The Problem of the Introduzione

Don Pasquale, act 1. As the curtain rises, Don Pasquale, alone onstage, stares impatiently at his pocket watch, awaiting the arrival of his physician and confidant, Doctor Malatesta (scene 1). Malatesta soon enters and tells the elderly man that he has found a suitable bride for him (scene 2). Beside himself with excitement, Don Pasquale rushes his friend to fetch the young woman; alone again, he anticipates the bliss of married life and fatherhood.

This opening scene is perhaps the most individual in the entire opera. It is a masterful study in character, and it goes a long way toward establishing the characteristic intimate tone of this delightful bourgeois comedy. For us, it provides an excellent entry point into the conventions that informed the composition of opera buffa and contributed to defining it as a distinctive genre on musical grounds. More important, it allows us to explore how composers engaged with those conventions critically—using them, negotiating their boundaries, and subverting them for the purpose of conveying humor and distancing themselves from some widespread approaches and practices observed in serious works. To be sure, Don Pasquale appeared at an important juncture.