Weinstock, Herbert (1963), ''Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century'', New York: Pantheon Books.

External links

Donizetti Society (London) website
(Italian) {{Authority control Italian-language operas Operas by Gaetano Donizetti Operas 1827 operas Operas set in Portugal Operas based on plays